Psychology

Social schemas

- (e.g. stereotypes) Social schemas represent information about groups of people; for example, Americans, Egyptians, women, accountants, etc.

Explicit

- (explicité) stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.

Cognitive schema

- A cognitive schema can be defined as a mental representation of knowledge stored in the brain. A schema can be seen as a network of knowledge, beliefs, and expectations about particular aspects of the world.

Schema

- A schema is a cognitive structure that provides a framework for organizing information about the world, events, people and actions.

Rationalization

- According to Bartlett, the way the participants recalled the story came under the influence of relevant schematic knowledge in their memory. Such knowledge consisted of schemas acquired in, and reflecting, the participants' own culture. Bartlett used the term rationalization to refer to the process of making the story conform to the cultural expectations of the participants.

Loftus and Palmer (1974) Reconstruction of automobile destruction Experiment 1

- Aim: The aim of the research was to investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect estimation of speed/ To investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect recall in a situation where participants were asked to estimate speed. This is a situation that could happen when people appear in court as eyewitness testimonies. Procedure: 45 student participants, divided in 5 groups of 7 students, saw 7 videos of traffic accidents, from 5s to 30s, and had to answer question about the accident. In the experiment 1, the participants were asked to estimate speed of the cars based on a critical question: "About how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?" "Smashed" was replaced by words such as hit, collided, bumped or contacted in other conditions. Results: The mean estimates of speed were highest in the "smashed" condition (40.8 mph) and lowest in the "contacted" group (31.8 mph). The researchers calculated a statistical test and found that their results were significant at p≤ 0.005. The results indicate that memory is not reliable and that memory can be manipulated by using specific words. The critical word in the question consistently affected the participants' answer to the question. One explanation could be that the use of different words influenced participants' mental representation of the accident, i.e. the verb "smashed" activates a cognitive schema of a severe accident and therefore speed estimates increase. It is not the actual details of the accident that are remembered but rather that is in line with a cognitive schema of a severe accident. It could also be that participants simply had difficulties estimating speed. This cannot be ruled out.

Bartlett (1932) "The War of the Ghosts"

- Aim: To investigate whether people's memory for a story is affected by previous knowledge (schemas) and the extent to which memory is reconstructive. - Procedure: Bartlett asked British participants to hear a story and reproduce it after a short time and the n repeatedly over a period of months or years (serial reproduction). The story was an unfamiliar Native American legend called "The War of the Ghosts". - Results: The participants remembered the main idea of the story (the gist) but they changed unfamiliar elements to make sense of the story by using terms more familiar to their own cultural expectations. The story remained a coherent whole although it was changed. It became noticeably shorter for each reproduction. Bartlett concluded that remembering is an active process. Memories are not copies of experience but rather "reconstructions".

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Experiment on memory of objects in a room

- Aim: To investigate whether people's memory for objects in a room (an office) is influenced by existing schemas about what to expect in an office. - Procedure: Participants were 30 university students, who arrived individually to the laboratory and were asked to wait in an office containing objects (e.g. desk, typewriter, coffee-pot, calendar). There were also other objects that did not conform to the office schema (a skull, a piece of bark, a pair of pliers). After waiting for some time, participants were taken out of the office and asked to write down everything they could remember from the room. - Results: Most of participants recalled the schematic objects (e.g. desk, typewriter). Some participants reported things would be expected in a typical office but were not present in this one (e.g. telephone, books). Many participants also recalled the skull (unexpected object). The very unusual object resulted in better recall than predicted by schema theory.

Evaluation/analysis of Bartlett's study in 1932

- Bartlett did not explicit ask his participants to be as accurate as possible in their recollection of the story, nor did he use standardized instructions or care much about the exact environments in which he was carrying out his studies. - The results of the study confirm schema theory (and reconstructive memory), but it was performed in a laboratory and can be criticized for lack (manque) of ecological validity. - Participants did not receive standardized instructions and some of the memory distortions may be due to participants' guessing (demand characteristics). - In spite (malgré/en dépit) of these methological limitations, the study is one of the most important in the study of memory.

Principle 3 of CLOA

- Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors. Research has shown that cognitive processes such as perception, memory, and thinking are influenced by sociocultural factors. Barlett (1932) introduced the concept of "cultural schema" in memory research. He suggested that schemas influence memory in that they lead to distortion or "reconstructive memory". Other researchers suggest that the environment in which people live leads to specific cultural and social demands that influence the way they process information. DiMaggio (1997) suggests that schemas are (1) representations of knowledge (e.g. stereotypes and social roles) and (2) mechanisms that simplify cognition in the form of "cognitive shortcuts" that are shaped by culture. Schematic cognition is shaped and biased by culture (e.g. culturally based stereotypes)

Limitation of schema theory

- Cohen (1933) argued that: the concept of schema is too vague to be useful and it is not clear how schemas are acquired in the first place. - Schema theory may focus too much on the inaccuracies of memory but most of the time people remember accurately.

Distorsion/distortion

- Déformation

Principle 1 of cognitive level of analysis (CLOA)

- Human being are information processors and mental processes guide behavior. People are active information processors. They perceive and interpret what is going on around them. This is often based on what they already know. There is a relationship between people's mental representation and the way people perceive and think about the world.

Schema theory

- Knowledge stored in our memory is to a very great extent organized. There are many theories of knowledge organization - schema theory is just one of them. The main idea underlying this theory is that new encounters with the world are rarely, if ever, completely new. (L'idée principale qui sous-tend cette théorie est que de nouvelles rencontres avec le monde sont rarement, voire jamais, complètement nouveau.)

LTS

- Long-term store

Reasons for inaccuracies in memory could be:

- Memory is reconstructive (e.g. Bartlett, 1932) and information processing is schema driven. -Memories are constructed after the fact and they are susceptible to post-event information and manipulations (e.g. Loftus and Palmer, 1974)

Multi-store model of memory (MSM) Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968)

- Multi-store model of memory describes memory in terms of information flowing through a system. Accordingly, it can be described as an information processing model (like a computer) with an input, process and output.

Possible ways in which schemas affect memory

- People tend to remember the meaning (gist (essentiel)) of something not the actual wording. - People use stored knowledge to make sense of incoming information. If the information is unclear or incomplete, they fill in the blanks or interpret using their schemas. This is called "reconstructive memory" and results in distortion. - People tend to ignore information that is not in line with their schemas (aschematic information). This may lead to bias in information processing (e.g. in stereotyping where people ignore information that is not in line with their schema.) - People tend to focus on information that is in line with their schemas (schematic information). This may result in "confirmation bias".

Schema processing

- Schema processing is a large extent automatic, i.e. processed with little attention. It involves information from two sources: Input from the sensory system (bottom-up processes) and information stored in memory (top-down processes), which is used to interpret the incoming information (pattern recognition, interpretation).

Strengths of schema theory

- Schema theory has proven extremely useful in explaining many cognitive processes (e.g. perception, memory, and reasoning). - Schema theory can be used to explain the reconstructive nature of memory, for example in eye witness testimony, stereotyping, gender identity (gender schema) and cultural differences (cultural schemas).

Schema functions

- Schemas perform many interrelated functions: -- they organize information in memory -- they can be activated increase information-processing efficiency (efficacité) -- they enable the generation of expectations about objects, events and people -- they regulate behaviour -- they are relatively stable and usually very resistant to change thus ensuring (assurant) continuity in the ways we process information and the ways we act.

Different terms used to refer to schemas

- Scripts - Self-schemas - Social schemas

Scripts

- Scripts are schemas which provide information about the sequence of events that occur in a more-or-less unchanging order in particular contexts such as going to a restaurant, visiting the dentist, or attending a class.

Self-schemas

- Self-schemas organize information we have about ourselves; for example, information stored in our memory about our strengths, and weaknesses and how we feel about them.

STS

- Short-term store

Evaluation on Loftus and Palmer experiment 1 (1974)

- The experiment was conducted in a laboratory and the participants were students. Lab experiments may be problematic in the sense that they do not necessarily reflect how people remember in real life. There may be a problem of ecological validity and it has been argues that this is the case here. A support for this point could be that the films shown in the experiment were made for teaching purposes and therefore the participants did not experience the same as if it had been a real accident. However, strength of the experimental method is that confounding variables can be controlled so that it is really the effect of the independent variable that is measured. This was the case in this experiment and Loftus and Palmer could rightfully claim that they had established a cause-effect relationship between the independent variables (critical words) and the dependent variable (estimation of speed). the fact that the experiment used students as participants has also been criticized because students are not representative of a general population. Another problem could be demand characteristics since the participants knew they participated in an experiment. This could affect their answers because they responded to what they thought would be appropriate answers. If this is the case it was not their memory that was tested.

Evaluation/analysis on Loftus and Palmer (1974) experiment on reconstruction of automobile destruction (experiment 1)

- The experiment was conducted in a laboratory. There may be a problem of ecological validity, thus can be considered as too artificial. The fact that the experiment used students as participants has also been criticized because students are not representative of a general population (cannot be generalized). The films shown in the experiment were made for teaching purposes and therefore the participants' experience was not the same as if it had been a real accident. The experiment was rigorously controlled so it was possible to establish a cause-effect relationship between the independent variable (the critical words) and the dependent variable (estimation of speed).

Control precesses

- The flow of information between the memory stores is managed by a number of control processes.

Principle 2 of CLOA

- The mind can be studied scientifically. Cognitive researchers use a number of scientific methods to study the mind (e.g. laboratory experiments, neuroimaging, case studies, interviews and archival research). The most used research method was, for a long time, the laboratory experiment, because it was considered to be the most scientific.

Strengths of the theory of reconstructive memory

- The model can explain memory distortions well. - It is suggested by many empirical studies and laboratory experiments (e.g. Loftus and Palmer, 1974)

Limitations of the theory of reconstructive memory

- The model may focus too much on the inaccuracy of memory. - Schema processing is not fully understood.

Bartlett, 1932: The effect of schemas on memory

- The participants' memory for this story was tested by Bartlett by using two techniques, serial reproduction and repeated reproduction. In serial reproduction, the first participant reads the original story and then reproduces it on paper. The first participants' reproduction is read by the second participant who also reproduces it for a third participant. This procedure continues until six or seven reproductions are completed by an equal number of participants. In repeated reproduction, the same participant contributes all six or seven reproductions. This takes place in a number of attempts to separated by intervals of from 15minutes to as long as several years, form reading the original story. In Bartlett's studies these two methods led to very similar findings. Unsurprisingly, with successive reproductions the story became increasingly shorter. However, the most important findings related to the distortions the participants introduced in their recall of the story. Several of these distortions were in the direction of making the story more understandable from within the participants' experiences and cultural background. Thus, activities which were culturally unfamiliar (e.g. hunting seals) were changed into more familiar ones (e.g. fishing). On several occasions, 'canoes' became 'boats'. The combined effect of these changes was to transform what started as a very strange tale into a conventional English story.

Loftus and Palmer (1974) Background with Bartlett experiment

- The researchers (Loftus and Palmer) wanted to study the phenomenon known as reconstructive memory. The theory was first suggested by Bartlett (1932). he argued that established knowledge called schemas influence cognitive processing and demonstrated that cultural schemas could distort memory. He argued that humans try to find meaning in what they experience and if something seems unfamiliar they will try to fit the experience into existing schemas. Loftus and Palmer performed a number of experiments where they demonstrated that people's memory for an event can be manipulated by very simple manipulations. They showed that post-event information and wording of a question may influence people's memory. Loftus has also demonstrated that it is possible to plant a false memory in participants' and that they will claimed that they have actually experienced the event. Loftus' research has drawn attention to the problems of eye witness testimony where people may give false evidence because of leading questions in the court room.

Discussion on Loftus and Palmer experiment 1 (1974)

- The results indicate that the critical word in the question consistently affected the participants' answer to the question. The researchers argued that it may be that the different speed estimates is the result of response-bias, i.e. the participant is uncertain about the exact speed and therefore a verb like "smashed" biases his or her response towards a higher estimate. It may also be that the way the question is formed result in a change in the participant's mental representation of the accident, i.e. the verb "smashed" activates a cognitive schema of a sever accident that may change the participant's memory of the accident. This distortion of memory is based on reconstruction so that it is not the actual details of the accident that are remembered but rather what is in line with a cognitive schema of a severe accident. This interpretation is in line with Bartlett's suggestion of reconstructive memory due to schema processing. In conclusion, it seems that participants' memory of an incident could be changed using suggestive questions.

Evaluation/analysis Brewer and Treyens (1981) experiment on memory of objects in a room

- The study confirms schema theory (and reconstructive memory), but it was a controlled laboratory experiment so there are issues of artificially. The study used deception (participants were not told about the real purpose of the experiment) but they were debriefed afterwards and not harmed. The study could not have been made without deception so it was justified. There is sample bias. University students were used as participants so it may be difficult to generalize the results.

Three experimental conditions referencing to Bartlett's study in 1932

- The three experimental conditions were: -- the 'no title' condition, in which participants heard only the paragraph -- the 'title before' condition, in which participants heard the same paragraph after being told, 'The paragraph you will hear will be about washing clothes' -- the 'title after' condition, in which participants were told the paragraph had been about washing clothes after they had listened to it. Participants in the 'no title' and 'title after' condition found the paragraph much more difficult to comprehend than participants in the 'title before' condition. Of the 18 idea the paragraph contained, participants recalled an average of 2.8 ideas in the 'no title' condition, 5.8 ideas in the 'title before' condition and 2.6 ideas in the 'title after' condition. How can this pattern of finding be explained? The what-the-paragraph-is-about information given in the 'title before' condition seems to have activated schematic knowledge about what is involved in washing clothes. This information helped disambiguate the paragraph.

TRM

- Theory of reconstructive memory

The multi-store model of memory (Atkinson and Shiffrin, 1968à

- This model was one of the first to give an overview of the basic structure or architecture of memory and it was inspired by computer science. The model seems rather simplistic, but it did spark off the idea of human as information processors and it has been one of the most influential model attempting to describe the memory system. The multi-store model is based on the assumption that memory consists of a number of separate stores and that memory processes are sequential. The memory stores in the model are structural components that include control processes (e.g. attention,

The theory of reconstructive memory according to Bartlett 1932

- This theory assumes that humans are active information processors who constructs memories as they try to make sense of what happens based on what they already know. Schemas stored in long term memory (LTM) help people make sense of the world around them. Bartlett called this "effort after meaning". People do not simply remember information because the pre-stored schemas determine what to remember. He suggested that the reconstructive nature of memory based on schema processing could explain memory distortions.

Schemas can also lead to distortion and mistakes when

-- settings are unfamiliar (and thus require novel approaches) -- the wrong schemas become activated.

Gender schema

Society's beliefs about the traits of females and males --> Gender schema --> : - Influences processing of social information - Influences self-esteem (only behavior or attitudes consistent with gender schema are acceptable).