Schema Psychology

What was the conclusion of Bartlett's experiment?

Memory is always subjective to pre-existing schemas?

What was the method of the Washing Clothes study?

- A sample was split into three conditions: having a context prior to listening to a passage, listening to a passage with no context, or receiving the context after listening to the passage - The passage was about washing clothes - After listening to the passage participants were to reproduce the text or give the main points

Evaluate Bransford and Johnson's study.

- No ethical concerns - Controlled lab setting ( high internal validity ) - Unlikely to have such situation in real life ( to hear such ambiguous speech ) --> low ecological validity - Sample of psychology students---> low generalisibility

What were the results and conclusions of the washing clothes study?

- Participants given the context before had the best recall, and there was virtually no difference between the other two conditions (5.8 vs 2.8 nc vs 2.6 cga) - This shows that having context prior to listening to a text activates a certain schema so it aids encoding (transferring information into our LTM); It helps us label information and fits in with pre-existing schemas so understanding is faster.

What were some limitations to Bartlett's experiment?

- Quite outdated; people now are more aware of other cultures due to globalisation - Did not specify to participants how specific they were to describe the stories - Inconsistent time intervals between participants ( can be a confounding variable ) - No standardised instruction and disregard to environmental settings ( low internal validity)

What were the results of Bartlett's experiment?

- The story became shorter and more concise as it was passed on - There were changes to words; they were made to reflect more culturally familiar things (e.g. seal hunting to fishing, canoe to boat) - People may alter culturally unfamiliar things to what seems culturally familiar to make the story more understandable and fit in our schemas in accordance to the participant's cultural background ( Rationalisation )

What study aims to find the effect of context on comprehension and memory?

Bransford and Johnson (1972) , "Washing Clothes" study

What is a study that reveals the affect of social schemas on our perception?

Darley and Gross (1983). A girls portrayed as having a high SES background and the same girl portrayed as having a low SES background was shown to two separate groups. Then the groups watched a video of the girl performing an academic test and then asked to judge how she did. Most people said the girl with a higher SES background did better on the test. This shows how our schema about being rich and power acts as a lens to help us interpret ambiguous information.

What are self-schemas?

Mental representations about ourselves

What are person schemas?

Mental representations about specific people.

What is the definition of schema?

Schema is an umbrella term for mental structures that help us process and organise information around us through mental representations, which include our past experiences, culture, age and gender.

What are scripts?

Schemas about a sequence of events, for example going to work or making coffee

What are the types of schema?

Scripts, social schemas, self-schemas, person schemas

What are social schemas?

Social schemas are mental representations about various groups of people, for example a stereotype

What is the method and aim of Bartlett's "war of the ghosts" experiment?

This experiment (1933) explored how social and cultural factors can affect our schemas. The experimenter read a Native American folk story to a group of English participants, and then split the sample into two conditions; one being a repeated reproduction, where the participants were asked to reproduce the story six to seven times with different time intervals of 15 minutes to several years. The other was the serial reproduction, where one participant would listen to the story and reproduce it, then a second participant would read their reproduction and try to recreate it, then this would be passed down and repeated until the story has been reproduced 6-7 times.

Why may a pilot study be used for studies on schema?

This is to ensure that the representation of the schema is general for others, and is not just reflective of the schema of the experimenter

What does schema enable us to do?

To make shortcuts when interpreting information so we can understand the world around us faster

How do we develop schemas?

We develop schemas from personal experiences, the media and talking to others.

What is accommodated schema?

When a schema is replaced by a new one

What is assimilation for schema?

When new information is added upon pre-existing schema