IB Psychology Schemas

Schemas

A theory proposed by Bartlett in 1932

What does schema theory propose?

Proposes that cognitive schemas are mental representations that organize our knowledge, beliefs and expectations.

Mental representation

A very broad concept that can be applied to practically everything in the mind, but only the most stable and deeply rooted mental representations can influence our knowledge, beliefs and expectation.

How can schemas be beneficial but what is the issue?

Schemas can be beneficial as it can help us find answers in a faster manner as we quickly associate information with what we already know; however the increase in memory efficiency can come at the cost of accuracy.
Schemas improve our memory by relating new information to what we already know which can sometimes contaminate our memory as it leads to false or distorted recollections.

What does Bransford and Johnson demonstrate?

That schemas can influence the encoding of information in memory has been demonstrated in the study of Bransford and Johnson (1972).
They showed that a visual context provided prior to reading text passage double the rate of recall of ideas from that passage.
This therefore presents schemas as positive and that it benefits our recalling.

Aim of Bransford and Johnson

To investigate how schemas help us to store new information in our memory.

Procedure of Bransford and Johnson

They did this by having 3 groups of participants read a paragraph describing a number of steps in a procedure.
The groups were either told before, after or not at all that the paragraph was about laundry.

Results of Bransford and Johnson

The results were that the group that were told the topic of the paragraph before they listened to it had significantly better memory than the other two groups.

What does Bransford and Johnson support?

It therefore support that schemas help participants to encode new information by making it possible to organise and interpret the information.
It also supports that memory is not simply about storing a copy of what you hear, but involves actively interpreting what you hear based on prior knowledge of the world.

How does the results of Bransford and Johnson relate to reconstructive memory?

This therefore relates to the reconstructive memory which is that the recalling of memory is an active process and that memory is reconstructed every time that it is recalled.

Evaluation of Bransford and Johnson

A strength of the study is that it is easy to replicate, and therefore has a high reliability as it is easy to get the same results as the original study.
It also clearly shows a causal relationship as it uses an experimental design and therefore demonstrates a causal relationship between schema activation which is the independent variable and ability to recall which is the dependent variable.
However, an issue with the study is that it involves an artificial task as it would be quite unusual to be read a paragraph without knowing what the paragraph is about.
Therefore, this study may not have much relevance for everyday situations involving memory and therefore makes the study have a low ecological validity.

What is the issue with schemas?

However even though schemas can help us remember information, it can often come at the cost of accuracy as it is dependent on information that we already know and therefore, when it is new information that is quite unusual for us, schemas can lead to distorting the information significantly.

What does Bartlett present?

In his study, he presented the two ways that schemas can distort memory.
Information that is consistent with our schemas will be remembered well, but information which is inconsistent with our schemas may be forgotten or distorted to fit our schemas.
This distortion happens at the moment of memory encoding when a new event is stored into memory.
The other distortion is when you can't remember an event well, and therefore you fill in the missing details with your best guess, based on your schema for that event.
This distortion happens at the moment of retrieval when you are trying to remember an event from the past.

Bartlett procedure

Reading to British participants the "War of the Ghosts" twice and then asking the participants to reproduce it from memory soon after, as well as on a later date. The content and style of the story was unfamiliar to the British readers, as it was not written according to the storytelling conventions of English literature.

Results of Bartlett

When the participants recalled the story, the length of the story became shorter, and the story became more conventional. Unusual details were left out or distorted. However, no matter how much the recollection of the story differed from the original, it remained a coherent, complete story.

Discussion of Bartlett study

This suggests that participants tried to rememberthe story as a whole, rather than trying to memorise specific details individually.
This therefore suggests that participants found it difficult to remember the "War of the Ghosts" because the story does not fit any of their cultural schemas and there supports that cultural schemas can lead to memory distortions, as the participants tried to "fit" the new information to their existing schemas.
There were both types of distortions as there was distortion at the encoding of the memory as participants forgot or distorted information that was inconsistent with their schemas and participants filled in details with their best guesses based on the schema of the event.
This study therefore supports the issues of schemas.

Issue with Bartlett

An issue with the study is that this study took place in 1932 and therefore dates a lot making the results unreliable as participants now might have changed their response.
In addition, as this study took place a long time ago (1932), the conventions of modern Psychological research had yet to be developed.
For instance, participants were not given standardised instructions, suggesting that the procedure was not carefully controlled.
There is also debate over theecological validityof this study.
Some may argue that trying to memorise a story is an artificial task, which has questionable relevance for real life.
On the other hand, we are often exposed to information second hand, through the telling of family and friends, which is not unlike trying to remember a story.

What can negative schemas cause?

Schemas can also lead to mental problems as negative schemas formed during early childhood can be kept throughout a person's life.

Issues with schema theory

In addition, a key issue with the theory is that it is not clear what happens in early life when individuals do not have many schemas how would individuals react then.
Would individuals therefore be more open minded due to not having preconceived ideas and therefore relate schemas to stereotypes and prejudices?

Conclusion of Schemas

In conclusion schemas are supported by many studies and can be beneficial to individuals, however can also lead to distortions. Due to their fixed frameworks, they can also lead to mental health problems if they are negative and therefore is evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences.