Bartlett War of the Ghosts Schemas

aim

research method

naturalistic study

procedure

Told participants a Native American legend called The War of the Ghosts. The participants in the study were British so the study was filled with unknown names and concepts, and the manner of which the story was developed was also foreign to them. Bartlett allocated the participants to one of two conditions. One group was asked to use repeated reproduction, where participants heard the story and were told to reproduce it after a short time and then to do so again repeatedly over a period of days, weeks, months, or years. The second group was told to use serial reproduction, in which they had to recall the story and repeat it to another person.

findings

no significant way in how the groups recalled the story, and over time the story became shorter and the story also became more conventional and were unconsciously changed to fit the norms of British culture. The participants remembered the main themes of the story but changed the unfamiliar elements to match their own cultural expression.

strengths

the study is replicable and the researched also supported schema theory

limitation

lack of control over study environment, not a standardised procedure

conclusion

In conclusion, the research shows that memories are largely dependent on schemas and are reconstructed based on them.