Schema Theory

Schema def

a mental framework that helps us make sense of information. It’s the way our mind groups and organizes knowledge around a specific concept.

3 key aspects of schema

Our mind automatically organizes information into schemas

Schemas develop over time through our experiences

Schemas guide current and future actions

3 helpful parts of schema

• They can help to facilitate memory formation

• They help to make stronger predictions

• They encourage stability in our thinking

2 cons of schema in thinking

• Can lead to narrow thinking, thinking based on stereotypes

• Schemas can help encoding, but they can also be a cause of errors in construction and reconstruction in memory

Schema Distortion: Leveling

Schema Distortion: Assimilating

Schema Distortion: Sharpening

2 Schema Distortions: Thinking

Stereotyping and novel situations being hard

Strengths of Schema, the 3 things of it

The theory applies to a variety of cognitive phenomena, memory, thinking and perception

2 Limitations of Schema

Concept is vague

Research cannot directly observe or measure schema