Schema Theory - Psychology | International Baccalaureate

Schema Theory

Theory that claims humans actively process information, relate it to exisitng knowledge and use it.

Schema

A mental representation stored in our long-term memory derived from our prior experiences.

• Helps organize knowledge.

• Help what to predict.

• Simplify an understanding of the world.

• Open to influence of social and cultural factors.

• Fills in missing information gaps, distorting cognition.

Assimilation

A type of information transfer in which schemas changed based on new information.

Accomodation

A type of information transfer in which information is constantly added onto an existing schema.

Martin and Halverson (1983)

Study that shows schemas influence recall, encoding and retrieval of information but also schemas that are inconsistent distort the memory.

Bransford and Johnson (1972)

Study that shows activation of schema beforehand is necessary to understand material.