Schema Theory

Schemas: are cognitive frameworks used to organise our knowledge, to assist recall, to guide our behaviour, to predict likely happenings and to help us to make sense of current experiences

--> derived from prior experiences and knowledge

--> simplify reality, setting up expectations about what is probably in relation to particular social and textual contexts

• Culturally specific but may vary even within a single culture because of such factors as class

Scripts: schemas about events in time rather than schema for objects

--> when events don't follow our scripts, we can become frustrated, angry, disappointed or simply confused

Different ways Schema's can influence an individual's memory:

• Leveling: the process of omitting information from the memory of event's due to the belief it's unimportant

• Sharpening: the process of changing/updating memories in order to make them make more sense

• Assimilation: the process of adapting memories in order to make fit in to pre-existing schemas

TEA CUP evaluation

Testable: the schema theory is testable

--> seen in the studies by Bartlett and by Brewer and Treyens

Empirical Evidence: also biological research to support the way in which the brain categorises input

Applications: schema theory has been applied to help us understand how memory works. It also helps us to understand memory distortion. It is a robust theory that has many application across many fields of psychology

Construct Validity: Cohen argued that the concept of schema is too vague and hypothetical to be useful as schemas can't be observed

Unbiased: schema theory is applied across cultures. There is no apparent bias in the research, although most of the early research is done in the West

Predictive Validity: the theory helps predict behaviour however we can't predict exactly what an individual will recall