Schema Theory

Accommodation: When we restructure or modify our existing schema so that new information can fit in better. 

Assimilation: When we add new information to our schema. For example, when I go to a hotel and find there is yet another way to turn on a shower, I will add this to my schema of how showers work.

Priming: When an experience or exposure to a stimulus puts a particular schema at the forefront of our mind; this then influences our behaviour and cognition.

Schema: Mental representations that are derived from prior experience and knowledge. Schemas help us to predict what to expect based on what has happened before.  They are used to organize our knowledge, to assist recall, to guide our behaviour, and to help us to make sense of current experiences.

Schema congruence: Information that is in line with our past experience and knowledge.  Schema incongruence is when information is not in line with our past experience and knowledge.

Script: Patterns of behaviour that are learned through our interaction with the environment.

Bartlett

Aim: Bartlett (1932) wanted to investigate how information changes with each reproduction and to find out why the information changes.

**Procedure:**He deliberately chose 'The War of the Ghosts', a North American Indian folk tale from another culture and unknown to the participants. \n The first participant read the story twice themselves (serial reproduction) then after 15-30 mins told the story to a second participant. Each participant repeated their story to the next person in a chain of participants.

Findings: Very, very few participants recalled the story accurately - Bartlett found the following pattern of errors - form, details, simplification and addition.