The Role of Schema
What is a schema?
- Schemas are shortcuts which facilitate the quick processing of information and stop the brain from becoming overwhelmed by environmental stimulation
- They allow us to predict what may happen and are based on previous experience
- They act as a mental framework for the interpretation of incoming information
- Schemas are unique to the individual and the experiences they have had
- Culture has an effect on schemas as it shapes experience
- Babies are born with simple motor schemas for innate behaviours e.g. sucking; as we get older schemas become more complex and sophisticated
Bartlett
- Bartlett claimed our schemas do not work like a photograph but instead like a notepad, which means the event is reconstructed, our schema affects our thoughts, emotions and behaviours
- This is due to schema filling the gaps and making assumptions
Bartlett's war of the Ghosts research (1932)
- Bartlett told his participants (male Cambridge University students) the 'War of Ghosts' which is a Native American folk tale
- The contained detail that was unfamiliar to a Western, 1930s perspective e.g. canoes, seal-fishing, ghosts fighting, spirits inhabiting living people
- The participants re-told the story to fit their cultural schema by changing some details e.g. canoes became 'boats'; paddling became 'rowing' or leaving out unfamiliar elements e.g. no mention of ghosts at all; place-names ignored
- Bartlett concluded that memory does not record events like a camera, rather it is affected by schema, particularly cultural schema which overlays the original event or message
Evaluation of Bartlett (1932)
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The study used a standardised procedure (serial reproduction) so it could be replicated to test for reliability
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The study lacks temporal validity: modern participants are much more culturally aware than Cambridge university students in the 1930s
- The student has good application to how schemas work and could be used to inform revision strategies, learning, memorisation techniques
- The findings of this study are still cited in discussions of the reliability of memory, particularly with regard to eyewitness testimony
