Schema Theory

Cognitive Psychology

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Source: Roth & Bruce (1995)

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Source: members.lycos.nl/amazingart/

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ron.

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Source: members.lycos.nl/amazingart/

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• What did your mind have to do for you to ‘see’ things in the black and white patterns?

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?The mind takes in the impoverished sensory input and matches it to a schema derived from past experience. The schema is used to ‘fill in the blanks’ in the input and to give it a meaning. Your ability to ‘see’ what’s there depends on your having an appropriate schema.

• You see this man in our school.

• Who is he?

• (Write it down)

• You see this man in

• 0ur school, who is he?

• This man is in our school. Who is he?

Which room in the house is this?

• How do you know?

Which room of the house is this?

Which room of the house is this?

•Write a schema for what an office looks like.

• You see one of these signs on a door.

• Schemas can describe how specific knowledge is organized and stored in memory so that it can be accessed and used when it is needed.

• If I came to your house for the first time and I walked into your kitchen, would I know which room I was in?

• We use schemas to help us to predict future events based on what has happened before.

• I am going to give you instructions in a moment.

• You will complete the task in complete silence.

French & Richards (1993)

Now read about French & Richards’ study of schema-driven attentional errors.

• Make brief notes about the study.

• If participants had never seen Roman numerals before, how would the results of this experiment have been different?

How does the way our memories work affect EWT?• Bartlett’s famous research study: ‘War of the

Ghosts’ (see course guide) supported his ‘Schema’ or ‘Reconstructive nature of Memory’ Theory:-

• Bartlett said that when remembering we piece together a few highlights, then fill in details based on what we think should have happened. Our memories working like rough notebooks rather than video recorders.

• He said we use schemata to make sense of our world and to help us remember.

• A schema is an organised package of information that stores your knowledge about the world. Schemas are stored in LTM.

• Your schemas tell you that if you see someone wearing a short-sleeved shirt outside then there is unlikely to be snow on the ground. Schemas can lead us to make assumptions which may be wrong!

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Your Schema’s an example:-• What is your schema for having a restaurant meal ?– What are the

most important events associated with having a restaurant meal.• You probably said most or all of the following:• Sitting down• Looking at the menu • Ordering• Eating/drinking• Paying the bill• Leaving a tip• Leaving the restaurant.• Reconstructive memories are made by combining what you are

remembering with your knowledge of the world (Schemas)• Schema theory indicates that prior expectations will influence our

perceptions. This means that our prejudices and stereotypes will influence what we think we have seen and how we recall the information.

• This can be particularly important for interpretation of eyewitness testimony.

• So does that mean that we cannot trust our memories to be accurate?

sour nice candy

honey sugar soda

bitter chocolate good

heart taste cake

tooth tart pie

mad wrath fear

happy hate fight

rage hatred temper

mean fury calm

ire emotion enrage

Read through the following words and try to remember them. I will tell you when to write down what you remember. Do the same with the next set. Did you remember any words that were not there?Most people falsely remember the word sweet as being on the first list and the word angry as being on the second list. The words aren't there, but they are strongly suggested by the words that are on the list. Memory is associative and reconstructive, remembering the words candy and honey and sugar and others that are associated with sweetness bring that word sweet to mind so strongly that it is ‘reconstructed’ into part of the original list.

• RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY (BARTLET 1932) :- People have expectations, assumptions or schemas (our understanding of the way things are based mainly on previous experience) This can lead to us expecting certain things and then ‘filling in the gaps’ when things don’t quite fit.

• STEREOTYPES have an effect on what we expect, and therefore what we remember.

Look at the picture on the right. Study it carefully.

Problems with Schemas

“Whose hand held the knife?”

(Allport & Postman, 1947) found that most people wrongly remembered the black man with the knife.

What problems can you see with this research?