1.4.1 Schemas (Co) Flashcards
What is a schema?
A packet of information about the world stored in our long term memory
What are some types of schema?
Object schema
Role schema
Script schema
Give an example of an object schema:
E.g. Dog
Linked to collar, bone, lead, walk
Give an example of a role schema:
E.g nurse
Caring, helpful, clever
Give an example of a script schema:
E.g restaurant
Decide, book, order, get food, pay the bill
What do schema help us do? How?
Make sense of the world by providing short cuts to things we come across
Where are schema developed from?
Experiences - personal, the media, friends
Are schemas an accurate representation of reality?
No
What can schemas result in? Why?
Stereotyping
Schemas are short cuts so people can easily jump to conclusions about a group of people
What did Allport and Postmans 1940s reasearch involve?
Showing people a picture of black business man being threatened by scruffy white man on subway with a razor. Later the participants were asked to recall the image
What did the participants in Allport and Postmans study say?
They recalled the image as a black man threatening a white man
Why might the participants have had this response in the Allport and postman study?
Pre civil rights attitudes
• black people are criminals
• black people cant be successful businessmen
What could schemas and stereotyping lead to?
Discriminatory behaviour such as racial profiling e.g. Young black men experiencing more unwarranted stops, searches, arrests and cop killing in the USA