Bartletts Schema Theory

Question 1

What is a schema?

Answer 1

Pockets of knowledge, created through experience, which help to interpret information and respond to the environment quickly. Schema are able to reconstruct memories, which are generally stored as fragments of information, in order for it to fit with existing knowledge.

Question 2

How did Bartletts suggest schemas could reconstruct memories?

Answer 2

Shortening- removing information from memory
Confabulation- adding information to memory
Rationalisation- changing parts of the information in order for it to make sense

Question 3

What experiment supported Bartletts Schema Theory?

Answer 3

Bartletts ‘War on the Ghosts’ story

Question 4

What was the aim of Bartletts ‘War of the Ghosts’ story?

Answer 4

To examine whether people would alter information when they were given an unfamiliar story to remember due to the influence of schemas

Question 5

What was the procedure of Bartletts ‘War of the Ghosts’ story?

Answer 5

Bartletts gave participants an unfamiliar North American folk story to read. Over varying periods of time, from just a few hours to several months, participants were asked to recall everything they could remember.

Question 6

What were the results of Bartletts ‘War of the Ghosts’ story?

Answer 6

Bartlett identified the difficulty that some participants had when trying to recall parts of the story concerned with spirts and ghosts.
Other parts of the story was also changed so it would make more sense to them either through removing or adding information.
He found that every time the story was retold, it became further from the original.

Question 7

What did Bartlett conclude from his results of the ‘War of the Ghosts’ story?

Answer 7

Bartlett concluded that our memory is influenced by our own beliefs and schemas.
Schemas were able to reconstruct our memory in order for it to make sense:
-details about the ghosts and spirits was lost (shortening)
-information was altered for it to make sense (rationalisation)
-recall of the story each time was different (confabulation, shortening, rationalisation)
Bartletts proposed that because knowledge and experience change schemas , they are capable of reconstructing memory over time.

Question 8

Evaluate Bartletts Schema Theory (8 marks)

Answer 8

Feasibility- Strength
Bartlett War on the Ghosts Story
Participants read an unfamiliar story and were asked to recall the story during different time intervals
Shortening- information and details about the ghosts and spirits was forgotten
Recall of the story each time was different
Information changed in order for it to make sense- rationalisation

Usefulness- Strength
Police- shows the police that eyewitness statements may be unreliable
Therefore, witness statements should be collected as soon as possible so schemas dont alter information
Prevent discussion of the event either witnesses as people may alter there own records to fit someone else’s

Juries- Prevents bias of eye witnesses- so the final decision should be made on factual evidence and not just using eye witness testimony, therefore you are more likely to imprison the correct person.

Explanation- Weakness
Schemas are a theory of concept and therefore are non-falsifiable- cannot be proven wrong with evidence.
It is difficult to prove they exist or that they are able to change memories.

Also, Schemas dont take into account Flashbulb memory
People are able to accurately remember an emotional/ traumatic memory because the emotion and memory is stored as one.
Therefore, arguing that not all memory is reconstructed.