Cognitive level of analysis

Question 1

Bartlett, the War of the Ghosts (1932)

Answer 1

Aim: To investigate whether memory is reconstructive, and whether schemas influence the participants recalling stories

Method 1: One person reproduces the original study ‘‘The War of the Ghosts’’, then the second person reproduces the first reproduction, and so on.. until there are 6 or 7 reproductions of the same story.

Method 2: Participants were told to read the story twice. After 15 minutes they had to reproduce the story from memory. Then whenever they had the opportunity to, they were to go into Bartlett’s memory to recall the story.

Results:

• story became shorter
• story had orderly content, because people interpret the story as a whole when listening and retelling
• story contained details which share past experiences and cultural background to participants

Conclusion:

• Difficult for western cultures to reproduce due to unfamiliar style and content
• People reconstruct past by trying to fit into existing schemas, as people tend to find a familiar pattern in their own experiences
• Memory is an imaginative reconstructive of experience according to Bartlett