Cognitive⚙️ • Reconstructive Memory Model Flashcards
What is a schema?
Mental ‘units’ of knowledge that correspond with encountered people, objects or situations. Schemas allow us to make sense of what we encounter so that we can predict what we feel will happen and what we should do in any given situation.
Are schemas individual, or standardised?
A person’s schemas are entirely unique to them and their own expereiences
How are schemas determined?
They are determined by our own social values and can sometimes include prejudicial attitudes or perspecitves
What do we have schemas for?
All sorts of things; we have schemas for what we percieve a ‘criminal’ looks like or how to behave at the service counter at a restaurant
What are the two procesess that can impact a schema?
- Assimilation
- Accomodation
What is Assimilation?
Assimilating is when, upon the recieval of new information, individuals change and update their schemas to fit what they have learned. This is the adaption of schemas to adjust to newly found facts
What is Accomodation?
Accomodating is when, upon the recieval of new information, indivduals acknowledge the new information, **but ignore it in efforts to keep their schemas in tact and unchanged **
What are the two processes that occur within Accomodation?
- Levelling
- Sharpening
What is levelling?
During accomodation, this involves removing or downplaying details from the memory
What is sharpening?
During accomodation, this involves adding or exaggerating details
What can levelling lead to?
It can leave people with very specific and streamlined schemas/ memories of an event
What can sharpening lead to?
It can leave people with reports of events that are greatly inaccurate due to the overexaggeration of details
What is confabulation?
When our schemas fill in the gaps of out memory with the beliefs they contain, thus leading our mind to put pressure to remember things not how they actually occured, but in order to align with our schemas - thus removing/ altering recalled detials
What is rationalisation?
When individuals try to make sense of something e.g. missing/ leaving things out in attempts to make it make sense
What would happen if an individual with prejudicial schemas confabulated a memory?
An individual confabulating through their own prejudicial schemas can leada to the recalled memory being full of what the schemas contain e.g. prejudice - this therefore means all the individual would recall in that memory is the prejudicial attitudes present due to their schemas
What is serial reproduction?
When a story or picture is passed from one person to another in a chain, with each person reproducing what they recall from the previous person - ultimately leading to a more and more diluted/ misconstrued story the more people are involved
A03
How does Bartlet’s War of the Ghosts experiement support this model of memory?
- Bartlet showed 20 students from Cambridge University a Native American Ghost story which had unusual features within it
- He then asked them to read then recall the story on multiple ocassions ours/ days/ weeks/ years
- He compared how the recalled versions of the story produced by the students differed from the original one:
- Participants shortened the story 300 words –> 180
- Participants rationalised: They tried to make sense of events that were not clear to them e.g. when the ghost became involved
- Participants confabulated: The canoes and paddles used by the protagonist detailed within the story were replaced by the student’s own schemas through confabulation - they were instead recalled as boats and oars - WESTERNISED THROUGH OWN SCHEMAS/ WHAT STUDENT KNOWS
A03
Although, Bartlet’s War of the Ghost experiment was disputed - why?
- Because it was not a valid test of confabulation or the memory model as it is not very normal for English-based students to have to recall a Native American folklore tale - unusual scenario, lacks ecological validity as not normal
- Also lacked any form of quantitative scoring system other than the ammount of words decreasing
A03
How does Loftus & Palmer’s experiement support this model of memory?
- Showed all partipants video of a real car crash
- Then split into two groups, each group was asked a different question:
GRP1: ‘How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?’
GRP2: ‘How fast were the cars going when they hit into each other?’ - Participants from grp1 (with ‘smashed verb’) recalled a higher speed than those in grp2 who had heard the ‘hit’ verb - THIS IS EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT AS IT SHOWS RATIONALISATION
Weeks later participants were then asked if there was any broken glass in the film clip (there was none in reality)
* 32% grp1 falsley recalled broken glass
* 14% of grp2 falsely recalled broken glass
THIS IS EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT AS IT SHOWS SHARPENING
What types of questions were used in Loftus & Palmer’s study?
Leading Questions
How can the findings for Loftus & Palmer’s study link to eye-witness testimonies?
The study highlights how eye-witness testimonies are unrealible due to the ability for answers to be influence by leading questions - as shown with the more/less agressive verbs used in the questions in their experiment elciting different responses
How does the Allport & Postman experiement support this model of memory?
- Participants shown a drawing and aksed to describe it to other people through serial reproduction
- The drawing included a black man dressed respectfully + a white man holding a knife
- Study found that white participants tended to reverse their appearances, even describing the black man as holding the knife
THIS IS EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT AS IT SHOWS CONFABULATION
WEAKNESS
