Key Concept 5: Cognitive Scripts

Question 1

Cognitive scripts

Answer 1

Our understanding of how certain situations play out or go, what we usually expect to happen. We remember things in a way that is consistent with our memory scripts. For example, we have a memory script for a trip to a restaurant that includes being shown to our table, being given menus, asked for drinks, we pay the bill etc (Schank and Abelson).

Question 2

Person perception

Answer 2

Another example is when we meet new people, we do not view them as individual unique people with their own combination of traits. Instead, we quickly categorise them into a group or ‘type’ of people according to our memory scripts as there are gaps in our knowledge about them so we use our memory scripts to fill in the gaps. For example, they are young so they will behave in a certain way.