Memory - Bartletts War Of The Ghosts

Question 1

What is reconstructive memory?

Answer 1

Fragments of stored info are reassembled during recall

The gaps are filled in by our expectations & beliefs so we can produce a ‘story’ that makes sense

Question 2

What was the aim of Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study?

Answer 2

To investigate how memory is reconstructed when people are asked to recall something over a period of weeks and months.

Question 3

What was the method of Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study?

Answer 3

He used serial reproductions.
Each participant had to read war of the ghosts.
After 15 mins they had to reproduce it
He showed the new version to another person and asked them to do the same. He repeated this with further participants.
He used students, friends and colleagues at a university.

Question 4

What was the results of Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study?

Answer 4

Participants remembered different parts of the story and changed the facts to fit their own interpretations (social and cultural expectations)

• the story was shortened
• the phrases were changed to language from their own culture (eg: boats instead of canoes)
• the recall version soon became very fixed but changed slightly each time

Question 5

What was the conclusions of Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study?

Answer 5

We don’t remember details, we remember fragments & use our knowledge to reconstruct memory.
Individuals remembered the meaning & tried to sketch out the story using invented details.

Question 6

A weakness of Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study? (Control)

Answer 6

• lacks control, no set standards about where and how people recalled the info
• they weren’t given very specific instructions
• another study found recall was more accurate when they were told recall was important (Gould & Stepehenson)
• suggests recall is more accurate than Bartlett suggested

Question 7

A weakness of Bartlett’s war of the ghosts study? (Biased)

Answer 7

• Bartlett’s own beliefs may have affected the way he interpreted the data
• he analysed each example of recall & has to decide what was accurate and inaccurate recall
• he believed recall was affected by cultural expectations so may have been more likely to see those effects
• means we can’t fully trust results