schema theory Flashcards
what is schema theory
mental representations that come from past experience and knowledge
how to schemas help us
help us predict what might happen, organise our knowledge and memories, guide our behaviour and make sense of situations.
what two studies can be used for schema
Bartlett and Brewers and Treyens
what was the aim of Bartlett’s study
to investigate how memory of a story if affected by previous knowledge
what was the procedure of Bartlett’s study
British participants were told a native American story ‘war of the ghosts’. 2 conditions; repeated reproduction or serial reproduction.
what were the findings of Bartlett’s study
remembering is an active process.
what are the three patterns of distortion
assimiltion, levelling, sharpening
what is assimilation
the story was changed to to fit british norms and their own cultural experiences.
what is levelling
story became shorter as info they saw as irrelevant got left out
sharpening
change order of the story and added details
what was the aim of brewer and treyens study
to investigate the role of schema in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory
what was the procedure of brewer and treyens study
went into an office to wait and unaware that the study had started. after 35 seconds they were called into another room to answer questions
what were the three co nditions
recall, drawing, verbal recognition
what was the recall condition
write down a description of what they remembered. then given a list of objects and rated how sure they were that the objects were in the room.
what was the drawing condition
asked to draw what they could remember onto a map of the room
