schema theory Flashcards
what is a schema?
a schema is a mental representation of something: people, objects, events, etc. a schema could be a part of another schema (the dog schema could be a part of the animal schema). however, we may have schemata for objects or events that we have never encountered but may have read about, heard of, or seen in a movie. therefore schemata are often shared withing a culture.
study 1 (schema theory)
Barlett’s study of reconstructive memory (1932)
aim: to investigate the effects of schemas on recall based on Barlett’s schema theory, which states that memory involves an active reconstruction. according to this theory, what we remember depends on two factors: 1) the information presented to us; and 2) distortions created by our reliance on schemas. aimed to investigate the effect of culturally specific schema on a culturally unfamiliar story.
procedure: 20 english pps. natural exprmnt. pps were presented w a range of stimuli, including different stories and line drawings. a repeated reproduction method. time interval varied between days, months, and even years. the story called “the war of the ghosts” is selected bcuz it’s from a different culture (North American Indian). pps ‘ story reproductions were analyzed in order to assess the distortions produced.
results: Barlett found considerable distortions in the pps’ recollections. the distortions increased over successive recalls and most of these reflected the pps’ attempts to make the story more like a story from their own culture. changes from the original included: rationalizations, flattening, and sharpening.
conclusion: accuracy of memory is low. the changes to the story on recall showed that the pps were actively reconstructing the story to fit their existing schemas, so his schema theory was supported. he believed that schemas affect retrieval rather than encoding or storage. he also concluded that memory was forever being reconstructed.
study 2 (schema theory)
Sulin and Dooling (1974) intrusion of a thematic idea in retention of prose
study 3 (reconstructed memory)
Garry and Loftus (1996) imagination inflation: imagining a childhood event inflated confidence that it occurred.
aim: to investigate whether imagining a childhood event that is unlikely to have happened increases the confidence that it actually happened.
pps: 38 introductory psychology students.
procedure: in the first session: pps were asked to fill in a life event inventory consisting of 40 events, e.g. “you won a stuffed animal at a carnival game”. for each event, scale from 1 to 8 to indicate how likely it was that this had happened to them in childhood. for unlikely to have happened events, researchers chose 8 events to be used in the second session. during this session, 19 of the pps were asked to imagine 4 of these events, and 19 other pps were to imagine the other 4. for each event the researcher read a sentence or two to create the event setting, which pps were asked to imagine. then pps were asked what they imagined. the researchers then read a description of what happened and asked pps to imagine the event. pps again answered questions abt what they imagined. The next 3 events were considered in the same way. as the last event had been imagined the researchers pretended to have lost the papers from the first session and asked pps to fill in the life event inventory again. for each pps the researchers compared the responses in the first session to the responses in the second session both for events imagined and events not imagined.
results: for most of the events the scores did not change from the first to the second session, 57%in the imagined condition and 65% in the not imagined condition. for a few events pps in the second session thought an event to be less likely to have happened than what they thought in the first session; 9% in the imaged condition, and 10% in the not imaged condition. however, the most interesting result was that in the imaged condition more events were seen as being more likely to have happened than in the not imagined condition.
study 4 (reconstructive memory)
Loftus and Palmer (1974) reconstruction of automobile destruction: an example of the interaction between language and memory
aims: to investigate the effect on the memory of the words used in questions about a witnessed event.
experiment 1:
hypothesis: when pps are asked to estimate speed their answer will be affected by the wording of the question.
pps: 45 students
procedure:7 films were shown, each depicting a traffic accident. the length of the films ranged from 5 to 40 seconds. following each film, pps received a questionnaire asking them first to give an account of the accident and then to answer a series of questions. one of these questions was critical. 9 pps were asked “abt how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” other 9 pps were asked with thee verbs “smashed”, “collided”, “bumped”, and “contacted” in place of hit. a different ordering of the films was presented to each group of pps.
results: as hypothesised there was a clear difference between the mean estimated speeds depending on verb used (smashed>collide>bumped>hit>contracted),
experiment 2:
hypo: the words used in a question will affect pps’ later memory of what they had seen.
pps: 150 students
method: 1 one-min film depicting a multiple car accident. the accident lasted for 4 seconds. at the end of the film, pps received a questionnaire asking them first to describe the accident in their own words and then to answer a series of questions abt the accident. the critical question was the one that asked pps abt the speed of the cars. 50 pps were asked “abt how fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other?” 50 other pps were asked “abt how fast were the cars going when they hit each other?” 50 pps in the control group were not asked abt the speed of the cars. one week later, pps returned and without viewing the film again they answered a series of questions abt the accident. the critical one was, “di you see any broken glass?” yes or no. this question was embedded in a list of 10 questions. there was no broken glass in the accident.
results: the use of different verbs affected whether pps claimed having seen broken glass.
