Schema Theory

Question 1

What are schemas?

Answer 1

An organised structure containing abstraction and generalisation which links a set of concepts together. Schemas are dynamic and open to change from experience and they provide context for new knowledge.

Question 2

What is a cognitive schema?

Answer 2

A mental network of knowledge, beliefs and expectations an individual has about certain aspects of the world. They are largely automatic and involve input from the sensory system and information stored in memory.

Question 3

How do schemas relate to memory?

Answer 3

• Remembers the ‘gist’ of meaning instead of actual wording.
• Use stored knowledge to make sense of incoming information.
• Use reconstructive memory resulting in distortion when information is not clear.
• Ignores information that is not in line with our schemas, leading to processing bias.
• Focuses information in line with schemas, resulting in confirmation bias.
• Schemas impact memory at encoding, storage and retrieval stages.

Question 4

Evaluate schema theory: strengths (5).

Answer 4

• Provides an explanation for how humans comprehend and recall information.
• Research using prose passages and episodic memory has demonstrated evidence for how cognitive schemas facilitate comprehension and encoding of memories.
• Cognitive schemas also provide an explanation for how humans recall items that are congruent with schemas and how memory may be affected by schemas in recognition and recall.
• Cognitive schemas are a plausible explanation of how and what humans remember.
• Self-schemas, which are the cognitive frameworks that organise beliefs and knowledge about oneself, provide an explanation for how individuals use information about the self to guide one’s perception about their environment.

Question 5

Limitations

Answer 5

• Little detail about how the process of cognitive schemas are formed and maintained.
• Cognitive schemas are vague by definition and difficult to empirically test.
• The theory of how cognitive schemas work is largely descriptive and can be applied to explain results from studies where recall of prose passages is assessed.
• Research into schema tends to describe how recall occurred but do not predict or test how schemas are formed.
• Prose recall texts are ambiguous when most real texts are not.
• Other theories such as dual coding theory may better explain how prose passages are recalled.