Schema theory - SAQ

Question 1

When did Bartlett do his experiment?

Answer 1

1932

Question 2

Aim of Bartlett (1932)

Answer 2

To investigate how the memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge and if cultural background and unfamiliarity with a text would lead to distortion of memory when the story was recalled.

Question 3

Hypothesis of Bartlett (1932)

Answer 3

Memory is reconstructive and that people store and retrieve information according to expectations formed by cultural schemas

Question 4

What story were participants told?

Answer 4

A Native American legend called ‘The War of the Ghosts’

Question 5

What nationality were the participants?

Answer 5

British

Question 6

What is schema?

Answer 6

mental representations that organise our knowledge, beliefs and expectations

Question 7

What is social schemas?

Answer 7

mental representations about groups of people

Question 8

What do social schemas create?

Answer 8

Stereotypes

Question 9

What are self schemas?

Answer 9

Mental representations about ourselves

Question 10

What was the first condition of Bartlett (1932)?

Answer 10

One group was asked to use repeated reproduction.

Participants heard the story and were told to reproduce it after a short time and then to do so again repeatedly over a period of time.

Question 11

What was the second condition of Bartlett (1932)?

Answer 11

The second group was told to use serial reproduction.

They had to recall the story and repeat it to another person.

Question 12

Was there a difference in both conditions on how they recalled the story?

Answer 12

No

Question 13

What was the similarity between the two groups?

Answer 13

both conditions changed the story as they tried to remember it

Question 14

What is distortion?

Answer 14

When the participants change the story as they try to remember it

Question 15

What are the 3 patterns of distortion in the study?

Answer 15

Assimilation, Levelling and Sharpening

Question 16

What is assimilation?

Answer 16

The story becomes more consistent with the participants’ own cultural expectations unconsciously.

Question 17

What is levelling?

Answer 17

the story also became shorter with each retelling as participants omitted information which was seen as not important.

Question 18

What is sharpening?

Answer 18

Participants also tended to change the order of the story in order to make sense of it using terms more familiar to the culture of the participants. They also added detail and/or emotions.

Question 19

What does Bartlett (1932) study present?

Answer 19

Remembering is not a passive but is an active process where information is retrieved and changed to fit into existing schemas.

From this he came with the theory of reconstructive memory.