Schema Theory

Definition

• Schema: A concept or framework built from experience about objects, events, people, or groups. Defined as mental representations that organize our knowledge.
• Influence: Schemas affect how we interpret, organize, communicate, and remember information.

Types of Schemas

• Scripts: Schema about sequences of events in time (e.g., dining at a restaurant, Christmas day events).
• Self-schemas: Organizes information about ourselves (e.g., strengths, weaknesses).
• Social Schemas: Includes stereotypes and represents information about groups of people (e.g., Americans, women).

Effects of Schemas

• Integrate new information with existing knowledge.
• Influence information processing and memory reconstruction.
• Can modify memories when recalled.

Study 1: War of the Ghosts (1932)

Aim

• Investigate how memory is affected by previous knowledge.
• Explore cultural background effects on memory distortion.
• Examine reconstructive memory and cultural schema influence.

Procedure

• Sample: 20 British participants.
• Method: Repeated reproduction of a Native American story "The War of the Ghosts."
• Participants retold the story over varying intervals.

Results

• Memory distortion to fit social and cultural expectations.
• Transformations included omissions and cultural substitutions.
• Recalled versions became fixed over time with slight variations.

Conclusions

• Memory involves reconstruction, not mere copying.
• Preexisting schemas fill gaps in memory.
• Constant search for meaning aids memory but affects accuracy.

Evaluation

• Lack of control and specific instructions in the study.
• Potential conscious guessing by participants.
• No control group for cultural comparison.
• Study's quasi-experimental nature limits causation claims.

Study 2: Anderson and Pichert

Aim

• Examine how assigned perspectives (robber or home buyer) affect memory recall.

Sample

• 39 educational psychology students.

Procedure

• Story with 72 ideas, associated with burglary or home buying.
• Participants assigned perspectives, then asked to recall the story.
• Perspective changes affected recall.

Results

• Recall was better for burglar-related information.
• Perspective change led to increased recall of new relevant information.

Conclusion

• Different perspectives utilize different schemas, affecting information recall.

Evaluation

• High internal validity but low ecological validity.
• Expectancy and order effects might influence results.

Link to Schema Theory

• Both studies demonstrate how schema theory explains memory recall influenced by cultural and perspective-based schemas.
• Schema theory highlights the selective nature of memory and its reconstruction based on existing frameworks.