Cognitive Approach - Assumption 3: Schemas

Question 1

what is a schema

Answer 1

cognitive structure that serves as a framework for one’s knowledge about people, places, objects and events

Question 2

what do we use schemas for

Answer 2

to organise our knowledge of the world and understand new information

Question 3

where are our schemas stored in

Answer 3

long term memory

Question 4

what are the different types of schemas

Answer 4

6 of them:
- Person schema
- self schema
- role schema
- event schema
- object schema
- social schema

Question 5

what is a person schema

Answer 5

created to help us understand specific people

Question 6

what is a self schema

Answer 6

Knowledge about ourselves

Question 7

what is a role schema

Answer 7

encompass our expectations of how a person in a specific social role will behave

Question 8

what is an event schema

Answer 8

also called scripts, which encompass the sequence of actions and behaviours one expects during a given event

Question 9

what is an object schema

Answer 9

help us understand and interpret inanimate objects, including what different objects are and how they work

Question 10

what is a social schema

Answer 10

help us to understand how to behave in different social situations

Question 11

how are schemas created and stored

Answer 11

developed form our experiences. can change and develop over time

Question 12

why are schemas good

Answer 12

• simplify our interactions with the world
• they are mental shortcuts that help us to learn and think more quickly

Question 13

why are schemas problematic

Answer 13

• cause us to ignore important information and to focus only on things that confirm our pre-existing beliefs and ideas
• contributing towards stereotypes

Question 14

what is an example from psychology

Answer 14

Bartlett’s schema theory (1932)

Question 15

How was the experiment conducted

Answer 15

• showed 20 British students a Native American ghost story
• he asked them to recall it on several occasions, after a few hours, days or even years
• Barlett compared the recalled versions with the original story

Question 16

what was discovered during the experiment

Answer 16

• participants shortened and rationalised the story, confabulating the details
• changed unfamiliar parts of the story in line with their schemas e.g. canoes became paddles

Question 17

what was concluded after the experiment

Answer 17

• people use their schemas to help interpret and remember the world around them
• Memory is a reconstructive process, we change our memories to match our schemas

Question 18

Apply this assumption to a human behaviour

Answer 18

• formation of romantic relationships
• the way we view ourselves (self schemas) has a bearing on our romantic relations
• the matching hypothesis suggests individuals will purse relationships with individuals of a similar level of attractiveness. Therefore individuals confident in their physical attractiveness will pursue relationships with other physically attractive people
• also halo effect suggests that if our persons schema contains positive impressions (e.g. that person was friendly) we then assume other positive characteristics about them (e.g. intelligence) —> therefore our schema for other persons plays a role too