Schema theory Studies Flashcards
(27 cards)
What topic does “Bartlett” link to?
Schema theory
What year was Bartlett done
1932
Bartlett (1932): Aim
To investigate how memory is influenced by previous knowledge and cultural background. Bartlett wanted to see if unfamiliarity and cultural differences would cause distortion of memory, based on the idea that memory is reconstructive and shaped by schemas.
Bartlett:
Who were the participants?
British individuals unfamiliar with Native American culture
Bartlett:
What type of study design did Bartlett use?
True experiment
Bartlett:
What was the story told to the participants?
The War of the Ghosts - a Native American legend, unfamiliar to British participants to reveal effects of schema processing.
Bartlett:
What were the two conditions?
- Repeated reproduction: Recalled the story multiple times over days, weeks, or longer.
- Serial reproduction: Recalled the story repeated it to another person.
Were there significant differences between serial and repeated reproduction?
No, both lead to similar patterns of distortion.
Bartlett:
What were the three types of distortion found in the results?
- Assimilation: Changed details to fit British culture.
- Leveling: Story became shorter.
- Sharpening: Reordered or added familiar/emotional content.
Why can’t Bartlett’s study be used as evidence that culture causes memory differences?
Because only British participants were studied. There was no cultural comparison group.
What is the concluded from bartlett?
When info is retrieved, it is changed to fit existing schemas.
What is one strength of Bartlett’s study?
High ecological validity due to naturalistic storytelling scenario.
What were limitations of Bartlett’s study?
- Poor controls - no standardised instructions or time after which they had to recall the story. Also did not tell ppants to be as accurate as possible.
- the DV was qualitative, meaning the results were subjective and difficult to compare. this impacts reliability.
Q: What was the aim of Brewer and Treyens’ (1981) study?
To investigate the role of schemas in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory
Who were the participants in Brewer and Treyens’ study?
86 university psychology students.
Describe the setup of the room used in Brewer’s study.
A mock office with:
- Typical items (e.g., typewriter, paper)
- Atypical (e.g., skull, toy top)
- Some expected items removed (e.g., books).
What was the procedure used in Brewer’s study?
- Participants waited in the office for 35 seconds.
- They were deceived and told that they were waiting for the experimenter.
- Afterward, they were taken to another room and asked to recall items in the office.
- Then, they completed a questionnaire (93% said they didn’t expect a memory task).
What were the 3 recall conditions in Brewer’s study?
- Written recall condition
- Drawing condition
- Verbal recognition condition
Brewer and Treyen: What happened in the written recall condition?
- Asked to write down as many objects as they could remember + describe it and its location.
- Then, recognition test containing a list of objects. Asked to rate how sure they were that each object was in the room.
Brewer and Treyen:
What happened in the drawing condition?
Given an outline of the room and asked to draw the objects they could remember
Brewer and Treyen:
What happened in the verbal recognition condition?
They were read a list of objects and asked to recall if they were in the room or not.
Brewer and Treyen:
What type of items were better recalled during free recall or drawing?
Schema-congruent items (typical office objects).
Brewer and Treyen:
What type of items were better recognized in the verbal recognition task?
Schema-incongruent items (e.g., skull) were more likely to be identified.
Brewer and Treyen:
What errors did participants make when recalling items?
- Inferred items consistent with schema (e.g., books, pens)
- Simplified or altered shapes to fit expectations (e.g., table shape)
