Schemas

• what is a schema?

  knowledge package of everything we know about everything (obejcts, people, places, events)
• how are schemas built?

  through experiences/interactions with the environment
• where are schemas stored?

  LTM
• where are schemas generally derived from?

  past experiences, but can be refined from further interaction/experiences
• what do schemas NOT represent?

  reality
• why do schemas not represent reality?

  often built up via social exchanges (e.g. convo with others, media, etc..) rather than personal ones
• what are scripts?

  event schemas which tell us what do expect from that event (e.g. going to cafe)
• what are roles schemas?

  tell us about different roles & responsibilities of that role (e.g. nurse, teacher)
• what is the example for schemas?

  reconstructive memory
• who demonstrated reconstructive memory?

  Bartlett (1932)
• what did Bartlett do?

  ask partic to recall unfamiliar folk story called 'war of the ghosts'
• what did Bartlett find?

  tend to reconstruct events for them to fit with our existing schemas
• what did Bartlett conclude?

  3 ways of reconstructing memory
• what are the 3 ways of reconstructing memory?

  shortening

  rationalise

  confabulation
• what is shortening?

  parts of memory don't fit with schemas are left out so what's remembered is shorter
• what is rationalisation?

  parts of memory recalled in distorted way that fits existing schema
• what is confabulation?

  parts of memory invented to fill 'gaps' - this isn't deliberate - guided by schema to make better sense of memory