Barlett

• Year


  1932
• Learning Outcomes


  -Human beings are information processors and mental processes guide behaviour (principle).

  -Cognitive processes are influenced by social and cultural factors (principle).

  -Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies.

  -Discuss how social/cultural factors affect one cognitive process.

  -With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable?
• Research Method


  Laboratory experiment
• Aim


  To investigate how schemas influence recall and if memory is reconstructive.
• Procedure


  -Bartlett asked British participants to read through a story called "The War of Ghosts" twice.

  -The story was of Native American descent and included Native American terminology and storytelling characteristics.

  -This experiment was single blind control which meant none of the participants knew what the aim of the study was.

  -After 15 minutes Bartlett asked the participants to recreate the story they read from memory and later, to reproduce it a few more times in his laboratory.
• Findings


  -Bartlett found that the story was difficult for people from western countries to reproduce because of the unfamiliar style of the content.

  -Some participants applied characteristic changes into the story while reproducing it.

  -Bartlett found that after multiple reproductions of the story, it became much shorter (known as levelling 329 words to 180).

  -Another factor that changed the story was cultural background of the participants, as the story became more conventional, which meant that they only retained the details that had cultural significance or similarity with their own culture.

  -Even though there were distortions as the story was reproduced, it remained a coherent story and was interpreted as a whole
• Conclusions


  -This study supports the schema theory and suggests that culture can affect the information we are able to recall.

  -Bartlett suggested that people reconstruct the past by fitting into their existing schemas.

  -This implies that memories are not copies of the experiences, but rather reconstructions of the experiences.
• Applications


  -Helped explain (through the understanding of schemas) that when people remember stories, they usually omit details and introduce distortions.

  -Shows how schema theory is useful for understanding how people categorise information, interpret stories, and make inferences.

  -Contributes to the understanding of cognitive distortions in memory.

  -Allowed Bartlett to formulate the theory of reconstructive memory.

  -People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas.
• Evaluation (Strengths)


  -Highly controlled; easily replicated.

  -Suggests that memory is an active reconstruction process.

  -Ian Hunter confirmed Bartlett's findings in his replication of the study.

  -The results confirm schema theory and reconstructive memory.
• Evaluation (Limitations)


  -Participants did not receive standardized instructions and some memory distortions may be due to participants' guessing (demand characteristics).

  -Laboratory experiment: lack of ecological validity.

  -May focus too much on inaccuracy of memory.

  -Only British participants.