Describe, using a relevant study, schema theory.

Schema theory suggests that all knowledge is organised into units based on previous experiences and factors such as childhood experiences, repetitive exposure and reinforcement.
Bartlett's 1932 study investigated whether people’s memory for a story is affected by previous knowledge (schemas). Bartlett asked British participants to read a culturally unfamiliar Native American story called 'war of the ghosts' and recall it over a period of days, months or years. Bartlett found that participants remembered the main idea of the story but ·    changed unfamiliar elements to make sense of the story by using terms more familiar to their own cultural expectations. 
Conclusion: culturally unfamiliar details were changed and fit into pre-existing culturally familiar schemas in order to be retained. Bartlett's schema theory explains how we store and organic knowledge for easier recall.

LH
Answered by Lydia H. Psychology tutor

1900 Views

See similar Psychology GCSE tutors

Related Psychology GCSE answers

All answers ▸

How To Outline and Evaluate One Biological Therapy for Schizophrenia (12 marks).


Describe one theory of cognitive development.


In a study, researchers had to use different participants in each condition and this could have affected the results. Outline one way in which the researchers could have addressed this issue. 4 marks.


Define 'psychotic symptom' and 'unusual perceptual experience', and outline the main differences between them.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

© MyTutorWeb Ltd 2013–2025

Terms & Conditions|Privacy Policy
Cookie Preferences