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Chapter 8. General Knowledge. Schemas and Scripts. schema —generalized knowledge about a situation, an event, or a person Schema theories are especially helpful when psychologists try to explain how people process complex situations and events. Schemas and Scripts.
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Chapter 8 General Knowledge
Schemas and Scripts • schema—generalized knowledge about a situation, an event, or a person • Schema theories are especially helpful when psychologists try to explain how people process complex situations and events.
Schemas and Scripts • Background on Schemas and Scripts • Schema theories propose that people encode "generic" information about a situation, then use this information to understand and remember new examples of the schema. • "This is just like what happened when . . ."
Schemas and Scripts • Background on Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Scripts • script—simple, well-structured sequence of events • restaurant script • life scripts
Schemas and Scripts • Background on Schemas and Scripts • Identifying the Script in Advance • Scripts are recalled more accurately if identified in advance. • Demonstration 8.4: Trafimow & Wyer (1993) • scripts with irrelevant details • script-identifying event either first or last • recall events
Schemas and Scripts • Background on Schemas and Scripts • Identifying the Script in Advance • Demonstration 8.4—Trafimow & Wyer (1993) (continued) • Event recall was higher when the script-identifying event was presented first, rather than last. • Events in a sequence are much more memorable if you understand—from the very beginning—that these events are all part of a standard script.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • Demonstration 8.5: Brewer and Treyens (1981) • recall objects from an office waiting room • highly likely to recall objects consistent with "office schema" • "remembered" items that were not in the room, but were consistent with "office schema"
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • Neuschatz and coauthors (2002) • "lecture schema" • People are more likely to recall schema-inconsistent material when that material is vivid or surprising.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • Davidson (1994) • read stories describing well-known schemas • especially likely to recall schema-inconsistent events that interrupted the normal, expected story
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • General Conclusions about Schemas and Memory Selection • If the information describes a minor event—and time is limited—people tend to remember information accurately when it is consistent with a schema (e.g., the desk and the chair in the ‘‘office’’).
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • General Conclusions about Schemas and Memory Selection • If the information describes a minor event—and time is limited—people do not remember information that is inconsistent with the schema (e.g., the wine bottle and the picnic basket).
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • General Conclusions about Schemas and Memory Selection • People seldom create a completely false memory for a lengthy event that did not occur (e.g., the lecturer did not dance across the room).
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Selection • General Conclusions about Schemas and Memory Selection • When the information describes a major event that is inconsistent with the standard schema, people are likely to remember that event (e.g., the child who crashes into Sarah).
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Boundary Extension • Demonstration 8.6 • boundary extension—our tendency to remember having viewed a greater portion of a scene than was actually shown
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Boundary Extension • Intraub and colleagues • see photo then draw replica of photo • Participants consistently produced a sketch that extended the boundaries beyond the view presented in the original photo. • activate a perceptual schema
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Boundary Extension • relevance in eyewitness testimony situations
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • abstraction—a memory process that stores the meaning of a message but not the exact words • verbatim memory—word-for-word recall
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Constructive Approach • Bransford and Franks (1971) • listen to sentences from several different stories • recognition test including new items • People were convinced that they had seen these new items before (false alarm).
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Constructive Approach • Bransford and Franks (1971) (continued) • False alarms were particularly likely for complex sentences consistent with the original schema. • False alarms were unlikely for sentences violating the meaning of the earlier sentences.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Constructive Approach • constructive model of memory—People integrate information from individual sentences in order to construct larger ideas; later, they cannot untangle the constructed information from the verbatim sentences.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Pragmatic Approach • pragmatic view of memory—people pay attention to the aspect of a message that is most relevant to their current goals • People know that they usually need to accurately recall the gist of a sentence. • They also know that they usually do not need to remember the specific wording of the sentences.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Pragmatic Approach • However, in those cases where they do need to pay attention to the specific wording, then they know that their verbatim memory needs to be highly accurate.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Pragmatic Approach • Murphy and Shapiro (1994)—Insult Study • read letters from "Samantha" to cousin or boyfriend • bland vs. sarcastic comments • recognition test on original, paraphrased, or irrelevant sentences
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Pragmatic Approach • Murphy and Shapiro (1994)—Insult Study • Correct recognition was higher for sentences from the sarcastic condition than for sentences in the bland condition. • more false alarms for paraphrases of bland sentences than sarcastic sentences • more accurate verbatim memory for the sarcastic version than for the bland version
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Abstraction • The Current Status of Schemas and Memory Abstraction • two compatible approaches • In many cases we integrate information into large schemas. • In some cases we know that specific words matter and pay close attention to precise wording.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • memory integration—background knowledge encourages people to take in new information in a schema-consistent fashion • People may remember schema-consistent information, even though it was not part of the original stimulus material. • Schemas do not always operate. Factors such as delay before testing and task complexity influence the use of schemas.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • The Classic Research on Memory Integration • Bartlett (1932) • memory as the complex interaction between the participants' prior knowledge and the material presented • individual's unique interests and personal background often shape the contents of memory
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • The Classic Research on Memory Integration • "The War of the Ghosts" study • Native American story read and recalled by British students • Participants tended to • omit material that didn't make sense from their own viewpoint
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • The Classic Research on Memory Integration • "The War of the Ghosts" study • Participants tended to: (continued) • shape the story into a more familiar framework • borrow more heavily from their previous knowledge as time passed before additional recall
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • The Classic Research on Memory Integration • Schemas can influence our inferences when we are reading ambiguous or unclear material. • When we have the correct background knowledge, it is generally useful.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • gender stereotypes—widely shared sets of beliefs about the characteristics of females and males • When people know someone's gender, they often draw conclusions about that individual's personal characteristics.
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Explicit Memory Task • Dunning and Sherman (1997) • read sentences followed by recognition-memory test • "new" sentences consistent or inconsistent with gender stereotypes
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Explicit Memory Task • Dunning and Sherman (1997) (continued) • more likely to mistakenly "remember" a new sentence as "old" when it was consistent with a gender stereotype
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Implicit Memory Tasks • Using neuroscience techniques to assess gender stereotypes • Osterhout, Bersick and McLaughlin (1997) • ERP technique • stereotype-consistent sentences vs. stereotype-inconsistent sentences
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Implicit Memory Tasks • Using neuroscience techniques to assess gender stereotypes • Osterhout, Bersick and McLaughlin (1997) (continued) • change in ERPs for stereotype-inconsistent words, but not for stereotype-consistent words
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Implicit Memory Tasks • Using the Implicit Association Test to assess gender stereotypes • Nosek, Banaji, and Greenwald (2002) • Implicit Association Test (IAT)—based on the principle that people can mentally pair two related words together much more easily than they can pair two unrelated words
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Implicit Memory Tasks • Using the Implicit Association Test to assess gender stereotypes • Nosek, Banaji, and Greenwald (2002) (continued) • stereotype-consistent pairings (male/math vs. female/arts) • stereotype-inconsistent pairings (female/math vs. male/arts)
Schemas and Scripts • Schemas and Memory Integration • Research on Memory Integration Based on Gender Stereotypes • Implicit Memory Tasks • Using the Implicit Association Test to assess gender stereotypes • Nosek, Banaji, and Greenwald (2002) (continued) • Participants responded significantly faster to the stereotype-consistent parings than to the stereotype-inconsistent pairings.
Schemas and Scripts • Individual Differences: Country of Residence and Gender Stereotypes • Nosek and coauthors (2009) • Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMS) • 8th grade females and males in 34 different countries • compare "male advantage" scores on TIMS test with IAT measure of gender stereotyping
Schemas and Scripts • Individual Differences: Country of Residence and Gender Stereotypes • Nosek and coauthors (2009) • Countries with the highest measures of gender stereotyping were also more likely to be the countries were males performed better than females in both math and science.
Schemas and Scripts • Conclusions About Schemas • Schemas often influence our cognitive processes: • in the initial selection of material • in remembering visual scenes • in abstraction • in the final process of integration
Schemas and Scripts • Conclusions About Schemas • However: • We often select material for memory that is not consistent with our schemas. • We may sometimes remember that we saw only a portion of an object, rather than the complete object.
Schemas and Scripts • Conclusions About Schemas • However: • We frequently recall the exact words of a passage as it was originally, rather than storing an abstract memory. • We may keep the elements in memory isolated from each other, rather than integrating these elements together.
Schemas and Scripts • Conclusions About Schemas • In summary, both schemas (top-down processing) and unique features of each stimulus (bottom-up information) influence memory.