8.2: Schemata

A schema is a mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts (Bartlett, 1932). There are many different types of schemata, and they all have one thing in common: schemata are a method of organizing information that allows the brain to work more efficiently. When a schema is activated, the brain makes immediate assumptions about the person or object being observed.

When people learn new information, they adjust their schemata through two processes: assimilation and accommodation. First, individuals assimilate new information or experiences in terms of their current schemata. Assimilation is when they take in information that is comparable to what they already know. Accommodation describes when they change their schemata based on new information.

Role schemas

A role schema makes assumptions about how individuals in certain roles will behave (Callero, 1994). For example, imagine you meet someone who introduces himself as a firefighter. When this happens, your brain automatically activates the “firefighter schema” and begins making assumptions—essentially stereotyping—that this person is brave, selfless, and community-oriented. Despite not knowing this person, already you have unknowingly made judgments about him. Schemata also help you fill in gaps in the information you receive from the world around you. While schemata allow for more efficient information processing, there can be problems with schemata, regardless of whether they are accurate: Perhaps this particular firefighter is not brave, he just works as a firefighter to pay the bills while studying to become a children’s librarian.

Event schemas

An event schema, also known as a cognitive script, is a set of behaviors that can feel like a routine. Think about what you do when you walk into an elevator. First, the doors open and you wait to let exiting passengers leave the elevator car. Then, you step into the elevator and turn around to face the doors, looking for the correct button to push. You never face the back of the elevator, do you? And when you’re riding in a crowded elevator and you can’t face the front, it feels uncomfortable, doesn’t it?

Interestingly, event schemata can vary widely among different cultures and countries. For example, while it is quite common for people to greet one another with a handshake in the United States, in Tibet, you greet someone by sticking your tongue out at them, and in Belize, you bump fists (Cairns Regional Council, n.d.).

Because event schemata are automatic, they can be difficult to change. Imagine that you are driving home from work or school. This event schema involves getting in the car, shutting the door, and buckling your seatbelt before putting the key in the ignition. You might perform this script two or three times each day. As you drive home, you hear your phone’s ring tone. Typically, the event schema that occurs when you hear your phone ringing involves locating the phone and answering it or responding to your latest text message. So without thinking, you reach for your phone, which could be in your pocket, in your bag, or on the passenger seat of the car. This powerful event schema is informed by your pattern of behavior and the pleasurable stimulation that a phone call or text message gives your brain. Because it is a schema, it is extremely challenging for us to stop reaching for the phone, even though we know that we endanger our own lives and the lives of others while we do it (Neyfakh, 2013).

Remember the elevator? It feels almost impossible to walk in and not face the door. Our powerful event schema dictates our behavior in the elevator, and it is no different with our phones. Current research suggests that it is the habit, or event schema, of checking our phones in many different situations that makes refraining from checking them while driving especially difficult (Bayer & Campbell, 2012). Because texting and driving has become a dangerous epidemic in recent years, psychologists are looking at ways to help people interrupt the “phone schema” while driving. Event schemata like these are the reason why many habits are difficult to break once they have been acquired. As we continue to examine thinking, keep in mind how powerful the forces of concepts and schemata are to our understanding of the world.

This text is adapted from OpenStax, Psychology. OpenStax CNX.

People may often encounter an abundance of information—across all of the senses. To focus attention and to minimize cognitive overload, an individual may use a generalized framework they’ve formed and modified during previous interactions with the world.

For instance, they avoid getting hit by a car based on their previous walking experience in urban settings. They look both ways and ensure that vehicles notice pedestrians in the crosswalk.

This event, a mental model of crossing streets, is also known as a schema—an organized representation for different categories of things, people, or events.

Here, the person didn’t expect to see a unicycle rider in the middle of heavy traffic. Their schema had not been updated to include that possibility, so they didn’t even notice the towering man!

Perhaps if they’d known that the circus was in town, they would have been primed for the occurrence. But at least they can now update their model.

However, not all schemas are as easy to change. For example, in the case of gender expectations, someone might have schemas related to how men and women “should” behave in the roles they are expected to fill.

If what they view is inconsistent with what they believe, instead of updating their schemas, they might hold on to their originally-held stereotypes, and even recall the scene incorrectly.

While schemas commonly encourage many to conserve mental energy and take action quickly and efficiently, they may also cause somebody to misinterpret particular situations, even circumstances outside of conscious awareness.