Social Psychology:Schemas

My individual Assgmnt on Schemas and Prototypes

1. Schemas and Prototypes Social Psychology

2. Table of Contents Introduction Definition of Schema Description of Schema Example of Schema Assimilation and Accomodation Example of Assimilaton and Accomodation Types of Schema Why Schema is important? Problems with Schema Self Fulfilling Prophecies Description of Prototype Definition of Prototype Example of Prototype Self Reflection References

3. Am I really what I think i am …?

4. Social psychology is a branch of psychology that studies individuals in the social context. In other words, it is the study of how and why people think, feel, and do the things they do depending upon the situation they are in. One of the sub topics in social psychology is Schemas and Prototypes. Early developments of the idea in psychology emerged with the gestalt psychologists and Jean Piaget : the term "schema" was introduced by Piaget in 1926.The concept was introduced into psychology and education through the work of the British psychologist Frederic Bartlett , who drew on the term used by neurologist Henry Head . It was expanded into schema theory by educational psychologist R. C. Andersen. Since then, many other terms have been used to describe schema, such as including "frame", "scene", and "script". The plural of Schema is Schemas (USA) or Schemata (UK). Schemas are also known as mental models, concepts, mental representations and knowledge structures Introduction

5. Definition Schemas Refers to a mental framework that allows you to make sense of aspects of your environment. Schemas enable you to interact with your environment in an automatic manner without effortful thought. OR A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Schemas can be useful because they allow us to take shortcuts in interpreting the vast amount of information that is available in our environment. Schemas can also contribute to stereotypes and make it difficult to retain new information that does not conform to our established ideas about the world.

6. Description Schemas affect what we notice, how we interpret things and how we make decisions and act. They act like filters, accentuating and downplaying various elements. They also help us forecast, predicting what will happen. We even remember and recall things via schemas, using them to ‘encode’ memories. Schemas appear very often in the attribution of cause. The multiple necessary cause schema is one where we require at least two causes before a ‘fit’ to the schema is declared. Once we have created or accepted a schema, we will fight hard to sustain it, for example by ignoring or force-fitting observations that do not comply with the schema. It is only after sustained contrary evidence that many of us will admit the need to change the schema. Schemas are often shared within cultures, allowing short-cut communications. We tend to have favorite schema which we use often. When interpreting the world, we will try to use these first, going on to others if they do not sufficiently fit. 

7. Schema Example For example, a young child may first develop a schema for a cat. She knows that a cat is cute, has hair, four legs and a tail. When the little girl encounters a puppy for the first time, she might initially call it a cat. After all, it fits in with her schema for the characteristics of a cat; it is a cute animal that has hair, four legs and a tail. Once she is told that this is a different animal called a puppy, she will modify her existing schema for a cat and create a new schema for a puppy.

8. Assimilation and Accommodation Jean Piaget viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through: Assimilation – Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation. Accommodation – This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.

9. Example of Assimilation A 2 year old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts “Clown, clown” . Example of Accommodation In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and wasn’t doing silly things to make people laugh With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of “clown”. Equilibration Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds.   Equilibrium is occurs when a child's schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation). Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it.

10. Role Schemas: Are about proper behaviours in given situations.Expectations about people in particular roles and social categories (e.g., the role of a social psychologist, student, doctor, teachers,janitors,Blacks ) Self-Schemas: Are about oneself.We also hold idealized or projected selves or possible selves.Expectations about the self that organize and guide the processing of self-relevant information( eg , i f we think we�re reliable we�ll try to always live up to that image. If we think we are sociable we are more likely to seek the company of others. ) Person Schemas: It’s about individual people.Expectations based on personality traits. What we associate with a certain type of person (e.g., introvert, warm person,outstanding leader,famous footballer) Event Schemas: Are also known as Scripts.Are about what happens in secific situations.Expectations about sequences of events in social situations. What we associate with certain situations (e.g., restaurant schemas,Demonstration,First Dating) Types Of Schemas Social schemas are about general social knowledge.  Idealized person schemas are called prototypes . The word is also used for any generalized schema.   Trait schemas about the innate characteristics people have. Object schemas about inanimate things and how they work. There are also ;

11. They reduce the amount of information to process They reduce ambiguity They guide our: Attention and encoding How quick we notice What we notice How we interpret what we notice Our memory Our judgments Why are Schemas important to us ? Accessibility the extent to which schemas and concepts are at the forefront of people’s minds (and therefore are likely to be used when making judgments about the social world) So how available the schema is in our head. Fit (applicable, representative, similar) the degree to which the accessible construct fits the object/person under judgment. Why do we use Schemas?

12. Schemas can distort reality and memories Schemas can persist, even when discredited - Belief perseverance Schemas can be self-fulfilling - People often live up to our expectations because we treat them in ways that make them act in accordance with these expectations The Problem with Schemas We have expectations (schemas) about other people. These expectations can influence how we act toward these people. These actions can cause these people to act in ways that are consistent with our expectations Self Fulfilling prophecies

13. Self Fullfilling Prophecies Chart

14. Our attention and encoding Our memory Our judgments Our behaviour which can in turn influence our social environment Schemas Influence Schemas are also self-sustaining, and will persist even in the face of disconfirming evidence. This is because if something does not match the schema, such as evidence against it, it is ignored. Some schema are easier to change than others, and some people are more open about changing any of their schemas than other people.

15. Prototype An early pioneer of prototype research was psychologist Eleanor Rosch , whose work dur in g the 1960s and 1970s was in spired by the Aristotelian assumption that categories are logical entities whose membership is def in ed by an item’s possession of simple match in g features. A concept in psychology that is related to the notion of prototype is schema. These two terms are often used in terchangeably, but there are subtle differences. Prototype refers to a specific ideal image of a category member, with all known attributes filled in . For example, the prototypic "apple" may engender a representation of red, round fruit, even if actual category members vary so much on these characteristic dimensions that the prototype becomes mean in gless for identify in g them, for example some apples are green.

16. Eliot Smith (1998) has argued that the dist in ction between schemas and prototype s is largely in consequential and that four general po in ts can be made about schema and prototype -based process in g. First, schemas and prototype s are pre exist in g knowledge structures that are learned from other people or from experience. Second, the effects of schemas and prototype s on free recall tasks result from two sources: in formation process in g that occurs at the time the stimulus in formation is first learned, and in formation process in g that occurs when the in formation is later retrieved or reconstructed. Third, schemas and prototype s can be primed, thus in fluenc in g in terpretations of in formation presented later. F in ally, separate processes may govern our recall of specific traits and our overall evaluations of a person, render in g prototype s just part of the process of know in g others.

17. Definition Prototype in Social Psychology A prototype is a cognitive representation that exemplifies the essential features of a category or concept. Specifically, a prototypical representation reflects the central tendency or the average or typical attributes of the members of a category . OR Example of Prototype The prototype of table consists of the knowledge that a table has four legs propp in g up a flat surface. People store prototypical knowledge of social groups for example , librarians, policemen or objects, for example, tables, cars . These prototypical representations facilitate people’s ability to encode, organize, and retrieve in formation about everyday stimuli. A prototype is an abstract mental representation of the central tendency of members of a category .

18. Prototype Example A mental concept or prototype of a car is likely a good cast Metal of used for driving that has four tyres, flexible back, and a square comfortable seat. When you came across a car for the first time, your brain processed the impression, comparing it to the prototype of the car. Once it determined that the car had characteristics similar to that prototype, it was filed away as an example of the concept car.

19. Self Reflection Some people dislike police because they have a schema of police as people who perceive everyone as guilty until proven innocent. Other people feel safe around police as their schemas are more about police as brave protectors. That’s describe me on my perception on Policemen. For very long I have schema on policemen. This schema can be categorized as Person S chema and Trait Schema. In my family . there were three relatives worked as policemen. I saw them as fierce ,mean and brutal people.They have such personalities like having deep,big,loud voice and also thick moustache. One time, I heard a story how that relative beat his own younger brother without mercy for something that can be solved amicably . I couldn’t deal with the thought of ‘how could he do that to his own flesh and blood ?’.it was so violence that his younger brother and also my second cousin had to be hospitalized. When I was a kid , I loved Bollywood movies. I took the liking ( actually,I still love Hindi movies..!!) for such movies form my grandparents. Most of the movies I watched , there were always a character of Policeman or ‘Inspector Sahab ’ having thick moustache,carrying a bat and always beating,torturing suspecting villains. The schema or mental framework that stick in my head was all Policemen were all the same. As time passed by, as I grow older and wiser ,my schema has changed.I have no more think all policemen as a fierce,mean and brutal. I have met many that were very gentle and ‘normal’ like any other individuals. A lesson that learn here, we cannot stereotyping every individual the same.They have their own personality and principle.

20. The Fierce look of Bollywood ‘policeman’ .

21. References http://psychology.about.com/od/academicresources/a/social-psychology-research-topics.htm http://what-when-how.com/social-sciences/prototypes-social-science / http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-psychology.html Michener, H. Andrew, John D. DeLamater , and Daniel J. Myers.  2004.  Social Psychology . 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. Cohen (1981) , Kelley (1972) , Weiner (1979, 1986) , Markus (1977) Wikipedia Encyclopedia  

22. That’s all and Thank you very much