Two Key Studies on Schema Theory: Bartlett (1932) & Riso et al. (2006) (HL IB Psychology)

Key Study 1: Bartlett (1932)

Aim: To investigate the effect of cultural schemas on recall of a culturally unfamiliar story.

Participants: 20 male undergraduate students from the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Procedure: Bartlett instigated a procedure known as serial reproduction, in which one participant read the story then reproduced it in writing; this was then read to a second person who then wrote his own memory of the story which was then read to a third person who then produced his own version of the story and so on.

Results: Bartlett found that the resulting stories bore little similarity to the original Native American folk tale. The changes made by the participants included:

• Omission: Key details of the story were ignored or missed out, particularly unfamiliar or unpleasant details such as a contorted face or black coming out of a mouth. Participants even omitted the key idea that ghosts were fighting which is surprising as this is the title of the story. Ghosts were soon dropped from the re-telling of the story as they do not fit with the way that adult males see the world, particularly in relation to war; details such as a contorted face were omitted as they may have caused unpleasant memories.

• Assimilation and sharpening: Story details were changed to suit the participants’ own cultural schemas e.g. ‘canoes’ became ‘boats’; ‘paddling’ became ‘rowing’. Details such as the spirit wound were re-interpreted as a flesh wound with words such as ‘therefore’ and ‘because’ inserted to explain the events.

• Levelling: The story became shorter - the original story was approximately 350 words and the participants’ version was around 180 words

Conclusion: Cultural schemas contribute to the reconstructive nature of memory i.e. memory is not a passive state in which events are recorded like a camera would record them, instead memory is an active process in which pre-existing information and expectations may interfere with the accuracy and reliability of the memory

Evaluation of Bartlett (1932)

Strengths

• Bartlett’s study was one of the first pieces of research to highlight the role of schema in reconstructive memory e.g. two people who witness the same event may give very different accounts of what they have seen

• Bartlett’s procedure (serial reproduction) is replicable which means that it could be repeated to check for reliability

Limitations

• This is very dated research: university students in the UK are much more aware of wider multi-cultural issues today than they were in the 1930s which means that the results may lack temporal validity 

• Bartlett’s sample was small and limited to an elite demographic of university students who were all male which makes the findings difficult to generalise

Key Study 2: Riso et al. (2006)

Aim: 

• To investigate the extent to which Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) are stable over time

• To investigate the role of EMS in the experience of major depressive disorder (MDD)

Participants: 55 patients (43 female; 12 male, mean age=40 years; 90% Caucasian) who had been diagnosed with MDD.

Procedure: 

• Participants were given a questionnaire designed specifically to measure the extent of their EMS (a total of 16 EMS were identified on the questionnaire)

• The EMS which featured on the questionnaire included:

  • Emotional deprivation - ‘For the most part, people have not been there to meet my emotional needs’

  • Failure to achieve - ‘Most other people are more capable than I am in areas of work and achievement’

  • Vulnerability to harm - ‘I can’t seem to escape the feeling that something bad is about to happen’

  • Subjugation - ‘I feel that I have no choice but to give in to other peoples’ wishes, or else they will retaliate or reject me in some way’

• The severity of depression at baseline was measured and there was a follow-up questionnaire 2.5 to 5 years later

Results: Correlations between EMS at the baseline measurement and the 2.5-5 year  follow-up were high, with a median of 0.75 which shows that MDD had not improved for participants who registered high on the EMS scale.

Conclusion: 

• EMS appear to be stable (i.e. they are consistent in nature and resistant to change or improvement)  and long-lasting

• EMS play a key role in MDD into adulthood

Evaluation of Riso et al. (2006)

Strengths

• These findings may help to inform treatment for patients with MDD i.e. by identifying EMS at an early stage affords the opportunity to apply remedial interventions such as CBT

• Using baseline and then follow-up measurements helps to increase the validity of the findings as the two measurements can be compared to identify EMS across time

Limitations

• The participants in this study were MDD patients so  the stability of EMS in other mental disorders may be different

• There are potential ethical issues to consider when conducting research with MDD patients: great care must be taken to protect the participants from harm so as not to contribute to the severity of their MDD