Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsOverviewHistoryExamplesTypesHow They ChangeImpact on LearningChallenges
Table of ContentsView All
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Table of Contents
Overview
History
Examples
Types
How They Change
Impact on Learning
Challenges
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In psychology, a schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information. Simply put, a schema describes patterns of thinking and behavior that people use tointerpret the world.
We use schemas because they allow us to take shortcuts in interpreting the vast amount of information that is available in our environment. Learn more about what a schema is, different types of schemas, their impact, challenges, and more.
Overview of Schemas
You may have heard the word schema as it relates to coding, where it refers to how a database is structured. While a schema in psychology still refers tohow information is organized, it focuses on how the human mind does it.
Schemas are mental models found inlong-term memory. The brain utilizes such models to organize information about the world. Schemas are essentially built from our memories of our unique experiences.
However, these mental frameworks also cause us to exclude pertinent information to focus instead only on things that confirm our pre-existing beliefs and ideas. Schemas can contribute to stereotypes and make it difficult to retain new information that does not conform to our established ideas about the world.
History of Schemas
Theorist Jean Piaget introduced the term schema, and its use was popularized through his work. According to his theory ofcognitive development, children go through a series of stages of intellectual growth.
InPiaget’s theory, a schema is both the category of knowledge as well as the process of acquiring that knowledge. He believed that people are constantly adapting to the environment as they take in new information and learn new things.
As experiences happen and new information is presented, new schemas are developed and old schemas are changed or modified.
Schema Examples
Looking at an example can help you better understand what a schema is. Consider how a young child may first develop a schema for a horse. They know that a horse is large and has hair, four legs, and a tail. So, when the child encounters a cow for the first time, they might initially call it a horse.
After all, the cow fits in with their schema for the characteristics of a horse—it is a large animal that has hair, four legs, and a tail. Once the child is told that this is a different animal called a cow, they will modify their existing schema for a horse and create a new schema for a cow.
Now, let’s imagine that the child encounters a miniature horse for the first time and mistakenly identifies it as a dog. The parents explain that the animal is actually a very small type of horse, so the child must modify their existing schema for horses. The child now realizes that while some horses are very large animals, others can be very small.
Through new experiences, existing schemas are modified and new information is learned.
Types of Schemas
Verywell / Emily Roberts
While Piaget focused on childhood development, schemas continue to form and change throughout life. Object schemas are just one type of schema that focuses on what an inanimate object is and how it works. People have all types of schemas for all kinds of information, including schemas about people, objects, places, events, and relationships.
For example, most people in industrialized nations have a schema for what a car is. Your overall schema for a car might include subcategories for different types of automobiles such as a compact car, sedan, or sports car.
The four main types of schemas are:
How Schemas Change
The processes through which schemas are adjusted or changed are known as assimilation and accommodation.
In assimilation, new information is incorporated into pre-existing schemas.In accommodation, existing schemas might be altered or new schemas formed as a person learns new information and has new experiences.
Schemas tend to be easier to change during childhood but can become increasingly rigid and difficult to modify as people grow older. Schemas will often persist, even when people are presented with evidence that contradicts their beliefs.
In many cases, people will only begin to slowly change their schema when inundated with a continual barrage of evidence pointing to the need to modify it.
How Schemas Affect Learning
Schemas also play a role in education and the learning process. For example:
Challenges of Schemas
While the use of schemas to learn, in most situations, occurs automatically or with little effort, sometimes an existing schema can hinder the learning of new information.Prejudice is one example of a schema that prevents people from seeing the world as it is and inhibits them from taking in new information.
Byholding certain beliefs about a particular group of people, this existing schema may cause people to interpret situations incorrectly. When an event happens that challenges existing beliefs, people may come up with alternative explanations that uphold and support their existing schema instead of adapting or changing their beliefs.
Consider how this might work forgender expectationsand stereotypes. Everyone has a schema for what is considered masculine and feminine in their culture. Such schemas can also lead to stereotypes about how we expect men and women to behave and the roles we expect them to fill.
In one interesting study, researchers showed children images that were either consistent with gender expectations (such as a man working on a car and a woman washing dishes), while others saw images that were inconsistent with gender stereotypes (a man washing dishes and a woman fixing a car).
When later asked to remember what they had seen in the images, children who held very stereotypical views of gender were more likely to change the gender of the people they saw in the gender-inconsistent images. For example, if they saw an image of a man washing dishes, they were more likely to remember it as an image of a woman washing dishes.
Gender Schema Theory and Roles in Culture
Takeaways
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development provided an important dimension to our understanding of how children develop and learn. Through the processes of adaptation, accommodation, and equilibration, we build, change, and grow our schemas, which provide a framework for our understanding of the world around us.
4 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Baldwin MW.Relational schemas and the processing of social information.Psycholog Bull. 1992;112(3):461-484. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.112.3.461
Padesky CA.Schema change processes in cognitive therapy.Clin Psychol Psychother.1994;1:267–278. doi:10.1002/cpp.5640010502
Aosved AC, Long PJ, Voller EK.Measuring sexism, racism, sexual prejudice, ageism, classism, and religious intolerance: The Intolerant Schema Measure.J App Soc Psychol. 2009;39(10):2321-2354. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00528.x
Levine LE, Munsch J.Child development; an active learning approach.Lindon J, Brodie K.Understanding child development: 0-8 Years.
Levine LE, Munsch J.Child development; an active learning approach.
Lindon J, Brodie K.Understanding child development: 0-8 Years.
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