Cognition: Schemas and Scripts

The Concept of Schemas

Schemas are conceptualized as mental structures that contain expectations and general category [Page 71]knowledge—that is, knowledge about certain kinds of objects that we believe to be grouped together. This may include general expectations about oneself, others, social roles, and events. The theory of schemas suggests that we use such mental structures to select and process information from the social world.

As mental structures, schemas contain general and abstract knowledge about the features of a certain category, but they can also include more specific examples of the category, and information about how certain features are related to one another. Specifically, S. E. Taylor and J. Crocker (1981) proposed that schemas are hierarchically organized. At the highest level, they include general or abstract information about the features of the category, and at the lowest level of the hierarchy, they include specific examples of the schema (e.g., events or specific people). Moreover, schemas are connected to one another through networks. For example, an individual can have a schema referring to university psychology students that includes general features of psychology students, such as empathy and orientation toward other people. The schema will include a theory about how these features are related to one another. For example, it may include the idea that being interested in others can lead to developing an attitude of empathy toward other people’s problems and feelings. In addition to the general features of the schema such as those mentioned, this schema will include specific examples of psychology students whom the individual has known. Last, the psychology student schema will be related to other schemas, such as university student, university, degree, exams, etc.

It would be difficult to function without schemas, because schemas provide us with a framework to lend meaning to the information we receive. Thus, they help us to achieve some sense of prediction and control over our social world. From this perspective, schemas are considered to be functional and essential for our adaptation. As existing mental structures, schemas help us to understand the complexity of social life. The concept of schema therefore emphasizes our active construction of social reality. Schemas guide our attention, perception, memories, and inferences.

Schemas help us to simplify reality. When we interpret events through the lens of schemas, we may not pay attention to apparently irrelevant perceptive details. This function of permitting fast and easy identification of examples and of guiding attention toward relevant information is very important because it simplifies cognitive processing, reducing the effort needed to lend meaning to our world, and frees other cognitive resources that may be necessary to deal with other tasks. Schemas also serve to lend meaning to behaviors that would otherwise be meaningless. This is known as schema-consistent processing.

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