Scripts

What Is a Script?

Psychologists typically think of a script as a generic form of memory representation; it is not tied to one specific time and place. For example, a script for going to the doctor would contain the general events that typically unfold when you go to the doctor’s office. The script would not be specific to one particular visit but would represent what was most common or central to all of the visits to the doctor you have had. So in the example of a doctor’s office script, it would contain things like checking in, sitting in the waiting area, being called by a nurse, seeing the doctor, and leaving.

The script concept makes several assumptions about how they are constructed and organized. Scripts are believed to be derived from personal experiences. A script for going to the doctor would only be present in individuals who had had such an experience and most likely had that experience more than once. In addition, the more encounters with a similar type of event an individual has, the more elaborated and detailed their script may become. Scripts are also believed to contain information about the temporal sequence of events, essentially what order events should happen in. If you went to a restaurant and they took your dessert order before you even sat down that would likely stand out as unusual because it violates your script about eating at a restaurant (i.e., you should be seated before ordering and you should order your entrée before your dessert).

The Emergence of Scripts

Research on the development of the memory system in infancy and early childhood suggests that children are sensitive to the temporal sequence of events and are capable of remembering simple sequences over a delay of days or weeks well before the first year of life. This sensitivity to the temporal sequencing of events serves as the foundation for the development of scripts as a form of memory representation. Interestingly, young children also appear to be sensitive to the logical order of events and show better memory for sequences of events that follow a logical (or causal) order. As a result, young children seem to be especially adept at forming scripts in situations where the event unfolds not only in a regular temporal sequence but also in a logical/causal sequence.

By the third year of life, children are abstracting and using scripts in memory with regularity. Some research even suggests that children can abstract a [Page 1904]rudimentary script after a single event. As children have encounters with similar events (e.g., a day at school), these encounters are incorporated into a script. All subsequent encounters are assimilated into the existing script knowledge and enable further elaboration and detail to be built into the script as children get a better sense for what types of actions are typical of the scripted event. There is no exact number for how many experiences with a similar event will result in a script or how many more encounters are needed before the script becomes stable and unchanging. Psychologists do believe at some point scripts do stabilize and in fact are thought to be remarkably stable. The formation of scripts by children is also supported/facilitated through conversation and reminiscing with family. During conversations about the past, parents often draw attention to, and help organize, the temporal and causal sequences of the events of the day. This family reminiscing is thought to help the child organize their memories and support the formation of scripts as well as specific autobiographical memories. For example, children’s recall is often better and more organized when they are recalling actions and event sequences that follow a script when compared to those that do not.

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