A schema theory

The term schema was first introduced in 1923 by

developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget
proposed a theory of cognitive development that utilized
schemas as one of its key components.

Piaget defined schemas as basic units of knowledge that

related to all aspects of the world. He said that different
schemas are mentally applied in appropriate situations to
help people both comprehend and interpret information.

 
To Piaget, cognitive development hinges on an
individual acquiring more schemas and increasing the
nuance and complexity of existing schemas.

The concept of schema was later described by

psychologist Frederic Bartlett in 1932.  Bartlett conducted
experiments that tested how schemas factored into
people’s memory of events.

He suggested that schemas help people process and

remember information. So when an individual is
confronted with information that fits their existing
schema, they will interpret it based on that cognitive
framework. However, information that doesn’t fit into an
existing schema will be forgotten.

A schema is always connected to other schemas in a web

of associations Although schemas can vary in their
accessibility, they are long-term, relatively permanent
structures that are capable of being searched, retrieved,
and stored again.

Types of Schemas

There are many kinds of schemas that assist us in

understanding the world around us, the people we interact
with, and even ourselves.

 Types of schemas include:

 Object schemas, which help us understand and

interpret inanimate objects, including what different
 objects are and how they work. For example, we have
a schema for what a phone is and how to use it. Our
computer schema may also include subcategories like
editing, gaming, and working with computer.
 Person schemas, which are created to help us
understand specific people. It help us such a way that
how the way an individual looks, the way they act,
what they like and don’t like, and their personality
traits.
 Social schemas, which help us understand how to
behave in different social situations. For example, if
an individual plans to produce a  movie, their movie
schema provides them with a general understanding
of the making procedures of a movie.
 Event schemas,  which include the sequence of
actions and behaviors one expects during a given
event. For example, when an individual enter into
class room,  they can wear an identity card, on time
attend the lecture selecting a seat, silencing their
 mobile phone, observing  the class carefully, and
taking notes.
 Self-schemas, which help us understand ourselves.
You can focus on what you know , who are you and
what is your history and future,
 Role schemas, which incorporate our expectations of
how a person in a specific social role will behave. For
example, we expect a professor to be intellectual,
commanding and clam. While not all professors will
act that way, our schema sets our expectations of
each professor we interact with.

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Functions Of Schemas
Schemas can help us efficiently learn and understand new
information, at times they may also derail that process.
For instance, schemas can lead to prejudice. Some of our
schemas will be stereotypes, generalized ideas about
whole groups of people. Whenever we encounter an
individual from a certain group that we have a stereotype
about, we will expect their behavior to fit into our
schema. This can cause us to misinterpret the actions and
intentions of others.

 
With regard to media effects, schemas have three main
functions (

First, they facilitate the processing of

information because they enable individuals to organize
and retrieve information in a structured manner. 

        Stable schemas lend a sense of order to our

understanding of the world. If individuals shifted their
schemas in response to any new information this order
would be lost, and we would be unable to cope with our
environment.

  Second, schemas determine which bits of information

are perceived and processed by individuals. Schemas
structure the way in which we perceive the world: when a
message is matched against a schema, elements of the
message are ordered in a manner that reflects the structure
of the schema.
 Third and last, schemas help individuals to fill in the
gaps when information is incomplete. Individuals are
likely to go beyond the information that is presented in
the media because they draw inferences that are congruent
with their pre-existing schemas.

 According to schema theory, people are cognitive misers

because they strive to process the incoming information
economically. Therefore, people do not attend to all the
information they are exposed to. When confronted with
new, incoming information, people draw on their existing
schemas to understand and to assimilate the message. 

When individuals cannot identify a schema to understand

the message, either they can attempt to establish a new
schema, or the information cannot be integrated. 

In fact, schema theory posits that schema-irrelevant

information tends to be ignored, and will therefore not be
memorized.
  A Schema Theory Perspective On Media Effects

The most extensive application of schema theory in

communication research concerns news reception and
news effects. 

 As Graber (1984) observed, people would not be able to

tame the information tide without their schemas. 

Schema theory helps to explain how people represent the

public agenda, learn from the news, resist media
information, and change their existing attitudes.

Schemas And Agenda Setting

From a schema theory perspective, issues can be

understood as individual schemas. These schemas are
 stored in long-term memory; they can be retrieved and
made salient by media coverage.

The importance that individuals attach to public issues is

determined not only by the amount of media coverage but
also by individual schemas. Individuals do not simply
count how often an issue occurs in the media and assess
the issue importance from the simple number of counts.

An agenda-setting effect can be described as an

interaction between individual schemas and the amount of
media coverage.

According to schema theory, this effect depends on two

crucial features.

1. First, the more frequently a schema is activated, the

     

higher is its accessibility and the more likely are agenda-

setting effects.
2. Second, however, the amount of schema activation
    

depends on the fit between the issue schema and the

individual schema. Schemas And Learning From The
News

Rumelhart (1980) suggests three broad processes of

schema learning: 

accretion, tuning, and restructuring.

Accretion refers to the accumulation of new information

into an existing schema, following the schematic structure
that is already present. This kind of learning allows the
acquisition of large amounts of specific knowledge about
a given topic. With regard to media effects, the process of
accretion explains why prior knowledge is associated with
greater learning. When individuals already possess
schemas about a topic, they are more likely to understand
the information because it can be easily integrated into an
already existing structure. This should also lead to better
recall of the information learned.

If individuals are nevertheless willing to process and to

understand the information, there must be a modification
of existing schemas. This can be accomplished either by
the tuning of an existing schema or by the creation of a
new one (restructuring). Tuning involves the gradual
modification of a schema. This can occur by continuously
upgrading it in the direction of the current experience, for
instance by adding a new slot to the schema or by
generalizing a schema to other situations .  

Schemas And Resistance To Change

Information from the media becomes subject to a

schematic filtering. Rarely do individuals process the new
information in a neutral and unbiased manner. An
activated schema directs attention to certain aspects of a
message that are relevant to the schema.
Schematic processing is the principal reason why
individuals forget specific details of news reports and
retain only global impressions: Individuals mainly extract
personally relevant information that suits their personal
schemas.

Resistance to schema change is contingent upon at

least three other major factors

1. the level of initial schema development, For well-

     

developed schemas, inconsistent information is

confronted with a vast store of consistent
information.  This idea corresponds to persuasion
theory, which suggests that more knowledgeable
people are more difficult to persuade .For example,
it is more difficult to change an expert’s schema
than a novice’s.

2. the ambiguity or consonance of the incoming

     

information, The ambiguity of the incoming

 information also impacts the resistance to schema
change. The more ambiguous (i.e., contradictory
and conflicting) and the less consonant media
coverage is, the less likely is it that an existing
schema will change.

3. the frequency of the inconsistent information. Last

     

but not least, the simple frequency of inconsistent

information is a crucial predictor of schema
change.

Schemas And Attitude Change

Attitude theories emphasize the evaluative components of

attitude objects. A schema theory account of attitude
change is built on the idea that attitude change depends on
salient schemas.

This idea is based on an associative network model of

human  memory, which assumes that knowledge is
organized as an associated web of cognitive units such as
schemas. Within this network, the activation of one
schema can spread through the network to interconnected
schemas, leading to the activation of related concepts. At
any single point in time, only a small part of the
knowledge store is subject to active thought.