Piaget’s Schema: Accommodation and Assimilation of New Information

Summary

The script explores the concept of schemas as mental frameworks that shape our understanding and memory. It explains assimilation, where new information fits existing schemas, and accommodation, required for unique information. Frederic Bartlett's 'war of the ghosts experiment' illustrates how schemas unconsciously alter perception and memory, leading to the omission of unfamiliar details, familiarization of strange things, and rationalization of the illogical. Jean Piaget's theory suggests we construct experiences into schemata for coherent self-narratives.

Takeaways

• 🧠 **Schema Definition**: A schema is a mental framework or pattern of thought based on past experiences.
• 🍽️ **Restaurant Schema Example**: People have different schemas for familiar situations, like going to a restaurant.
• 🔄 **Assimilation vs Accommodation**: Assimilation fits new information into existing schemas, while accommodation requires modifying schemas for new information.
• 🌟 **New Information Processing**: New, unique information that doesn't fit existing schemas requires accommodation to be understood.
• 👶 **Schema as a Mental Toy**: Schemas help us understand familiar concepts easily, but struggle with completely new ones.
• 🎨 **Experience Over Explanation**: Some experiences, like color for the colorblind, cannot be fully understood without direct experience.
• 📚 **Bartlett's 'War of the Ghosts' Experiment**: Demonstrated how schemas affect perception and memory.
• 🐾 **Omission of Unfamiliar Details**: People tend to forget details that don't fit their cultural or experiential schemas.
• 🎣 **Familiarization of the Strange**: When recalling unfamiliar experiences, people replace details with familiar ones over time.
• 🤔 **Rationalization of the Illogical**: People unconsciously make stories logical by adding reasons, changing the original memory.
• 🌐 **Constructing Memories**: Long-term memories are not fixed but are adjusted, reflecting a continuous process of constructing the past.

Q & A

What is a schema according to the script?

A schema is a mental framework or generalization of past experiences that forms a scripted pattern of thought.

How does the script describe the process of going to a restaurant in terms of schema?

The script describes two different schemas for going to a restaurant: one involving standing in line, ordering, eating, and disposing of trash, and another involving being seated, ordering, sharing food, and leaving a generous tip.

What is assimilation in the context of schema?

Assimilation is the cognitive process of making new information fit in with your existing understanding of the world, working when new information is similar to what you already know.

What is accommodation and when is it needed?

Accommodation is the process needed when new information is so unique that it doesn't fit into our existing schema, requiring us to change the schema itself.

How does the script use the analogy of a kid's toy to explain schemas?

The script uses the analogy of a kid's toy to explain that familiar things, like a triangle, easily fit into our brain, while completely new shapes, like a star, require accommodation to understand.

What did Frederic Bartlett demonstrate in the 'war of the ghosts experiment'?

Frederic Bartlett demonstrated how schemas unconsciously alter our perception and memory by having British students recall a strange native American folktale.

What were the three striking findings from Bartlett's experiment?

The three findings were: 1) Omission of unfamiliar details, 2) Familiarization of things strange, and 3) Rationalization of the illogical.

Why did some students omit details about hunting seals in the experiment?

Students omitted details about hunting seals because it did not fit into their cultural context and they lacked an existing schema for this kind of information.

How did students familiarize strange things in the folktale?

Students familiarized strange things by recalling activities like hunting seals as going fishing, and a canoe loaded with weapons as a robot, using familiar schemas to understand the unfamiliar.

What does rationalization of the illogical mean in Bartlett's experiment?

Rationalization of the illogical means that students unconsciously made the story logically coherent by adding terms like 'therefore' and 'because', changing the story each time they recalled it.

How does the script relate the concept of schema to existentialist views on memory?

The script relates schema to existentialist views by suggesting that long-term memories are not fixed but constantly adjusted, and that we construct the past in a process of adjustment to create a coherent self-narrative.

Who coined the term 'schema' and what did they argue about its role?

Jean Piaget coined the term 'schema' and argued that we construct our experiences into schemata to make sense of the world.