In
psychology, a schema is a mental structure that helps organize and interpret
information. Schemas represent some aspect of the world and allow us to take
shortcuts in processing vast amounts of information.
Schemas
are built from our experiences and memories, and they help us understand and
predict the world around us. For example, a child might have a schema for a cat
that includes characteristics like having four legs, fur, and a tail. When they
encounter a new animal that fits this schema, they might initially identify it
as a cat until they learn more specific details.
An
organized collection of schemas represent the components of a worldview.
Schemas
can be beneficial because they help us quickly process and categorize
information. However, they can also lead to biases and stereotypes, because we
might ignore information that doesn’t fit our existing schemas.
Jean
Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, was instrumental in developing the concept of
schemas in his theory of cognitive development. He believed that schemas are
both the categories of knowledge and the processes of acquiring that knowledge,
and they are constantly being adapted as we encounter new information.
A
self-schema is a concept, which refers to our organization about ourselves,
which is modified throughout our life. Depending on the author, the concept, self-schema may be the same as the concept, self-concept.
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Norbert
M. Seel (2012) offers the following definition (pp. 2936-2939)
Schemas
are acquired and constructed through experiences with specific instances.
Physiologically speaking, they start as simple networks and develop into more
complex structures. From the perspective of psychology, the development of
schemas starts with the construction of simple behavioral action schemas, which
are learned through organizational socialization and concrete experiences, and
proceeds to cognitive schemas by means of the functional incorporation of the
regular structure of actions into the memory.
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References
Seel,
N.M. (2012). Schema Development. In: Seel, N.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of the
Sciences of Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_365
Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is www.suttong.com
