Evaluate schema theory with reference to research studies

Jesse's Schema Overview
Schema is a set of pre-conceived ideas about an aspect of the world. It is a mental framework, an organized pattern of thought. Schema provides a good basis on why people can process new ideas and information without effort. For example, people have stairway schema: pre-conceived ideas about stairways that allow people to climb new stairways with little effort. Schemata can also distort memories.This happens when information is obtained that conflicts with a person’s schema, and is noted as an exception. E.g. someone witnesses a businessman in a suit threatening a vagrant on the street with a knife. From later recall, the witness may mistakenly think the vagrant pulled the knife. His/her schema categorizes vagrants with those who pull knives, rather than businessmen. The mind distorts the memory in order to conform to schema. (I'll add a link to false eyewitness testimony later). It is only when enough exceptions to the schema are processed before the actual schema itself begins to change (e.g. the new knowledge that businessmen can actually pull knives on vagrants, based on several experiences with this).

Bartlett on "War of the Ghosts"
Schema can explain this experiment. An investigation by Bartlett (Date?) asked English participants to recall a Native American folk tale. Upon recall participants distorted parts of the story to conform to their societal norms (schema).

Sandra Bem (1998) on Gender Schema and Sex Typing
Schemata associated with gender can explain sex typing and depression. Bem (1998) showed how sex-typed participants recalled words in clusters based on masculinity or femininity. They were more likely to create categories based around gender. Sex typing results from the assimilation of their sex to gender schema. The way women experience stress may be attributed to gender schema and society’s pre-conceived notions about how women should experience stress.

Limitations

 * Some scientists question schema’s reductionist approach. Susan Clark (date needed) questions the validity of schema for fitting something as evidently complex as knowledge acquisition, storage, and recall into such a simple categorical system.