{"id":18459,"date":"2022-12-25T05:10:24","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T05:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/helpfulprofessor.com\/?p=18459"},"modified":"2024-05-26T21:17:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T21:17:29","slug":"types-of-schema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helpfulprofessor.com\/types-of-schema\/","title":{"rendered":"The 5 Types of Schema"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"cognitive<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In cognitive psychology, a <\/strong>schema<\/strong><\/a> is a mental structure used to hold, store, record, and recall information. Schemata (the plural of schema) help us to organize information in our minds.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Types of schema include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Object schema<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Role schema<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Person schema<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Self-schema<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Event schema<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Without mental schemata, we wouldn\u2019t be able to make mental representations of the world or develop coherent understandings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But schemata can also cause us to experience cognitive bias, use mental shortcuts (heuristics) that lead us to make mistakes, and fall prey to stereotypes based on archetypes of people that we bank in our brains (and that are often based on incomplete media representations).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Cognitive Schemata Work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Schemata can be amended based on new information that we receive, allowing us to learn. Thorough learning, our cognitive schemata get more complex and we develop a more nuanced understanding of the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, if someone has a schema for dogs, it may hold information about how many legs its has, how it behaves, and whether it is friendly or scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When that person encounters a new dog, they will recall their existing \u2018dog\u2019 schema to make sense of the dog and make decisions about how to interact with it. But if the new dog is scary, untrained, or has three legs, we might experience cognitive disequilibrium: that\u2019s not what our dog schema expected! In these cases, we use cognitive processes called accommodation and assimilation to amend our schema based on the new information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n