PSYC 2120 Lecture : Chapter 3 Notes.docx
Document Summary
Schemas: building blocks of the mind, mental representations objects or category of objects, people have schemas for specific interpersonal relationships, categorization. basic function is to categorize objects in ways that impose meaning and predictability: selective information processing. the schema used to categorize an object can influence what is noticed about the object. although ambiguous info will usually be interpreted as consistent with a schema, anything that obviously contradicts outr expectancies will grab our attention. unexpected actions arouse our curiosity and lead to attempts to understand why the object is exhibiting characteristics that are inconsistent w/ its category: accessibility. the ease w/ which the schema comes to awareness: priming. the process by which the activation of a schema increases the likelihood that the schema will be activated again in the future: chronic accessibility. the degree to which schemas are easily activated for an individual across time.