Exploring Social Cognition

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What is a Schema?

 A schema is a mental short cut that allows individuals to organize and make sense of information about society around certain themes and/or subjects; schemas often affect the information that individuals notice, consider and
remember.

Examples of schemas include stereotypes, social roles, world views, and archetypes.

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Schemas exert an immense deal of authority over us and from time to time hinder us from recollection of new information because it does not fit into our cognitive structure.  The Schema theory was introduced by R. C. Anderson, a respected educational psychologist. The term schema was first used by Jean Piaget in 1926; therefore it was not a new concept. Anderson, however, expanded the meaning.