The theory that knowledge is organized in mental structures (schemas) that shape how new information is perceived, interpreted, and stored.
Schemas as cognitive structures: frameworks of prior knowledge that organize perception and guide interpretation of new experience. Piaget's schemas: the cognitive structures through which the infant and child interact with the world, which develop through assimilation and accommodation. Bartlett's schemas (1932): memory is reconstructive — we remember stories according to schemas that fit our cultural expectations. Later cognitive psychology: schemas as the basic units of knowledge organization, explaining prototype effects, stereotyping, and the difficulty of changing beliefs.
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