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Psychology vocabulary · Cognition and Perception

Schema

Meaning in psychology, with examples

/ˈskiːmə/nounCommon term

In psychology, schema means: A mental framework built from past experience that organises knowledge about something and guides how new information is noticed, interpreted and remembered.

In Turkish: şema

How it is used

Used in cognitive psychology (Bartlett), developmental psychology (Piaget's assimilation and accommodation) and clinical work, where Beck's cognitive therapy and schema therapy focus on deep negative beliefs about the self and others.

Example sentences

  1. A restaurant schema tells us what usually happens when we eat out.

  2. His core schema seems to be 'I am unlovable', and it shows up in every relationship.

Common collocations

  • core schema
  • self-schema
  • schema therapy
  • activate a schema
  • cognitionThe mental processes we use to gain and use knowledge, such as thinking, remembering, paying attention, understanding language and solving problems.
  • cognitive biasA systematic error in thinking or judgement that makes people depart from logic or evidence in predictable ways, such as confirmation bias.
  • cognitive behavioural therapyA structured, time-limited form of psychotherapy that helps people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that keep their problems going.
  • memoryThe ability to take in, store and later recall information and experiences; the word can also mean one particular thing that is remembered.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Cognition and Perception

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