Schemas are theory-driven: Because schemas are based on our prior expectations and social knowledge, they have been described as “theory-driven” structures that provide organization to social experience. We use these background theories to make sense of new situations and encounters, which suggests that schematic processing is driven by background theories and hypotheses rather than actual environmental data ( Fiske & Taylor, 1991 ). Impact of Schemas on Memory: Human memory is largely reconstructive. We usually do not remember all the precise details of events in a given situation. Instead, we typically remember some of what happened, which is enough to identify the appropriate pattern and then rely on that pattern to fill in other details. Schemas organize information in memory and, therefore, influence what we remember and what we forget. When we try to remember something, we are more likely to remember those details that are consistent with our schemas than those that are inconsistent (Cohen, 1981). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Impact of schemas on inferences in social interactions: Schemas influence the inferences we make about people and other social entities (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). They provide missing facts when gaps exist in our knowledge. If we know some facts about a person but ignore others, we fill in the gaps by inserting hypotheses consistent with our schema for that person. For example, if you know your roommate doesn't smoke, you can infer that he or she won't spend time with your new friend who smokes. However, in some cases, the use of patterns can lead to incorrect inferences. If the schema is incomplete or does not incorporate reality, errors in our inferences are likely to occur. Impact of schemas on social judgments: Schemata can influence our judgments or feelings about people and other entities. On the one hand, the schemes themselves can be organized in terms of evaluative dimensions; this is especially true for personal schemas. Schemas serve to evaluate social stimuli as good or bad, normal or abnormal, positive or negative, and some contain a strong affective component; so that when they are activated the associated emotion is stimulated. Schemas are integrated and stable in nature: once developed and strengthened through use, schemas become integrated structures. Even when only one of its components is accessed in a given situation, strong associative links between the components activate the schema as a unified whole (Fiske & Dyer, 1985). Well-developed schemas that are activated often resist change and persist, even in the face of disconfirming evidence. Works Cited Cohen, R. L. (1981). On the generality of some laws of memory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 22(4), 267-281.Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1991). Social cognition (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.Fiske, S. T., & Dyer, L. M. (1985). Structures of social life: The four elementary forms of human relationships. The free press. Hinkle, S. E., & Brown, C. M. (1990). Schema activation and information processing in the expression of social stereotypes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16(1), 33-47. Markus, H., & Zajonc, R. B. (1985). The cognitive perspective in social psychology. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 137-230). Random House. Neisser, U. (1976). Cognition and reality: principles and implications of cognitive psychology. W. H. Freeman. Srull, T. K., & Wyer, R. S. Jr. (1989). The role of category accessibility in interpreting information about people: Some determinants and implications., &.