Brewer and Treyens (1981) “picnic
basket”
To see whether a stereotypical schema of an office would affect memory (recall) of an
office.
Participants were taken into a university student office and left for 35 seconds before being
taken to another room.
They were asked to write down as much as they could remember from the office.
Participants recalled things of a “typical office” according to their schema.
They did not recall the wine and picnic basket that were in the office.
Conclusions:
Participants' schema of an office influenced their memory of it.
They did not recall the wine and picnic basket because it is not part of their “typical office”
schema.
Strengths:
o Strict control over variables --> to determine cause & effect relationship
Limitation:
o Lacks ecological validity
Laboratory setting artificial environment
Task does not reflect daily activity
basket”
To see whether a stereotypical schema of an office would affect memory (recall) of an
office.
Participants were taken into a university student office and left for 35 seconds before being
taken to another room.
They were asked to write down as much as they could remember from the office.
Participants recalled things of a “typical office” according to their schema.
They did not recall the wine and picnic basket that were in the office.
Conclusions:
Participants' schema of an office influenced their memory of it.
They did not recall the wine and picnic basket because it is not part of their “typical office”
schema.
Strengths:
o Strict control over variables --> to determine cause & effect relationship
Limitation:
o Lacks ecological validity
Laboratory setting artificial environment
Task does not reflect daily activity
