Brewer and Treyens (1981) was a study that suggested that schemas affect memory recall and supported the idea of reconstructive memory.
Aim[]
To investigate whether people's memory for objects in an office is influenced by existing schemas about what to expect in an office (false memory)
Procedure[]
- Participants arrived in an office and were asked to wait there
- The office had normal stuff but also random things
- Participants were left there for a little bit then brought down the hall to be questioned about what was in the office
Results[]
- The participants could remember the things that they usually would have found in an office
- Some remembered things you would find in an office, but weren't in that particular office (false memories)
- Some remembered the unexpected objects
Evaluation[]
- Not generalizable
- Ecological validity was low; lab experiment
- Immoral - deception