Cognitive SchemasPsychology - Article Example

The basic function of schemas is that they enable the individuals to assemble their experiences in such a way that they become helpful for them in understanding the world. Schemas also define expectations that human beings hold of their own and others’ behaviors. The constructivist self development theory proposes the fact that needs, and schemas related to needs, get constantly differentiated and individualized over the span of life and become unique for every individual. I believe that schemas have a meaningful context in social and cultural terms and individuals have the tendency to associate negative or positive behavior with these schemas.

Schemas are affected by positive and negative life experiences too. For example, whenever an individual undergoes a situation that does not fit into his schema of experiences, this leads to a change in schema which is even further modifiable. If the situation experienced is extremely different, then the change in schema is traumatic for the individual. Hence to escape such traumas, individuals seek such experiences that satisfy the already created schemas. Moreover, this article discusses the schemas in terms of central human needs which mainly include the frame of reference.

The article also discusses that in some cases, traumas experienced by human beings also result in positive restructuring of schemas. For some individuals, the traumatic experience may result in negative outcomes in terms of behavior, while for others such traumas may enable them to start perceiving the world positively. This, however, also depends upon the degree to which the schemas are disrupted by harsh emotional situations. Frame of reference is also disturbed in traumatic experiences and changes in schemas.

Frame of reference includes one’s perspectives and beliefs. A person’s frame of reference lets him interpret positive and negative events like casualty, hope and locus of control. The degree of changes in frame of reference schemas depends upon factors like previous trauma history and post-traumatic recovery process. Furthermore, schemas related to factors like safety, trust/dependency, independence, power, esteem and intimacy, have also been discussed along with a description of how changes in these schemas affect these basic needs.

The schemas related to these psychological needs get into shape through personal histories of all individuals and identify the way in which they undergo traumatic events. Hence, we come to know through this article that there are some traumatic events that cause a person to behave negatively as confirming to the negative schema; and, there are some traumatic events that disturb previously stored positive schemas. There is a complicated relationship between schemas, life experiences and mental adaptation that must be studied under social and cultural context so as to understand the whole concept of creation and disruption of schemas and their effect on the personalities of individuals.

This paper was a very useful aggregation of information about how people benefit through their experiences and interpersonal relations with other individuals of the society and how these experiences tend to create schemas that define how one is going to encounter an event or fulfill a psychological need. The paper is a