Notes in Communication – Schema

1 Definition of Schema

In psychology and cognitive science, aschema (plural schemata or schemas) describes a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them.

It can also be described as a mental structure of preconceived ideas, a framework representing some aspect of the world, or a system of organizing and perceiving new information.

Schemata influence attention and the absorption of new knowledge: people are more likely to notice things that fit into their schema, while re-interpreting contradictions to the schema as exceptions or distorting them to fit. Schemata have a tendency to remain unchanged, even in the face of contradictory information. Schemata can help in understanding the world and the rapidly changing environment. People can organize new perceptions into schemata quickly as most situations do not require complex thought when using schema, since automatic thought is all that is required.

2 How to use Schema

We usually meet such tough questions: we need to explain a complicated concept to a new-comer who knows nothing about it. You try hard to tell the concepts in textbooks and the events happened to it, but the effect is limited since the words are abstract and not vivid to be accepted. How to explain the accurate and tremendous meanings while using fewer words? There is a good method to use schemas.

Let me give you an example. When I went toTaiwan for travelling several years ago, I have eaten the wax apple. How did I describe that to my friends? There is no use of telling the biology definition of wax apples, but I just told them my feelings with short words using schemas.

"It tastes like a bell pepper with apple flavor."

To my friends who live in North China, they must have eaten apples and bell peppers. So they can quickly imagine the flavor and texture of the wax apple. This is an application of schemas.

Schemas can simply regarded the same as the analogy and metaphor in literature. I remembered when reading Li Xiaolai's writings, he always said he used no other rhetoric except analogy. It can help replace unknown with known, replace abstract with concrete. Schemas or analogies are using the knowledge people already got, so people can accept them quickly. That's why Li's articles have a relatively high level but with quite simple expressions.

3 Strengths and Weaknesses

Using schemas is a quick action. So it may lead us to misunderstand people who we don't know much. For instance, when we know one from a certain hometown place, we will use schemas to judge him or her. It easily offends others and is also harmful for ourselves.

Schemas using does have meaningful influence for humans. Newton once said, "if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." This is the core of schemas. Schemas are patterns we already have from our past experience, so our minds don't need to do much work. It is a way of low cost and high production.

In conclusion, by understanding the conceptof schemas, we can take use of it. To other people, we can use their schemas to induce their emotions in situations such as selling products. To ourselves, we can know ourselves better and upgrade schemas often to make better decisions.

中文翻译：

1 基模的定义

在心理学和认知科学中，基模（有的翻译作“图式”）描述了一种思考或行为方式，就是如何将信息组织分类和理解它们之间的关系。

基模的另一种解释是先入为主的思维框架，如何理解这个世界的各个方面以及如何组织和接受新的信息。

基模影响着我们的注意力和如何消化吸收新知识：人们往往倾向于接受符合自己基模的新知识，而对不符合基模的知识很难消化吸收。基模不太容易改变，即使面对着很有矛盾的资讯。基模可以帮助我们了解世界并且应对快速变化的环境。人们使用基模的时候不会很复杂的思考，头脑就直接组织出一些新的观点，可以说是自动化思考了。

2基模怎么用

生活和工作中，我们实际上经常会遇到这种情形：在短时间内要向0基础或对某个事物一无所知的人解释一个复杂的概念，这对所有人来说都是一个困难的任务。而你需要让对方明白你的概念解释与事件描述，如果你一点一点具体化地阐述过程或者来龙去脉，效果往往并不好，因为文字本身的表现力总是有限的，你该如何才能在短时间内装进去这么多内容呢?

有一个好办法：利用基模原理！

举个例子吧。我几年前去台湾旅游的时候，吃到过当地的水果，莲雾。回来我是怎么跟身边没吃过的人解释呢？说专业的植物学简介没有用，我只用简短的话语描述了我的感觉，用上了基模。

“尝起来像苹果味的灯笼椒~”

对于我身边生活在中国北方的人来讲，苹果和灯笼椒是肯定吃过的，苹果的味道，灯笼椒的质感，他们就可以立马想象的到。这就是基模的使用。

基模与文学修辞手法中的类比和隐喻，其实可以简单地认为是一个事。我以前看过李笑来的文章，他说自己不喜欢用修辞手法，唯独就用一种，就是类比。可以用已知替代未知，用具体代替抽象，基模用的是人们已有的知识，接受起来会特别快。所以，这就是李笑来的文章用词很简单但读起来又觉得很高级的道理。

3 基模让我们有什么劣势，又有什么优势

使用基模，意味着我们的头脑里快速地做了判断。所以它可能让我们误会刚认识还不熟悉的人。比如，当我们知道一个人是来自某个地方的时候，就会很容易从基模中找出对他或她的评判印象，俗称开“地图炮”。很容易得罪人，也对我们自己不利。

使用基模，确实对人类也有很重大的意义。牛顿曾经说过：“如果说我看得比别人更远些，那是因为我站在巨人的肩膀上。”这就是基模的核心之义。基模是我们已经从过去的经验中得到的固定模式，所以我们的大脑不用做太多的处理，这就是一种低成本高产出的方式。

最后总结一下，今天通过了解基模的概念，我们将来可以学着使用它。对他人，我们可以用基模去在某些场合，比如销售中，影响他们的情绪，达到我们的目的。对自己，我们可以有更好的自我了解，时时更新基模，去让自己做更好的判断。