(from Greek, schema: form; schemata is the plural although schemas is also used by those without the benefit of a classical education) A schema is a form of MENTAL SET—indeed, the term mental set is probably more frequently encountered in...

Schemas or scripts, two terms used in cognitive psychology to mean very similar things, are really one big concept. An example often given of a schema in an industrialized society is ‘going to a restaurant’; or rather, what one can normally...

Generalized knowledge about the sequence of events in particular sociocultural contexts, for example, going to a restaurant, purchasing a ticket, borrowing a book. Such structured everyday knowledge forms an essential basis for human language...

A technical term used by Piaget and other developmental psychologists to refer to a conceptual structure that is used to interpret information in the external world perceived by the senses. A schema is, therefore, a kind of hypothesis set up in the...

A schema in general is a specific, well-documented, and consistent plan. The related word, scheme means a loosely described plan. The word schema comes from the Greek word "σχήμα" (skhēma), which means shape or more generally plan. The Greek...