The Self-Reference Effect: Demonstrating Schematic Processing in the Classroom

Abstract

The self-reference effect, which occurs when individuals show superior memory for information that pertains to their self-schemas, was demonstrated in a classroom setting. Subjects first evaluated whether or not each adjective in an orally presented list was self-descriptive. After a 1-min delay, they attempted to recall all the adjectives from the list. As expected, memory for self-referent terms was superior to memory for terms that were not self-referent. The exercise offers a pedagogically effective way of demonstrating schematic processing under normal classroom conditions, and it also confirms predictions derived from depth-of-processing and schema-based memory models of social cognition.