Schemas are in a way mental notes and stereotypes we develop about certain situations and how people behave. The definition of a schema is a mental concept that organizes information. We can have schemas about almost anything that happens in our lives. Things like having certain feelings about individuals happens because of prior events that went on in your past. In my mind, schemas remind me of those moments when you come across someone or something and it triggers a relating memory whether it is negative or positive. When I was younger, I had multiple schemas about various things, but one of them stood out to me. Me and my 4 siblings had to have numerous babysitters because of my parents jobs and having to move around so much caused my parents to have to have hired many different caretakers. One of the first babysitters I had was very mean and didn’t let me or my siblings have fun or do anything. She was always very strict and all of my siblings were scared of her. I always had to be super respectful because I never wanted her to yell at me. After my parents finally hired a new babysitter, me and my siblings all had the stereotype that every babysitter was mean, so we did not know what to expect. For the rest of time that I had different babysitters, I always thought they were going to be very strict and mean. I feel like once we have a negative experience with something in our lives, we will forever feel the same about that specific situation for the rest of our lives. Schemas affect everyones’ lives differently and how they view things about the world, and I think part of the different perspectives we have on life comes from our schemas.
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