Self-schemata and processing information about the self.

Abstract

Attempts to organize, summarize, or explain one's own behavior in a particular domain result in the formation of cognitive structures about the self or selfschemata. Self-schemata are cognitive generalizations about the self, derived from past experience, that organize and guide the processing of the self-related information contained in an individual's social experience. The role of schemata in processing information about the self is examined by linking self-schemata to a number of specific empirical referents. Female students with schemata in a particular domain and those without schemata are selected and their performance on a variety of cognitive tasks is compared. The results indicate that self-schemata facilitate the processing of information about the self (judgments and decisions about the self), contain easily retrievable behavioral evidence, provide a basis for the confident self-prediction of behavior on schema-related dimensions, and make individuals resistant to counterschematic information. The relationship of self-schemata to cross-situational consistency in behavior and the implications of self-schemata for attribution theory are discussed.