Schema Activation — Tip #35
A double edged sword to be aware about as you go through life 🤺
Today, we play a little game. Read the following text 👇
First, make sure that everything is tied properly and that nothing feels too loose. Then lean forward slightly and wait for the signal. When it is time to begin, start moving one side at a time. Keep looking ahead. As the end gets closer, push a little harder, until the line is reached.
It’s a bit of an odd paragraph, isn’t it? Can you guess what it describes? Most probably not and the reason is that you don’t have enough context to activate the right schema to understand 🤨.
Schema activation is something we constantly do, bringing information from our long-term memory into our working memory so that we can use it to think, understand, and act.
If you don’t have the right schema activated, making sense of things is very hard. In the example above, that was a description of “how to run a race.” Try to read it again.
First, make sure that everything is tied properly and that nothing feels too loose. Then lean forward slightly and wait for the signal. When it is time to begin, start moving one side at a time. Keep looking ahead. As the end gets closer, push a little harder, until the line is reached.
Much easier to follow this simple example now, right? 🤓 This type of issue happens all the time. Imagine you are giving a speech or talking with an acquaintance with whom you do not share much experience. If you activate the wrong schema in the recipient, they won’t be able to understand you. Even worse, they may sound and feel like they understand, when in fact they don’t, which is even more misleading.
As a way to reduce the risk of activating the wrong schema in others, this is what has helped me:
🏷️ Name the context early: A simple label can change everything. Saying “this is about running a race” helps the person know which mental model to use.
🧭 Start with familiar cues: Familiar words, objects or situations trigger existing knowledge. They help the right schema come to mind.
🔗 Connect new ideas to existing knowledge: New information is easier to process when linked to prior knowledge. Analogies and examples make this connection clearer, e.g. “Multiplication is like addition but repeated in sequence”
❓Ask a guiding question: A question can direct attention before information is processed. It prepares the mind to look through a specific lens.
🔁 Reveal the frame, then revisit the information: Understanding often changes once the context is known. Looking again shows how much the schema shapes interpretation.
👥 Consider prior knowledge: The “right” schema depends on what people already know. Experts and beginners may need different cues, examples and levels of context.
I bumped into this problem as a teenager while reading a complex book. I remember not being able to really follow it and questioning my own intelligence 😅. I then read its Wikipedia entry, and it all clicked. Every now and then, I still slip up, especially when I assume that I have the right schema activated, or that the adults I’m interacting with do too. Often, that’s not the case 🤦♂️.
Your weekly tip: before sharing or receiving information, pause to name the context. If you are explaining something, give people the frame first. If you are listening or reading, ask yourself “what is this really about?”. This small habit helps activate the right schema, reduces confusion and makes understanding easier on both sides.
Don’t forget to send this tip to a friend who struggles with understanding or being understood 🫰
See you next week, until then…
Don’t Panic 😱