Sir Frederic Bartlett (1886-1969)

Bartlett was born into a middle class family in Stow-on-the-Wold, England in 1886. In 1909 he graduated from The University Correspondence College with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. In 1911 he graduated from London University with a master's degree with a distinction in both ethics and sociology. Due to issues with his health, Bartlett was unable to fight in WWI and instead became the deputy head of the Cambridge Psychology Laboratory when the position was vacated by Charles Myers who was drafted to the war as a doctor. After leaving this position he held many high positions in the field of psychology. He eventually received the title of Senior Lecturer of Psychology along with numerous honorary degrees from various institutes of higher learning. He passed away in Cambridge, England in 1969 at 82 years old.

---

Bartlett became famous for his numerous psychological experiments, the most famous was conducted in 1932, it is commonly referred to as the "War of the Ghosts" experiment. The aim of this experiment was to determine if a subject's own schema can influence their reconstructive memory. In this experiment, Bartlett assigned Edwardian English participants to read the folklore "War of the Ghosts" and remember the story at extended intervals numerous times.  The independent variable was the amount of time between the participants reading the folklore and being asked to recite it. The dependent variable was the information that was carried from the participants. The results were that the longer the time between them reading the story and then having to recite it, the less accurate they were when they had to recite it and elements of the story that failed to fit into the schemata of the reader were either left out or transformed into more familiar forms. The significance of this psychological experiment was that it demonstrated how the schemas of individuals could have an effect on their reconstructive memory.