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Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology

Frederic C. Bartlett's 1932 monograph presents remembering as reconstruction guided by schemas, illustrated through story retelling, according to the Cambridge University Press description.

Frederic C. Bartlett · 1932. First published by Cambridge University Press in 1932; reissued by Cambridge University Press in 1995. Chronology section: 1900 to 1945.

Academic: Scholarly monographPrimary scholarshipMemoryCognition

Author and origin
Frederic C. Bartlett (United Kingdom)Original language: English. First published by Cambridge University Press in 1932; reissued by Cambridge University Press in 1995.
Genre and form
Academic (Scholarly monograph)Foundational scholarly monographs, experimental treatises, and theoretical volumes written for researchers and students.
Pairing and evidence
Primary scholarshipA foundational academic book or treatise. Each profile states what was inspected and whether a research paper is paired.
Sources inspected
2 text/abstract inspected, 1 metadata checked (of 3)1 with the primary text or archive/edition record checked, 1 with an indexed abstract read, 1 with bibliographic metadata checked, 0 not verified.

Interpretive thematic pairingPaired academic work

Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.107.2.261

Source independence: Independent of the book’s author.

How it connects: An editorial comparison between accounts of constructed memory. The inspected Conway and Pleydell-Pearce abstract does not mention Bartlett or test his experiments.

Exact claim scope: Scoped to the Europe PMC indexed abstract: memories are modeled as transitory mental constructions linking an autobiographical knowledge base with active goals of the working self.

The work and edition history

Published by Cambridge University Press in 1932 and reissued in 1995, Frederic C. Bartlett's Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology bridged laboratory experimentation and social psychology. Inspection of the Cambridge University Press frontmatter and publisher catalog record confirms the 1932 publication date, full title, and thematic scope without claiming a full-text reading of the entire monograph.

Psychological reading

Cambridge’s description presents remembering as reconstruction guided by schemas, illustrated through story retelling. Rather than treating recall as a neutral replay, this framework invites questions about how prior understanding shapes what can be remembered and recounted.

Why it earns inclusion

What changes between hearing a story and retelling it? The book makes that a central question for studying memory. It belongs beside literary narration because both invite attention to selection and reconstruction, while only a study can test a specified empirical claim.

Academic pairing and claim scope

This profile pairs Bartlett's 1932 monograph with Martin A. Conway and Christopher W. Pleydell-Pearce's 2000 Psychological Review article, "The Construction of Autobiographical Memories in the Self-Memory System" (inspected via its Europe PMC indexed abstract). Conway and Pleydell-Pearce model autobiographical memories as transitory mental constructions shaped by an autobiographical knowledge base and the active goals of the working self, extending reconstructive memory theory into modern cognitive architecture.

Limits and controversies

The publisher’s account and frontmatter identify the book and its central framing. They do not provide a fresh assessment of its original experiments. The later model paired here concerns autobiographical memory; the connection to Bartlett is an editorial comparison.

Evidence behind the claims

  • Frederic C. Bartlett's Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology was first published by Cambridge University Press in 1932 and reissued in 1995.

    Publication or textual factSource: [1]Where: Cambridge University Press frontmatter PDF: first publication 1932 and 1995 reissue.Checked at archive-page level

  • The publisher description presents remembering as reconstruction guided by schemas and illustrates it through story retelling.

    Publication or textual factSource: [2]Where: Cambridge University Press book descriptionChecked at reference-page level

  • Conway and Pleydell-Pearce (2000) model autobiographical memories as transitory mental constructions generated through the reciprocal interaction of an autobiographical knowledge base and the current goals of the working self.

    Theoretical model or frameworkSource: [3]Where: Conway & Pleydell-Pearce (2000) indexed abstract, Psychological Review 107(2), 261-288Checked at abstract level

Authors and researchers

  • Frederic C. Bartlett. British experimental psychologist who authored Remembering (1932) and advanced the reconstructive schema account of human memory.
  • Martin A. Conway. Cognitive psychologist who co-authored the self-memory system model of reconstructive autobiographical memory (2000).
  • Christopher W. Pleydell-Pearce. Psychologist and co-author of the 2000 Psychological Review synthesis on autobiographical memory construction.

In the Psy101 course

  • OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 8.1: How Memory FunctionsChapter 8, Memory. Concept. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.Connects Bartlett's schema-driven account of remembering to how memory encoding and retrieval function.
  • OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 8.3: Problems with MemoryChapter 8, Memory. Concept. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.Relates reconstructive memory to suggestibility, distortion, and retrieval reconstruction errors.
  • OpenStax Psychology 2e, section 7.1: What Is Cognition?Chapter 7, Thinking and Intelligence. Concept. Suggested conceptual background; a mention of this work in the section has not been verified.Links Bartlett's concept of schemas to how mental concepts and expectations organize new information.

Educational reading guide only, not clinical diagnosis or treatment guidance. This course map indicates introductory curriculum relevance rather than clinical proof.See the full course map.

Sources and inspection

Of 3 cited sources, 1 had primary text or archive/edition records checked, 1 had an indexed abstract read, and 1 had bibliographic metadata checked (0 unverified). Literary works and memoirs are distinguished from empirical research studies.

  1. [1]
    Bartlett, F. C. (1932). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology (frontmatter). Cambridge University Press (1932; 1995 Reissue Frontmatter). https://assets.cambridge.org/97805214/83568/frontmatter/9780521483568_frontmatter.pdfArchive or library record. Work, edition, or catalog record.Edition, title-page, or archive record checkedInspected Cambridge University Press frontmatter PDF confirming 1932 first publication and 1995 reissue.
  2. [2]
    Bartlett, F. C., & Kintsch, W. (1995). Remembering: A study in experimental and social psychology. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/remembering/7F58B9793DAD79782D4AE989FAA287D1Publisher or bibliographic record. Historical or biographical context.Bibliographic metadata or reference record checkedInspected Cambridge University Press book description summarizing reconstructive remembering, schema theory, and story retelling; whole book not read.
  3. [3]
    Conway, M. A., & Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107(2), 261–288. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.107.2.261Journal article. Paired academic research.Indexed abstract readInspected Europe PMC indexed abstract (PMID 10789197) for Conway and Pleydell-Pearce (2000).