Carole walked into a Moroccan restaurant and was surprised that she did not see any utensils (i. e., fork, knife, & spoon). Her surprise stems from the fact that she has never eaten without utensils before. This is an example of a(n):

Schema

Explanation: A Schema could be defined as a psychological concept used in organizing and interpreting thoughts, information or ideas. Schema allows us to make quick decisions as it guides an individual's cognitive processes using a set of organized information stored in an individual's memory. Schema solely adopts preexisting informations already available in an individual's memory in making current decisions with the exclusion of external information or details.

Carole's surprise stems from the fat that he has never eaten without an utensil before signifies his schema which is devoid of eating without utensil.