What Are Mental Models?
Mental models are simplified representations of how things work. They help us interpret situations and make decisions, but their assumptions and omissions can lead us astray. Comparing models with evidence and other people’s perspectives can reveal where they need revision.
THE IDEA
Chapter 1: What Are Mental Models?
A mental model is a simplified representation of something: how a person might behave, how a business works, or what a decision could lead to. We use these representations to interpret what we notice, predict outcomes, and choose what to do.
Our models draw on experience, culture, information, and assumptions. People can encounter the same situation and understand it differently because they bring different models to it. Even children raised in the same household can develop different expectations and priorities. This does not mean reality itself changes from person to person; our understanding of it differs.
Models save effort by letting us recognize familiar patterns. That is useful when the pattern fits, but misleading when an assumption goes unexamined. Someone raised to distrust people with tattoos may avoid a heavily tattooed person without recognizing the source of that reaction. Someone with different experiences may make no such judgment.
Models also influence priorities. One person may value regular hair and nail appointments, while another would rather spend the time and money elsewhere. Neither preference can be understood fully without knowing what each person values and what constraints they face.
Every model leaves things out. You cannot know every fact about a situation or attend to every possible consequence. A model helps you focus, but the omitted information may matter. Predictions based on it therefore need to be checked against what happens.
Consider a healthcare proposal. You may support it because it addresses problems you have experienced, while someone else opposes it because they see costs or gaps you have overlooked. The disagreement may also involve different values. Asking what each person expects the policy to do is more useful than assuming that your own view includes everything relevant.
Some models change readily with experience; others persist or get applied beyond the situations where they work. A rule learned in one job, for example, may be a poor guide in a different workplace. Repeated use can make a model feel obvious even when its assumptions no longer fit.
Revising a model starts with making those assumptions visible. What do you expect to happen, and why? What evidence would challenge that expectation? Sometimes this requires admitting, “Hey, I’m not doing something right. I need to make a change.”
Logic and mental models work together. A model supplies assumptions and relationships; reasoning helps examine what follows from them. Sound reasoning cannot rescue a mistaken premise, so both the reasoning and the model need scrutiny.
In relationships and teams, comparing models can reveal why people disagree about priorities or consequences. It does not guarantee agreement or remove emotion, but it can make the tradeoffs clearer and help people find a workable compromise.
When to use it
When making a decision, identify the assumptions in your model, examine the reasoning, and ask what evidence could show that the model is wrong.
In a team setting, encourage open discussion to uncover different mental models and reach a more comprehensive solution.
To improve relationships, recognize that others' priorities stem from their own mental models and practice empathy.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Judging Based on Tattoos
A person avoids spending time with heavily tattooed individuals because of an upbringing that labeled such people as lowlifes, unaware of this bias. Someone else, raised without that bias, has no problem socializing with them.
Political Healthcare Proposal
You support a healthcare policy because it addresses problems you have experienced. Someone else sees different costs or gaps and opposes it. Comparing the assumptions, evidence, and values behind each view can reveal what the disagreement depends on.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What are some mental models you hold that might be based on incomplete information or upbringing?
How do your priorities reflect underlying mental models, and are they serving you well?
In what situations have you experienced conflict due to differing mental models with others?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Thinking in Systems and Mental Models Think Like a Super Thinker (Dawson, Marcus P)