Mental models

Mental models

May 31, 2020 | mindset, models


« You only think you know, as a matter of fact. And most of your actions are based on incomplete knowledge and you really don’t know what it is all about, or what the purpose of the world is, or know a great deal of other things. It is possible to live and not know. »

– Richard Feynman

Parrish, Shane. The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts (p. 12). Latticework Publishing Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Mental models allows us to have a better understanding of the world around us, they shape on how we think and solve problems, shape opportunities and decisions, and allows us to simplify complex problems. Principles of field subjects can be mixed together to understand underlying key issues, points and ideas.

Mental models allows structure of information to be broken into pieces and link related information together. By applying mental models, we can move towards understanding reality.

Problems can be broken into substantive parts so interconnections can be revealed.

Most actions are based with incomplete knowledge of the subject, so mental models allows us to view what we know and what are we missing.

Related books:

Related books
Mindset
The great mental models: General thinking concepts
Nonviolent communication: A language for life

Blind spots #

  • The more we remove blind spots around situations, the more we can interact and move closer to understanding reality
  • We think better when we remove blind spots

Broad latticework of mental models #

  • Chunks of knowledge from different disciplines
  • Can be simplified
  • Allows better understanding of the world
  • Helps identifying information that is relevant to the current situation

Bottom-up perspective #

  • Expose what we believe to the casual relationships
  • Exposes how they will govern the situation both now and in the future

Key points on mental models #

  • How we understand the world
  • They shape on how we think and solve problems
  • Shape opportunities and decisions
  • How we simplify complexity
  • Principles of subjects can be mixed together to understand underlying and key issues/points/ideas
  • Representation on how something works
    • Representation on how something works
    • Link related information to different structures
  • Allows moving towards understanding reality
  • Helps finding a process to help us work through problems from multiple dimensions and perspectives
  • Finding the right solution for the right problem

Problem thinking #


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