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From Architect's Model to Mental Model: How Psychology Reveals the World in Your Mind
Mental models are human inner representations of external reality. This concept was first proposed by Kenneth Craik in 1943. His theory states that the human mind constructs "small models" to predict events. This model is considered to play an important role in cognition, reasoning and decision-making, so psychologists continue to deepen their research on mental models.
Mental models can help shape behavior and influence how you solve problems and perform tasks.
The history of mental models
The concept of mental models originated from Kenneth Craik's book "The Nature of Explanation". In the book, Craik argued that there is a microcosm of external reality within the human brain. This concept was subsequently supported by many psychologists, especially in the field of child psychology, where Jean Piaget's theory was influenced by Georges-Henri Luquet. Luquet mentioned in "Children's Drawings" that children construct internal models to understand the world.
Mental models have been described as "deeply held images of thinking and acting."
Mental Models and Reasoning
One view of human reasoning is that reasoning relies on mental models. This model comes not only from perception, but also from imagination and the understanding of discourse. Philip Johnson-Laird and Ruth M.J. Byrne further developed this theory, arguing that reasoning relies primarily on mental models rather than logical forms.
Principles of mental models
Mental models are based on some basic assumptions, and each mental model represents a possibility. These models usually represent only those possible situations, and according to propositional truth principles, the structure of the mental model is similar to the structure of the reality it represents, which enables effective reasoning in a variety of situations.
Mental models are constructed based on truth principles; they reflect the likelihood of a situation and its reality.
Mental models in reasoning
People often conclude that a conclusion is valid as long as it holds true across all possibilities. The reasoning process of mental models relies on the detection of counterexamples to prove the validity of the inferences. Research indicates that decision-making ability is affected by age and working memory.
Criticism and discussion of mental models
Although mental model theory has received widespread attention, there is still controversy in the academic community over the nature of human reasoning. Some scholars argue that reasoning should be based on formal rules or probability theory, rather than just mental models. These opposing theories have been subject to numerous empirical comparisons.
Mental models of dynamic systems
Mental models play a key role in the analysis of dynamic systems. These models not only help understand the structure of the system, but can also be expressed concretely through causal loop diagrams, system structure diagrams, and flow diagrams. These methods promote research in the social sciences and are increasingly used in natural resource management and collaborative decision-making.
Mental model in the learning process
Mental models continue to influence the way people use information and their final decisions. Single-loop learning refers to changes in decision-making while the mental model remains unchanged, while double-loop learning requires changes in the mental model to expand understanding and adapt to new environments.
Single-loop learning facilitates decision-making, but double-loop learning promotes deeper understanding.
Conclusion
As research on mental models continues to expand, the intersection between psychology and other disciplines is becoming more and more significant, which not only deepens our understanding of human reasoning and behavior, but also prompts us to think about how to optimize mental models to improve the quality of decision-making. . In this process, we can’t help but ask, how will future mental models affect the way we live and make decisions?
