We store our understanding of the “way things work” in our minds as mental models. These mental models contain everything we have learnt and stored from all our past experiences.
For example –
If I press the light switch then the light will come on (cause and effect close together in time);
If I give my horse more food his condition will improve (cause and effect cumulative);
If I plant more fruit tree seeds then I will harvest more apples (cause and effect distant in time).
At this juncture some of you are thinking – that’s all very well but that effect may not happen if the trees die before maturity or if I work my horse harder. And of course that is true. In general, the more time distance between cause and effect then the more that other things can get in the way and affect the outcome. For this reason we often have to state the obvious – for example, if I give my horse more food his condition will improve…all other things being equal (ie if nothing else changes). We use these “mental models” or “mind maps” on a day to day basis to inform our future courses of action.
People often talk about their mental models as their “point of view”. The way I see it is, if we do this, then that will happen. Often people with different points of view will argue and disagree pointedly. Often these disagreements are not resolved and yet it is often the case that both points of view are correct but neither are the full picture. When these mental models are shared and explored we all benefit.
Our mental models are based on all the knowledge we have accumulated in our lives…whether through experience, hear-say, reading, radio, television, school and so on. Some of this is “true” but incomplete. As we saw with the dominoes, “things can look different depending where you stand”. We may have some of the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle but not all of them. Sometimes our mental models are further from the truth, by and large due to faulty learning in the past. It is in everyone’s interest that we work to improve the quality of our mental models.
The best way to improve our mental models is by making them explicit. Putting them down on paper so that we can challenge, share, analyse, understand and improve them. This is rather like exploring the way our brains are wired and rewiring where necessary to improve the performance of the owner. I believe that we are constantly doing this unconsciously in life but rarely is it done systematically so that learning is acknowledged.
The best way to make our mental models explicit is by using the language of Systems Thinking (ST). There are many excellent texts on this subject (see appendix 1). In this book I will attempt to share the bare bones. The beauty of ST is its simplicity. There are only two basic building blocks; Variables and Relationships.