#2
What Is A Mental Model |
Introduction
Defining "mental model" is a little tricky because it's such an abstract concept with many different expressions. For our purposes in this course, for the time being, let’s use James Clear’s definition:
A mental model is an explanation of how something works. It is a concept, framework, or worldview that you carry around in your mind to help you interpret the world and understand the relationship between things. Mental models are deeply held beliefs about how the world works.
Mental models have been studied academically since the 1940s. In fact, if you search Google Scholar for "mental model," you'll see nearly 200,000 different studies that use the term.
The Mental Model Theory of reasoning argues that we all use mental models unconsciously and that it's a fundamental part of how the brain reasons. In other words, the brain automatically creates mental models of the world. Then, as we go through life, we filter all of our experiences through the mental models in our head. For example, when we see a tree, we don't need to spend a ton of time figuring out what a tree is. We already have a model of what it is and how it works and we can access that model automatically. For a full academic history, read this article.
The main popularizer of mental models in the professional world is a self-made billionaire investor and entrepreneur Charlie Munger. To my knowledge, he first started talking about mental models in the early 1990s. Munger's approach to mental models is focused on curation and everyday application.
For this program, becoming better with mental models isn't about starting from scratch and collecting models. It's about going from an unconscious and automatic usage of mental models to deliberate. More specifically is about deliberate curation, improvement, and application of mental models.
Understanding What A Model Is At A Basic Level
Think about how a toddler comes to understand what a ‘dog’ is.
When a boy first sees a dog and has only one example (like the single case below), his definition of a dog may be that it has two pointy ears, only sits down, is black/brown, always sticks out its tongue, etc. Or, he might overgeneralize and call any four-legged moving creature a dog.
Now, let's suppose that same boy is exposed to several dogs. All of a sudden, his model of a dog is going to improve. He's going to realize that dogs can be sitting or standing, big or small, black or white, and still be a dog. And as he notices all the differences between the dogs, he's also going to notice what stays the same. In other words, he's going to notice the underlying elements of "dogness" that all dogs share even when they look different.
This element of "dogness" is a mental model that the child has created. With that mental model, he can identify an animal as a dog even if he’s never seen that type of dog before.
With constant and diverse learning, we organically and unconsciously build better models of reality. And those models help us navigate the world more effectively. Just as having a model/schematic of a house is important for a developer to have before starting construction, having mental models of how the world works helps us construct a better life.
To this point, the American computer engineer J. W. Forrester notes that, "The image of the world around us, which we carry in our head, is just a model. Nobody in his head imagines all the world, government, or country. He has only selected concepts, and relationships between them, and uses those to represent the real system." These are our personal collections of mental models.
Introducing Super Models
Mental models are part of how we see the world. So what?
Well, there is a class of mental models that carries way more weight than all of the other ones. Learning these models will set you up to lead a successful, productive, happy, and impactful life no matter who you are. I call these Super Models.
Super Models have the following characteristics:
- Universally Applicable
- Foundational / Fundamental
- Useful
- Robust (stays relevant over time)
The good news is that there aren't a huge number of Super Models, so they're realistic for everyone to master. There are 100 or so that are super valuable that everyone should learn.
The bad news is that these Super Models aren't taught as part of popular culture or in school. Everyone knows what a dog is, but only a few people have systematically and deliberately thought about how to apply Super Models like the 80/20 to their life.
In the next lesson, you'll be exposed to the top Super Models in the world.