Mental Models: Examples

A mental model is an explanation of how something works. They are beliefs, worldviews or frameworks of thinking. You carry a certain kind of thinking in you to arrive at a solution to a problem.

Some examples:

Demand and Supply: to understand the economy
Game Theory: to understand trust and relationships
Entropy: to understand disorder and decay

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How to Train Your Brain to Think in New Ways

jamesclear.com

TOPICS IN THIS IDEA

Problem Solving

How to Think

I wrote a response on quora recently to the question 'how do I become a better thinker' that generated a lot of attention and feedback so I thought I'd build on that a little and post it here too. Thinking is not IQ.

fs.blog

Thinking is not IQ

We often make the mistake of thinking that people with high IQs think better. But it's not true. That's not the type of knowledge or brainpower that makes you better at life, happier, or more succe...

Principles for seeking wisdom

Go to bed smarter than when you woke up.
"I’m not smart enough to figure everything out myself, so I want to master the best of what other people have already figured out."

If you want to think better...

Become better at probing other people’s thinking. Ask questions. Simple ones are better. “Why” is the best.
Slow down. Make sure you give yourself time to think.
Probe yourself. Try and understand if you’re talking about something you really know something about or if you’re just regurgitating something you heard.

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Phillip Mcclain

@phillipmcclain

How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

When it comes to using our minds, we all want to learn how to think like Sherlock Holmes. This isn't just a way of solving a crime. It's a way of thinking. Maria Konnikova's book, Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes, takes a deep look at Sherlock Holmes's methodology to develop the habits of mind that will allow us to mindfully engage the world.

fs.blog

Think like Sherlock Holmes

“What Sherlock Holmes offers isn’t just a way of solving a crime. It is an entire way of thinking."

"Holmes provides... an education in improving our faculty of mindful thought...

Engagement

As children, we are remarkably aware to the world around us. This attention wanes over time as we allow more pressing responsibilities to attend to and demands on our minds to address. And as the demands on our attention increase so, too, does our actual attention decrease.

As it does so, we become less and less able to know or notice our own thought habits and more and more allow our minds to dictate our judgments and decisions, instead of the other way around.

Pitfalls of the Untrained Brain

Daniel Kahneman believes there are two systems for organizing and filtering knowledge:

System one is real-time. This system makes judgments and decisions before our mental apparatus can consciously catch up.
System two, on the other hand, is a slow process of thinking based on critical examination of evidence. Konnikova refers to these as System Watson and System Holmes.

To move from a System Watson- to a System Holmes-governed thinking takes mindfulness plus motivation.

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