Mental model

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A mental model is an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world. It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts and a person's intuitive perception about their own acts and their consequences. Our mental models help shape our behaviour and define our approach to solving problems (think personal algorithm) and carrying out tasks.

Mental models have been studied and applied in risk communication

Mental models are typically approached as descriptive models of actual thinking patterns. However, they can also be used as normative models that should be learned and used by the members of a particular group or participants of a collaborative effort. This kind of shared ways of acceptable thinking are actually typical in education, although they are usually not treated as mental models. Examples can be found from any discipline: how to multiply two numbers in the head; what is a gene; what was the role of Finland in the Winter War in 1939-1940; how to interpret the Trinity in Christianity.

In trialogue, the mental models of participants can be seen as mental extensions of a shared information artifact (or alternatively, the shared information artifact as a physical extension and synthesis of the mental models). The participants adjust their own mental models to reflect the shared belief system, which is realised in the artifact. They can also participate in developing the artifact by testing it against their own mental models and challenge parts where they see discrepancies. These continuous challenges shape the artifact and the mental models into a more coherent, shared description and understanding of the issue. Trialogical information artifacts are used in open assessments.

Open assessments use a normative approach to mental models, i.e. the participants are expected to either accept the information artifact and adopt it in their own mental models, or challenge the inconsistencies of the artifact. This approach puts emphasis on

• the need to develop an easily understandable description of the issue at hand (an explicit model as an information artifact),
• the need to make sure that the artifact is consistent with scientific information,
• an individual need to commit to the process and take the effort to learn the shared mental mode, or challenge it,
• the need to draft outlines of the topic as soon as possible, as these outlines are important for the participants when they adjust their existing mental models towards shared understanding.

If successful, a system with a) shared information artifacts and b) participants' mental models consistent with it, will

• facilitate discussions between participants,
• facilitate further teaching and learning of the topic,
• reduce inconsistent or redundant work because these problems are more easily seen,
• result in a scientifically coherent description of the issue.
• facilitate rational action upon the issue.

See also

• Mental model in Wikipedia