Mental Models: 

How to train your brain to think in new ways.

I remember the moment I first learned what a mental model was and how useful the right one could be. It happened while I was reading a story about Richard Feynman, the famous physicist. Feynman received his degree from MIT and his PHD from Princeton. During that time he developed a reputation for waltzing into the math department and solving problems that brilliant PHD students couldn't solve.

When people asked how he did it, Feynman claimed that his secret weapon was not his intelligence, but rather a strategy he learned in high school. According to Feynman, his high school physics teacher asked him to stay after class one day and gave him a challenge.

"Feynman," the teacher said, "you talk too much and and you make too much noise. I know why. You're bored. So, I'm going to give you a book. You go up there in the back, in the corner, and study this book, and when you know everything that's in this book, you can talk again."

So, Each day, Feynman would hide in the back of the classroom and study the book - Advanced Calculus by Woods - While the rest of the class continued with their regular lessons. And it was while studying this old calculus textbook that Feynman began to develop his own set of mental models.

"That book showed how to differentiate parameters under the integral sign" Feynman wrote. "It turns out that's not taught very much in universities: they don't emphasize it. But I caught on how to use that method, and I used that dam tool again and again. So because I was self taught using that book, I had a particular method of doing integrals."

The result was that when the MIT or Princeton had trouble doing a certain integral, it was because they couldn't do it with the standard methods learnt in school.

"so I got a great reputation for doing integrals, only because my box of tools was different from everybody else's"

When I read this story I realised that the smartest people are not necessarily the ones with raw intelligence, but often the ones with the best mental models.

What is a mental model?

A mental model is an explanation of how something works. It is a concept, a framework, or worldview that you carry in your mind. Mental models guide your perception and behavior. They are the thinking tools that you use to understand life, make decisions and solve problems.

For example, there is no single model from physics or engineering that provides a flawless explanation of the entire universe, but the best mental model from those disciplines have allowed us to build bridges and roads, develop new technologies, and even travel to outer space.

As historian Yuval Noah Harari puts it, "Scientists generally agree that no theory is 100% correct. Thus, the real test of knowledge is not truth, but utility."

The best mental models are the ideas with the most utility. This is why developing a broad base of mental models is a crucial task for anyone interested in thinking clearly, rationally and effectively. The secret to great thinking if a certain worldview dominates your thinking, then you'll try to explain every problem you face through that worldview.

As the proverb says: "If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail"

The more you master a single mental model, the more likely it becomes that this mental model will be your downfall because you start applying it indiscriminately to every problem.

We all have our favorite mental models, the ones we naturally default to as an explanation. Typically we favour the concepts we are familiar with, but each individual mental model is just one view of reality. The challenges and situations we face in life cannot be entirely explained by one field or industry. All perspective hold some truth. Thus the secret to great think is to employ a variety of mental models.

Mental models provide an internal picture of how the world works, and we should be constantly upgrading and improving the quality of this picture. The mind's eye needs a variety of mental models to piece together a complete picture of how the world works. The more sources you have to draw upon, the clearer your thinking becomes.

As philosopher Alain De Botton notes; " the chief enemy of good decisions is a lack of sufficient perspectives on the problem." Tools for thinking better that rely on a narrow set of thinking tools is like wearing a mental straight jacket. Your cognitive range of motion is limited. And when you set of mental models is limited, so is your potential for finding a solution.

You have to build out your toolbox.

In schools we tend to separate knowledge into different silos - biology, history, physics, etc - But in the real world information is not divided into neatly defined categories. In the words of Charlie Munger " All the wisdom of the world is not to be found in one academic department."

World-class thinkers are often silo-free thinkers. They avoid looking at life through the lens of one subject. By mastering the fundamentals of many disciplines, they are able to make connections and identify solutions that most people overlook. They develop "liquid Knowledge" that flows easily from one topic to the next.



Sources and notes;

Richard Feynman - Surely you're joking Mr Feynman.

The law of the instrument of man with hammer syndrome. The original phrase comes from Abraham Kaplan's book; The Conduct of Inquiry: Methodology of Behavioral science. " Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs a pounding." p28

Charles Munger - A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom as it Relates to Investment Management & Business.

Charles Munger - Speach at USC Business School. 1994

James Clear - www.jamesclear.com 


Charles Leon 5th August 2017