John Dicus asked:
>So she simply said, explain to me the difference between assumptions and
>mental models in common words.
Let me have a try:
"The world around us and within us (reality) is mapped in mental models."
This statement is also a mental model - the model that defines the term
"mental model". These mental models (I assume mental models are a useful
concept) include a set of jugdements, some of them emotional, some of them
mental and one of these mental judgements connected with any mental model
is the degree of certainity. This states whether the model represents
knowledge, assumption or mere possibility.
Sometimes people stick to mental models as truth, i.e. with the label
"knowledge" where this is for one or the other reason not appropriate. In
this case, introducing the concept of mental models can be helpful to
enable a certain distance between the person and her mental model in a
way, that the model can become subject to reflection and the status of
"knowledge" can be questioned.
As a facit, I do not share the relativistic view, that all mental models
are "just" assumptions.
Best regards
Winfried
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>