On Friday, November 28, 1997 6:45 PM, John Dicus wrote:
> So she simply said, explain to me the difference
> between assumptions and
> mental models in common words.
LO's,
This is one time that I was glad I got to the list late.
John posed the question, yet, unless I missed something, everyone accepted
the convention--the assumption--that there is a difference between
assumptions and mental models?
The answer is...
in the assumption? Didn't we all assume that because John asked for us to
explain the difference, we automatically accepted his statement on the
basis of "an assumption" that there is in fact a difference. So we all
engaged the stimuli with our mental models to "explain" the difference.
Yet, how many people questioned in their mind whether or not the statement
was in fact a truth before we jumped off into the explanation?
What I was going to say, before I wrote the first sentence was that there
was not a difference between assumptions, cognitive maps and mental
models. IMO, they all describe an interaction between intention and
meaning. It's how we make sense of the world. We say (to ourselves, in
in fact we are talking to ourselves(g)) "if this happens, we do this." "If
this happens, then this will be the result. "
We all develop these models based on our belief systems that are formed
according to Bem (70) in Beliefs, Attitudes and Human Affairs from a set
of zero order beliefs we acquire through our experience. Bem writes, "If
a person perceives some relationship between two things or between some
thing and a characteristic of it, he is said to hold a belief." He goes
on to say that "many beliefs are the result of direct experience." How do
we know an orange is round? Most of us have experienced that perception.
Yet when we go to more complex belief formations, we use the direct
experience or zero order belief + a derived belief to form a new
conclusion or mental model about our perceptions.
In other words we assume something to be true, whether it is or not, Bem
referred to this as pscyho-logic, not true logic, but logic which has the
effect of ordering our assumptions/cognitive maps/mental models.
Now that I said what I was going to say, which supported the
"psycho-logic" that assumptions and mental models were no different, I
have painted myself into a corner. It takes a strong spirit to admit in
front of thousands that they are confused.<g>
Yet, when I saw that no one really questioned what was not necessarily an
absolute truth--assumptions and mental models are different--I saw that we
have accepted a convention and assumed without questioning a preconception
as Simon described. So now I am left with my own dissonance regarding
assumption and mental model.
In practice, I have found that if you can discover someone's
assumptions/mental models, you can understand their behavior. The
behavior becomes a product of their assumptions as we humans seem to be
quite efficient and usually do--what gets that--in order to function free
of chaotic dissonance--a consistency of sorts that appeals directly to our
desired states of well-being.
I still don't know the difference between the two because my
assumption/mental model was that they were the same. We discuss the
difference between a chevy and an olds, yet they are both combustion
driver, 4 wheeled, vehicles that can be controlled by a driver. Yet there
is a difference in them isn't there?
Hmmmm. I guess this ain't your father's oldsmobile then is it? <G>
I give...
mike
--"Mike Jay" <Quarterback@classic.msn.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>