The art of thinking · Mental models as thinking tools
Mental model (thinking tool)
Also known as: Thinking model, Mental model (decision-making)
German: Denkmodell
In the decision-making literature, a mental model is a named, reusable thinking tool — such as first principles thinking, inversion or second-order thinking — that a person applies to understand a problem and decide, as distinct from the cognitive-science sense of a person's internal representation of how something works.
- Thinking models
- Problem solving
In one sentence
In the decision-making literature, a mental model is a named, reusable thinking tool such as first principles thinking, inversion or second-order thinking.
Example
Before restructuring a manual, a documentation lead applies inversion — “what would make this manual fail its readers?” — and first principles thinking — “what is actually true about this machine?” — as two separate thinking tools.
Explained in context
Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.
How it applies
- Origin of the usage: Charlie Munger's latticework of mental models (1994) made "mental model" the everyday word for a thinking tool borrowed from one discipline and used in others; Shane Parrish's Farnam Street series The Great Mental Models collected such tools, with first principles thinking among the general thinking concepts.
- Typical tools: first principles thinking, inversion, second-order thinking, reasoning by analogy and its limits, Socratic questioning — methods for thinking about anything, not facts about a particular system.
- In professional work: writers, engineers and analysts use these tools to question a brief, find what is actually known and decide what to build first. A thinking tool never replaces a method required by a standard or a law.
Mental model (thinking tool) vs. mental model (cognitive science)
The thinking tool is a method a person chooses to apply; the mental model of cognitive science and usability is what a person believes about how something works — the sense documentation works with when it builds and corrects a reader's understanding. The two meet when a writer uses a thinking tool to find out which mental model the reader needs.
How to read this pool
Entries, context cards and transitional topics
The art of thinking explains ways of thinking — where a method comes from, what it asks of you and how it was adapted later. You meet four kinds of content here, each with its own job:
- Glossary entry
- Defines one concept or method of thinking: its origin, an example and how it relates to neighboring ideas. “X vs. Y” sections set two methods side by side.
- Context card of the art of thinking
- A short, self-contained answer to one question about a way of thinking — its lineage, its steps, its limits. These cards are listed on The art of thinking only.
- Transitional topicBridges both pools
- A context card that bridges both pools: it shows how a way of thinking was adapted into documentation, analysis or quality practice. It sits with the reference context cards and is marked as transitional wherever it appears.
- Reference entry or context card
- Belongs to the Glossary & Norms Space on regulation, norms and engineering. Entries here link to one only where a method is also an established tool of documentation or quality work, such as the five whys or a user’s mental model.