Personal Mental Model - Coursework Example

Personal Mental Model Personal Mental Model Introduction Personal mental models are just a representation of the reality thatpeople use in understanding different phenomena’s in life. Mental models contain many assumptions which yield to the understanding and determining on how actions will be taken. One of my personal mental models is belief. Every human being has a belief in a particular matter of concern and topic of interest and it is this belief that guides the course of action to be taken. Belief involves what one thinks is true as to him and not necessarily what has been proven to be true. It is from what one believes in that result to one’s predictions and action plans. What one believes is enough to make accurate predictions as of the phenomena underlying. Description of the Personal Model One of my personal mental models is a reasoning based on stereotypical beliefs. The fact that I have grown up to become familiar with numerous stereotypes used in the creation of categories of people from different races has contributed a strong belief that some ethnic communities have undesirable behavior. This is the reason why I believe that apartment owners should consider an individual’s race or ethnic background before the acceptance of tenants. According to my belief, this will serve to prevent cases of crises, which may result if people from some racial communities are tenants in the apartments. Experts seeking to describe how personal mental mental models are formed have highlighted that the conscious, the subconscious and the creative subconscious parts of the brain are involved. However, the conscious mind is involved in the thinking process, which determines how an individual perceives different events, associations that lead to the perception, and the evaluation process that follows. After these steps, then a cause of action is chosen. Using my belief described above, it is critical to validate its outcome because the conscious mind is subject to making errors and inaccurate perceptions. Steps to Validate the Model In the validation of a mental model, there are a number of steps taken to ensure that the model created suites the predicted results in the course of proving it to be a true fact. In this section, the different steps used in the validation process will be analyzed in a bid to validate the personal mental model described above. Step1: Mental Model The formulation of mental models takes into consideration the fact that such mental models include only what one thinks, and does not take into account what is actually true. In addition, there is a need to consider that it is from this model that results are predicted and that the mental model should have enough information to allow accurate predictions. In the creation of a mental model on the belief, there must be believes, which will be used to create the model, and which are different from other people. It is from these believes that lead to the creation of a model on believes in the mind. These beliefs are just images formulated in the minds, which will result into a belief. I have always believed that some ethnic communities are more likely to create drama or problems if they are allowed to rent some apartments. This belief developed from a deductive form of thinking that some ethnic communities have certain behaviors that prompt them to cause trouble (Hoerl, McCormack, & Beck, 2011). Step 2: Decision-Making Rules After the mental model is formulated, it takes into account the rules to govern the mental model. It is from these rules that will be guiding decision making procedures hence help in proving the mental model to be true as to the person who believes in it. These rules will be the key guiding principles of the model since they define clearly on how the personal mental model formulated will be executed to bring the preferred results as to the predictions in the belief as formulated. This step is crucial in that models are not just formulated out of nowhere but must have an origin of what the person formulating the model believes in (Hoerl, McCormack, & Beck, 2011). Therefore, to create a model which will yield to the expected results one sets up the rules to guide on what ones belief has. My logical arrival at the belief was motivated by observations and existing stereotypes that define different communities. Step3: Decision In this step, decisions are made from the rules which guide the formulated mental model. The decisions taken will play a key role in the model since some decisions will not yield to the expected results of the model. Decisions are made according to what one believes in. These decisions will be used to validate whether the model is a genuine one since some decisions are unworthy and unreasonable, hence the kind of decisions to be made are determined. The kind of decisions made will depend on beliefs on the topic of interest. An example is the kind of decisions as an apartment owner will make to determine the kind of tenants to occupy the apartments is what will be used in proving the model created to be true or false. If a decision is made that only Indian students will be allowed to rent the apartments as analyzed by the model, this decision must be followed in order to have the model proven whether it is genuine as of the beliefs (Hoerl, McCormack, & Beck, 2011). Step 4: Real World In this step, the model is tested in reality to see whether the expected predictions will be achieved. The beliefs are put into a test using the rules and decisions set. By doing so, it aims at proving the model to be a fact. For example, in the case of renting an apartment to only a specific ethnic community based on certain stereotypes may prove to be otherwise in the real world. If the desired results are proven, then it is considered to have proven the mental model to be a true fact, whereas if the mental model desired results fails, the mental model is proven to be a false one hence not applicable in the real world (Sun, 2008). Step 5: Information Feedback This is the final step with the purpose of evaluating the outcomes of the model. A close examination of the belief, its basis and a critical analysis of the facts as they are in the real world proves the mental model to be a stereotype without any reliable evidence. This is because different individuals have varying personalities, which are the determinants of their behavior. This is the reason why tenants from any ethnic community may cause trouble (Sun, 2008). However, this factor does not depend on their race or culture. It depends on individual personalities. Therefore, the belief that apartments should be rented to only a selected number of ethnic communities is a false belief. Conclusion This model of belief shows how mental models are formulated from people’s perceptions, which are brought in real life and tested to see whether they will achieve the desired results and yield the outcomes predicted as to the person who has the beliefs. Experts have proven that models are just theoretical representations, which can be proven true or false since they are just human reasoning and not scientifically proven to be true or false. For any model to be proven as a fact or a fallacy, its reliability should be tested. From the example given above, a logical reasoning proves the stereotype, which motivates the belief wrong. This introduces the need for a change in reasoning. References Hoerl, C., McCormack, T., & Beck, S. R. (2011). Understanding counterfactuals, understanding causation: Issues in philosophy and psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sun, R. (2008). The Cambridge handbook of computational psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More