Editing Mental model (section)

{{Short description|Mental representation of the external world}}{{Other uses}}{{InfoMaps}}
A '''mental model''' is an internal representation of external [[reality]]: that is, a way of representing reality within one's [[mind]]. Such models are [[hypothesis|hypothesized]] to play a major role in [[cognition]], [[reasoning]] and [[decision-making]]. The term for this concept was coined in 1943 by [[Kenneth Craik]], who suggested that the mind constructs "small-scale [[models]]" of reality that it uses to anticipate events. Mental models can help shape [[behaviour]], including approaches to solving problems and performing tasks.

In [[psychology]], the term ''mental models'' is sometimes used to refer to [[mental representation]]s or mental simulation generally. The concepts of [[schema (psychology)|schema]] and [[conceptual model]]s are cognitively adjacent. Elsewhere, it is used to refer to the [[Mental model theory of reasoning|"mental model" theory of reasoning]] developed by [[Philip Johnson-Laird]] and [[Ruth M. J. Byrne]].