Editing Mental model (section)

==Mental models of dynamics systems: mental models in system dynamics==

===Characteristics===
A mental model is generally:
* founded on unquantifiable, impugnable, obscure, or incomplete facts;
* [[Cognitive flexibility|flexible]] – considerably variable in positive as well as in negative sense;
* an information filter that causes [[selective perception]], perception of only selected parts of [[information]];
* very limited, compared with the complexities of the world, and even when a [[scientific modelling|scientific model]] is extensive and in accordance with a certain [[reality]] in the derivation of [[logical consequence]]s of it, it must take into account such restrictions as [[working memory]]; i.e., rules on the maximum number of elements that people are able to remember, [[gestaltism]]s or failure of the principles of [[logic]], etc.;
* dependent on sources of information, which one cannot find anywhere else, are available at any time and can be used.<ref name="SUSM2004">{{cite web |url=http://proverbs.cz/media/art/SM_ST.pdf |author=Šusta, Marek |title=Několik slov o systémové dynamice a systémovém myšlení |pages=3–9 |publisher=Proverbs, a.s. |language=cs |access-date= 2009-01-15}}</ref><ref name="mild2003">{{cite book |author=Mildeova, S., Vojtko V. |title=Systémová dynamika |year=2003 |isbn=978-80-245-0626-5 |publisher=Oeconomica |location=Prague |pages=19–24 |language=cs}}</ref><ref name="forste1997">{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/jsterman/www/ford_sterman_elicit_1.pdf |author=Ford, David N., Sterman, John D. |title=Expert Knowledge Elicitation to Improve Mental and Formal Models |publisher=Cambridge, Massachusetts, US - Massachusetts Institute of Technology |pages=18–23 |access-date=2009-01-11}}</ref>

Mental models are a fundamental way to understand organizational learning. Mental models, in popular science parlance, have been described as "deeply held images of thinking and acting".<ref>"Leading for a Change", Ralph Jacobson, 2000, Chapter 5, Page102</ref> Mental models are so basic to understanding the world that people are hardly conscious of them.

===Expression of mental models of dynamic systems===
S.N. Groesser and M. Schaffernicht (2012) describe three basic methods which are typically used:
* [[Causal loop diagram]]s – displaying tendency and a direction of information connections and the resulting causality and feedback loops
* System structure diagrams – another way to express the structure of a qualitative dynamic system
* Stock and flow diagrams - a way to quantify the structure of a dynamic system
These methods allow showing a mental model of a dynamic system, as an explicit, written model about a certain system based on internal beliefs. Analyzing these graphical representations has been an increasing area of research across many social science fields.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Natalie A. |last2=Ross |first2=Helen |last3=Lynam |first3=Timothy |last4=Perez |first4=Pascal |last5=Leitch |first5=Anne |title=Mental Models: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis of Theory and Methods |journal=Ecology and Society |date=2011 |volume=16 |issue=1 |doi=10.5751/ES-03802-160146|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:271714/UQ271714_OA.pdf |doi-access=free }}</ref> Additionally software tools that attempt to capture and analyze the structural and functional properties of individual mental models such as Mental Modeler, "a participatory modeling tool based in fuzzy-logic cognitive mapping",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mentalmodeler.com/articles/Gray%20et%20al%20Mental%20Modeler%202013.pdf|title=Mental Modeler: A Fuzzy-Logic Cognitive Mapping Modeling Tool for Adaptive Environmental Management|website=mentalmodeler.com|access-date=28 May 2019}}</ref> have recently been developed and used to collect/compare/combine mental model representations collected from individuals for use in social science research, collaborative decision-making, and natural resource planning.

===Mental model in relation to system dynamics and systemic thinking===
In the simplification of reality, creating a model can find a sense of reality, seeking to overcome [[systemic thinking]] and [[system dynamics]].

These two disciplines can help to construct a better coordination with the reality of mental models and simulate it accurately. They increase the probability that the consequences of how to decide and act in accordance with how to plan.<ref name="SUSM2004"/>

* [[System dynamics]] – extending mental models through the creation of explicit models, which are clear, easily communicated and can be compared with each other.
* [[Systemic thinking]] – seeking the means to improve the mental models and thereby improve the quality of dynamic decisions that are based on mental models.

Experimental studies carried out in [[weightlessness]]<ref>{{cite journal|author-link4=Francesco Lacquaniti |vauthors= McIntyre J, Zago M, Berthoz A, Lacquaniti F |year=2001 |title= Does the brain model Newton's laws? |journal=[[Nature Neuroscience]] |volume=4 |issue=7 |pages=693–694|doi= 10.1038/89477 |pmid= 11426224 |s2cid= 30444364 }}</ref> and on Earth using [[neuroimaging]]
<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors= Indovina I et al. |year=2005 |title= Representation of visual gravitational motion in the human vestibular cortex. |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=308 |issue=5720 |pages=416–419|doi=10.1126/science.1107961 |pmid=15831760 |bibcode=2005Sci...308..416I |hdl=2108/19501 |s2cid=22179461 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> showed that humans are endowed with a mental model of the effects of gravity on object motion.

===Single and double-loop learning===
After analyzing the basic characteristics, it is necessary to bring the process of changing the mental models, or the process of learning. [[Learning]] is a back-loop [[wikt:process|process]], and [[feedback]] loops can be illustrated as: single-loop learning or double-loop learning.

====Single-loop learning====
Mental models affect the way that people work with information, and also how they determine the final decision. The decision itself changes, but the mental models remain the same. It is the predominant method of learning, because it is very convenient.

====Double-loop learning====
{{Main|Double-loop learning}}
Double-loop learning (''see diagram below'') is used when it is necessary to change the mental model on which a decision depends. Unlike single loops, this model includes a shift in understanding, from simple and static to broader and more dynamic, such as taking into account the changes in the surroundings and the need for expression changes in mental models.<ref name="mild2003"/>
{|
! colspan=3 | Process of learning
|-
| valign=top |
[[File:smycka1eng.png|center|thumb|upright=1.03|Feedback process]]
| valign=top |
[[File:smycka2eng.png|center|thumb|upright=0.80|Single-loop learning]]
| valign=top |
[[File:smycka3eng.png|center|thumb|upright=0.80|Double-loop learning]]
|}