Modelos mentais (parte I)

Os modelos mentais que transportamos connosco são poderosos simplificadores que evitam que fiquemos paralisados perante um excesso de informação, a tentar perceber o que se está a passar e o que nos está a acontecer.
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"Mental models play a central and unifying role in representing object’s states of affairs, sequences of events, the way the world is, and the social and psychological actions of daily life.

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They enable individuals to make inferences and predictions, to understand phenomena, to decide what action to take and to control its execution, and above all, to experience events by proxy." *

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“If the organism carries a “small-scale model” of external reality and of its own possible actions within its head, it is able to try out various alternatives, conclude which is the best of them, react to future situations before they arise, utilise the knowledge of past events in dealing with the present and future, and in every way to react in a much fuller, safer, and more competent manner to emergencies which face it.” **
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Não podemos viver sem modelos mentais, as exigências evolutivas integraram-nos na nossa maneira de ser e pensar.
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* Johnson-Laird, P. N. (1983). Mental Models - Towards a Cognitive Science of Language, Inference and Consciousness

** Craik, Kenneth (1943). The Nature of Explanation