Lecture 2: Mental Models and Sense-Making
🧠 How Do Humans Make Sense of the World?
- Humans don’t perceive reality like a camera or recording device.
- We construct simplified mental models of the world based on:
- Sensation: raw data from senses
- Perception: interpretation and integration
- Attention: filters what enters consciousness
- These models are:
- Filtered by motivations
- Shaped by experience
- Built for survival, not for truth
Key Insight: We don’t record reality; we construct a usable version of it.
🎭 Pattern Recognition and Meaning-Making
- Pareidolia: seeing faces/animals in clouds or objects.
- Apophenia: detecting meaningful patterns in randomness (e.g. conspiracy theories).
- Illusions demonstrate perception vs. reality (e.g. duck-rabbit, two faces/goblet).
- Attention is limited and spotlighted — we miss most things not in focus (e.g. gorilla basketball video).
⚡ Speed vs. Accuracy: Dual Process Model
- Humans use two systems to process information:
- System 1: Fast, intuitive, emotional, automatic
- System 2: Slow, logical, deliberate, effortful
- Names for these systems include:
- Fast/Slow (Kahneman)
- Heuristic/Systematic
- Peripheral/Central
- X-system/C-system
- Automatic/Controlled
📚 Examples of Biases and Heuristics
- Availability heuristic: what’s easily recalled feels more common (e.g. shark attacks).
- Salience bias: we overweight vivid, noticeable information.
- Stereotyping: fast processing based on traits, e.g., “Linda the feminist bank teller.”
- Prospect Theory: people fear losses more than they value gains.
- Bad is Stronger than Good: negative events have stronger psychological impact than positive ones.
🧩 Scripts, Schemas, and Priming
- Scripts: automatic sequences of behavior (e.g. restaurant order of service).
- Schemas: mental frameworks for interpreting events (e.g. using baseball schema for cricket).
- Priming: subtle cues activate schemas (e.g. “Scotland” → bagpipes).
🏠 Motivation Shapes Perception
- Motivation influences how we interpret the same environment:
- Buyer sees granite countertops
- Burglar sees entry points
- Investor sees cash flow
- Inspector sees foundation flaws
🔁 Cognitive Dissonance and Internal Consistency
- Cognitive Dissonance: discomfort from conflicting beliefs/behaviors
- We reduce dissonance by:
- Changing a belief
- Changing importance
- Adding a new cognition
- Examples:
- Smoking: “I smoke” + “Smoking kills” → “I only smoke socially” or “I exercise.”
👥 Shared Reality and Social Construction
- Our view of reality is shaped by group consensus.
- Sherif’s Autokinetic Effect: ambiguous visual stimulus led groups to converge on a shared “truth,” which persisted across generations.
- Festinger’s “When Prophecy Fails”: cult maintained belief after failed apocalypse through rationalization and proselytizing.
💡 Final Takeaways
- We are sense-making animals who:
- Construct simplified, usable models of reality
- Favor fast processing unless effort is made
- Strive for inner and social consistency
- Science and controlled thinking help us update inaccurate models
- Find allies when you perceive something different — shared belief strengthens confidence