How Thinking Works
> Success Can Become a Failed Mental Model
> Maginot Line Thinking
> How Thinking in the Constructed Universe Reinforces Itself
> Logic/Reasonableness
> Non-Positional Thinking
> Virtues of a Non-Positional Thinker
Falcon Invoice Discounting: Empowering Your Business Growth
Thinking That Transforms Everything
1. Thinking That Transforms Everything
Presented by
Ariane David, PhD
Senior Partner
The Veritas Group
Senior Lecturer
California State University, Northridge
ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com
6. Selective Perception
Subjective Memory.
…all held together by the Constructed Universe.
7. What we remember is subjective
What we remember is constantly changing
Confidence and sincerity are no measure of accuracy
Poor recollection compromises eye-witness accounts
9. Starts when we’re born (maybe before)
Made up of all our beliefs about the world
Changeable in early childhood, mostly fixed after that
New information is made to fit
We are not aware of its presence
Order is maintained through mental models
We don’t know who discovered water, but we know
it wasn’t the fish. Marshall McLuhan
10. Organize all of our memories, thoughts, perceptions into
“files” of related things according to our beliefs
Clusters of beliefs in the constructed universe
Example
18. “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
– HM Warner, Warner Bros, 1927
“Sensible and responsible women do not want to
vote.”
– Grover Cleveland, US President 1905
“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in
their home.”
-Ken Olson, Chairman/ Founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
20. Miracle on Manchester
Switzerland’s Watch Industry
21. Miracle on Manchester
Switzerland’s Watch Industry
Maginot Line
22. Doing what worked in the past only because it worked in
the past, without examining how appropriate that strategy
is in light new information, developments and technology.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28. What is it?
What determines if something is logical?
Is logic ever wrong?
29. Logic is nothing more than the rules YOU’VE made up for
navigating within your constructed universe!
30. Logic is nothing more than the rules YOU’VE made up for
navigating within your constructed universe!
There are as many different systems of logic as there are
people on the earth. (The jury’s out on extra-terrestrials)
31. Logic is nothing more than the rules YOU’VE made up for
navigating within your constructed universe!
There are as many different systems of logic as there are
people on the earth. (The jury’s out on extra-terrestrials)
Logic is subjective like taste. Nothing is ever “illogical”;
things are just “differently-logical”
39. Is an ideal to strive for
Rises above the “position” to examine all positions
40. Is an ideal to strive for
Rises above the “position” to examine all positions
Examines the underlying thinking, assumptions, logic
41. Is an ideal to strive for
Rises above the “position” to examine all positions
Examines the underlying thinking, assumptions, logic
Examines assumptions also on related issues
47. What do I think is so?
What assumptions have I made?
What if my assumptions were wrong?
What could be alternative explanations?
Is there anything that could persuade me that I am
wrong?
53. Thinking That Transforms
Ariane David, PhD
The Veritas Group
Additional Information
ADavid@TheVeritasGroup.com
www.theveritasgroup.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
First, we can only take in a small amount of information that reaches our senses. Not only do physical conditions intervene, but historically, our survival depended on our focusing only on the most important phenomena.
Not only is memory not a video of events that actually transpired, memory is not “fixed” but continues to change and evolve throughout our lives and with every recollection. No matter how absolutely certain we are about what we “remember”, we cannot be sure that that’s actually what happened.
The notion that somehow our reality is constructed has been with us for a long time. In his Allegory of the Cave Plato likened the human mind/constructed universe to a cave in which all people in it could see were shadows, which they took to be the whole and real world. In Indian religions the constructed universe is called Maya; it the dream in which we live.
New born infants have no differentiation of self or other…no sense of I and you, no a sense of we. Rather they live in a state of undifferentiated being. As time passes we start developing a model of the world that to the individual IS the real world, that allows us to explain and predict the world. Without it we’d have no way to function. We come to believe, not that this model is only MY explanation of the world, but that the my mode lIS the world. All we perceive is assessed based on the constructed universe. As time goes on it becomes our cocoon or jail.
Ther notion of mental models was introduced by G. H. Luguet who studied the art of children and noticed that children tended to work in themes or models. Child developmentalist, Jean Piaget, quickly saw the value in Luquet’s discovery and adopted it. Keith Craik first used the term in 1947. Later writers such as Peter Senge popularized the term.
The dots on this slide bring to light a mental model. Most people see a circle even though whet is depicted is really a group of unconnected dots arranged in a circle. Our minds, upon seeing the array of dots will choose the most prominent and simple mental model to determine what figure the dots make up…
…but a circle is just one of the shapes the dots can signify…
…or this
…or this!
Imagine our prehistoric forebears on the savannah. They see something move in the grass. Some thought YIKES, a lion, and ran. Some thought, hmm, something moved, I wonder what it is. I’ll go investigate. Which ones do you suppose survived to pass on their genes?
Imagine our prehistoric forebears on the savannah. They see something move in the grass. Some thought YIKES, a lion, and ran. Some thought, hmm, something moved, I wonder what it is. I’ll go investigate. Which ones do you suppose survived to pass on their genes? So we think the way we think because it worked in pre-historic times.
The way we think about things is often more important than the things themselves.
We start with beliefs which form the bulwark of our constructed universe. When these beliefs form the foundation for conclusions they become assumptions. Assumptions inform our conclusions, and conclusions in turn reinforce the beliefs. The newlt strengthened beliefs then form the basis of stronger assumptions.
Often conclusions lead to action, which then reinforce the belief.
Logic is nothing more than the rules that govern the processes inside the constructed universe. There is no right or wrong logic no more than there is a right or wrong taste for mashed potatoes.
Logic is nothing more than the rules that govern the processes inside the constructed universe. There is no right or wrong logic no more than there is a right or wrong taste for mashed potatoes.
Logic is nothing more than the rules that govern the processes inside the constructed universe. There is no right or wrong logic no more than there is a right or wrong taste for mashed potatoes.
Imagine a room that’s in the shape of a cube. Filling the room is a ball that is red on one side and blue on the other. Two people, A and B, are peeping i9n through little windows in opposite corners. A sees a red ball; B sees a blue one. A and B are talking on their cell phones explaining to the other what they see.
Imagine that B has a mental model of A as a liar. B will likely take A’s assertion that the ball is red as further proof that A is a liar and not question further.
Imagine a room that’s in the shape of a cube. Filling the room is a ball that is red on one side and blue on the other. Two people, A and B, are peeping i9n through little windows in opposite corners. A sees a red ball; B sees a blue one. A and B are talking on their cell phones explaining to the other what they see.
Now imagine that Bhas either a favorable mental model of A, a weak mental model or none at all (hard to do). In this case B is far more likely to enquire about ther basis of A’s allegation that the ball is red. In which case will the people involved come up with a better solution?
Non-positional thinking is an ideal. As long as we live within our constructed universe being guided by mental models we will never be non-positional. However, in striving for it we become powerful thinkers.
Non-positional thinking is an ideal. As long as we live within our constructed universe being guided by mental models we will never be non-positional. However, in striving for it we become powerful thinkers.
Non-positional thinking is an ideal. As long as we live within our constructed universe being guided by mental models we will never be non-positional. However, in striving for it we become powerful thinkers.
Non-positional thinking is an ideal. As long as we live within our constructed universe being guided by mental models we will never be non-positional. However, in striving for it we become powerful thinkers.
Non-positional thinking is an ideal. As long as we live within our constructed universe being guided by mental models we will never be non-positional. However, in striving for it we become powerful thinkers.
Humility is the acknowledgement that we might know what’s really happening…
Curiosity is the desire to find out what it is we might not know….
Courage means acting according to what you’ve learned even if it means discomfort.