Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 1, Session 5: Understanding Mental Models | Page 58 of 93and notice where you are standing in relation to other people. Now take a few moments and form a
group of people from those who are near you. Talk to each other about why you chose to stand where
you are.”- Allow a few moments for conversations, then invite any small group to give some of the reasons they
have for why they agree, disagree, or are unsure about the statement. Say:
“You can begin to see how our different mental models can help explain why we have different opinions
even on very simple topics. Let’s see what happens with other topics.”- Read each successive statement, allow people to make their decision and their move. Do not ask
participants to discuss every statement in small groups. However, as the statements become more
significant or controversial, you can ask them to have a short conversation and share a few ideas about
why they agree or disagree. This will give you opportunities to highlight differences in mental models.
You can stop making statements and asking participants to respond to them at any point that they
understand the concept of mental models. Then, invite people to sit for a discussion using questions
from among this list that seem most appropriate:
How did you feel having to form an opinion about the statements?
How did it feel to be in a large group, a small group, or all by yourself?
Which statements were most difficult to form an opinion about?
What decisions did other people make that surprised you?
What was it like to share your reasoning with people whose ideas were similar to yours?
What was it like to hear the reasoning of people who chose the opposite view from you?
What are some examples of how you understood someone better or may have changed your mind
a bit after listening to the explanation of someone from the opposite side?
How do you explain that people had such different opinions about the statements?B. Summary
Summarize by saying:
“The differences in our opinions come from the different ways we view the world – our mental models.
Sometimes we don’t even realize the impact our mental model has on our thinking or our actions. By
talking about our own mental models and asking other people to clarify theirs, we can see more of the
world around us. It’s like drawing a hand by looking at what’s in front of us rather than just relying on
our memory of what a hand looks like.”III. Practice (35 minutes)
Materials:
Newsprint, markers
Flip chart 1: Different Points of View
A. Values Continuum (continued)
Participants identify the impact mental models have on their thinking.