Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 1, Session 5: Understanding Mental Models | Page 60 of 93session with a review of what a mental model is for Motivation. You can even ask people to draw a picture of a hand then ask
what they did differently from the first time they drew their hand and how they either used their mental model or questioned
their mental model.IV. Application (35 minutes)
Materials:
Personal posters from the Assessment section of Session 2
Flip chart 2: Influences on My Mental Model
A. Who Built Your House?
Participants identify and describe at least two important influences on their personal values.
- Explain that our mental models are neither right nor wrong. Say:
“We all think and take actions based on our mental models, but one person’s mental model is not
better than another person’s. What I see looking out the window of my ‘house’ is not better or worse
than what you see, it is only different. We see the same situations differently because we have built
different ‘houses’ for ourselves, with windows that allow us to look in different directions. When we
become clear about HOW we have built our ‘house’ we will have more control about how we respond
to people who are different from us.”- Return the personal posters to their owners. Match each person with a partner that he or she doesn’t
know well or with whom they have not spent much time in conversation so far. Refer to Flip chart 2:
Influences on My Mental Model and say:
“Please take several minutes and talk to your partner about your poster. Describe the different
elements, pictures, and words on it. Then talk about the events in your life, the people who are close to
you, your experiences, and things you have learned from school, relatives, friends, your religion, and
your culture.”- Give pairs about 20 minutes to share with each other. Then bring participants together for a
discussion:
Note: This activity is intended to be personal so don’t insist that participants share specific information if they don’t wish to.
Encourage them to answer the questions without sharing their personal situation.How did it feel to describe the influences that have made you who you are?
What did you learn about yourself in the process of sharing your poster?
What did you learn about your partner that surprised you?- Distribute markers or crayons and invite people to make additions to their posters. Say:
“You now have some new insights about yourself and the ‘house’ you are building. Please feel free to
add any words or phrases to your poster that describe the events, people, traditions, and so forth that
have influenced you the most.”