Mental Models, and How Structure Generates Behaviour
On this page 6 headings
Start here You want to eat fewer snacks. But your snack jars are transparent and sit right where you walk past ten times a day. You keep eating. Is it a lack of willpower, or is it the structure you built?
Habit: Consider how mental models affect current reality and the future
Mental models are the pictures and beliefs we build in our minds from what we sense and experience. When something triggers them (a word, an image, a person, an event), they play back automatically.
Mental models shape:
- how we react to things,
- our thinking and emotional patterns,
- how we solve problems and handle obstacles,
- how we manage conflict, and how we make decisions.
They also influence other people’s mental models, and the other way round.
Lecture example — the single parent who “couldn’t be promoted” (Prof. Prasanna) A single mother couldn’t travel for work because she cared for her child and elderly parents. Over time she came to believe: “Because I can’t travel, management doesn’t take me seriously.” In coaching, they questioned this: what assumptions and interpretations was it based on? What conclusions had she jumped to without full evidence? Much of it turned out to be her own perception. She replaced that model with one built on the value she could create. Instead of asking managers “What can you offer me?”, she went in saying, “Here’s what our group achieved, and here’s our roadmap.” The managers listened and supported her. It also freed up her mind space, energy and time.
Lecture example — “I am not creative” Prof. Prasanna believed from childhood that she wasn’t creative. In college, this stopped her from even trying. Only when she worked on that mental model, chipping away the parts that didn’t work and upgrading them, did she step out of her comfort zone.
Lesson: Mental models need regular review and upgrading. Look for internal causes before blaming others.
Habit: Recognise that a system’s structure generates its behaviour
Structures influence the behaviour of a system. If you want to change how a system behaves, change its structure.
Prof. Shiva calls this the habit that kept him awake at night. Three simple lines contain so much truth.
What counts as a “structure”?
| Type of structure | Example |
|---|---|
| Physical | Buildings, furniture, a table between two people |
| Laws and policies | Government rules |
| Social | Traditions, routines, habits |
Examples
| Structure | Behaviour it creates | Change the structure… |
|---|---|---|
| A table between you and an acquaintance at a restaurant | Distance; formal talk | Sit side by side to build closeness (recommended for building relationships) |
| Two large sofas right at the entrance of the living room | Guests stop there and don’t come further in | Rearrange the room |
| WhatsApp first thing every morning | 30 minutes gone each day | Remove that routine to be more productive |
| Walking home past a sweet shop | Stopping for sweets while trying to lose weight | Change your route |
| Transparent snack jars on view | Eating snacks every time you pass | Put them away in a cupboard |
| Children behaving badly, or ignoring lessons | Parents may have created a structure that signals “it’s okay” | Parents change the signals and routines |
Key idea: Don’t blame people (or yourself) first. Look at the structure that produces the behaviour.
Other examples (Prof. Prasanna)
- How a couple interact at home shapes their children’s mental models and behaviour, which then shapes how the children behave outside.
- What happens at home affects work, and what happens at work affects home.
- In the solar system, if one planet were pulled out of place, the balance of the whole would be affected.
In one line: Our mental models shape how we see and act, so keep upgrading them; and since structure drives behaviour, change the structure to change the behaviour. Exam words: mental models, assumptions, interpretations, conclusions, internal causes, structure generates behaviour, physical, policy and social structures, routines, change the structure.