Mental Models XXVIII (Limitations V)

"Thought often leads us far beyond the imaginable without thereby depriving us of the basis for our conclusions. Even if, as it appears, thought without mental pictures is impossible for us men, still their connection with the object of thought can be wholly superficial, arbitrary, and conventional." (Gottlob Frege, "The Foundations of Arithmetic" , 1884)

“The classical tradition has been to consider the world to be an association of observable objects (particles, fluids, fields, etc.) moving according to definite laws of force, so that one could form a mental picture in space and time of the whole scheme. This led to a physics whose aim was to make assumptions about the mechanism and forces connecting these observable objects in the simplest possible way. It has become increasingly evident in recent times, however, that nature works on a different plan. Her fundamental laws do not govern the world as it appears in our mental picture in any very direct way, but instead they control a substratum of which we cannot form a mental picture without introducing irrelevancies.” (Paul A M Dirac, “The Principles of Quantum Mechanics”, 1930)

"Those who are content with a positivist conception of the aims of science will feel that he is in an entirely satisfactory position; he has discovered the pattern of events, and so can predict accurately; what more can he want? A mental picture would be an added luxury, but also a useless luxury. For if the picture did not bear any resemblance at all to the reality it would be valueless, and if it did it would be unintelligible […]" (James H Jeans," Physics and Philosophy" 3rd Ed., 1943)

"[…] many philosophers have found it difficult to accept the hypothesis that an object is just about what it appears to be, and so is like the mental picture it produces in our minds. For an object and a mental picture are of entirely different natures - a brick and the mental picture of a brick can at best no more resemble one another than an orchestra and a symphony. In any case, there is no compelling reason why phenomena - the mental visions that a mind constructs out of electric currents in a brain - should resemble the objects that produced these currents in the first instance." (James H Jeans," Physics and Philosophy" 3rd Ed., 1943)

"What a man sees depends both upon what he looks at and also upon what his previous visual-conceptual experience has taught him to see." (Thomas Kuhn, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", 1962)

"The major problem of the mental model approach lies in the fact that the external world is to be represented in a highly specific way. Representing indeterminacy in terms of mental models thus poses difficulties, casting some doubt on the contention that mental models can do without variables." (Gert Rickheit & Lorenz Sichelschmidt, "Mental Models: Some Answers, Some Questions, Some Suggestions", 1999)

"To think that the world can ever change without changes in our mental models is folly." (Joseph Jaworski, "Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership", 2011)

“When we face a challenge, most of us rely on our tried-and-true skills and their underlying mental models to get us through. But these patterns themselves could be the source of the problem. Often they enabled some level of success or survival in a former environment. But they may not be successful in our present circumstance. Now we need a new way. We need to build alternative mental models that lead to more adaptive behaviors and results. The first step in this change is to understand our current models and related behaviors. Because mental models are so central to our way of life, changing even one of them can be difficult. Changing involves abandoning long-held ties to a comfortable pattern of thinking and behavior and then replacing it with a substitute mental model and new behavior. Changing a mental model involves changing a part of ourselves. As you might guess, this process can feel like the psychological equivalent of surgery. It can be uncomfortable, even painful.” (Marshall Goldsmith & Daniel White, "Coaching Leaders: Guiding People Who Guide Others", 2013)

“The social world that humans have made for themselves is so complex that the mind simplifies the world by using heuristics, customs, and habits, and by making models or assumptions about how things generally work (the ‘causal structure of the world’). And because people rely upon (and are invested in) these mental models, they usually prefer that they remain uncontested.” (Dr James Brennan, “Psychological  Adjustment to Illness and Injury”, West of England Medical Journal Vol. 117 (2), 2018)