Archetypes
Authority
Community
Intimacy
Learning
Mental Models
System
Systemic Structure
Systems Thinking
Teams
Theory, Method, Tool
Vision
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The concept of mental models goes back to antiquity, but the phrase (to our knowledge)
was coined by Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craik in the 1940s. It has been used by cognitive
scientists (notably Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert of MIT), and gradually by managers.
In cognition ,the term refers to both the semipermanent tacit "maps" of the world which people
hold in their long-term memory, and the short-term perceptions which people build up as part
of their everyday reasoning processes. According to some cognitive theorists, changes in
short-term everyday mental models, accumulating over time, will gradually be reflected in
changes in long-term deep-seated beliefs. (Art Kleiner)
Excerpted from The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. Copyright 1994 by Peter M.
Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, and Bryan J. Smith.
Reprinted with permission.
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