Making Mental Adjustments

Everyday, mass media continues to reinforce internal representations of people of color. And for those who live in largely white areas, stereotypical portrayals of people of color are consistently contributing to their mental models. Even without personal experience, repeatedly viewing mug shots of black men on local news can heavily influence your mental models of them. Furthermore this internal representation of black men as “criminals,” will continue to solidify within your mental model of black men. The usefulness of mental models work for and against us in this case. Generalization and extrapolation allow us to make extremely quick decisions without much mental energy. However, mental models do not promote accuracy or completeness. Taking general cues from information, and using these cues to predict future outcomes is what our brains used for. However, the nuance of certain circumstances is extremely important for creating a more accurate and holistic vantage point. And because most modern news is based on sound bites, headlines, and framing there are fewer and fewer details being presented in information to begin with.

Most people have trouble ridding themselves of their allegiance to their mental models. In his memoir, Nelson Mandela, discusses a time when an experience of a black man completely defied his mental model of black men. Mandela discusses a flight he took to Ethiopia and his opinions of the black male pilot. He “had never seen a black pilot before.” He begun to panic and wonder, “how could a black man fly an airplane?” Now, I’m sure Mandela did not believe black men lacked the mental capability to learn how to fly. However, his initial reaction to the pilot was based upon his mental model, which included general characteristics of black men. Never having seen a black pilot simply excluded the possibility from his mental model. After this experience, how was Mandela’s mental model affected?

Everyone has had an experience like this. Having a concrete idea of a concept, and experiencing something that completely refutes your initial idea. However, not everyone changes his or her mental model to accommodate new information. Some may give into confirmation bias, the tendency to seek out information that confirms one’s beliefs, or leads someone to ignore information that denies his or her beliefs. Allowing oneself to consciously abide by an inaccurate mental model destroys their ability to look ahead and accurately predict future situations. However, because predictive abilities in social situations such as Mandela’s are not life threatening, people are less inclined to make adjustments to their mental models. Furthermore, their conscious thought of this experience may not reach the level of subconscious encoding. So which is it? Are those who use inaccurate mental models choosing to do so to confirm their initial beliefs; or are those initial models too strong for one contradictory experience to subconsciously change them?

I believe it is a combination of both. While one benign, and contradictory experience may not be enough to change an entire mental model, you must actively pursue additional formation to create a more holistic and accurate mental model. Most people skip this step because they lack the motivation to seek new information that may lead to change. Because mental models and their strength depend on repeated exposure, you must repeatedly expose yourself to contradictory messaging to change the mental model. However, limiting yourself to one eye-opening experience will leave your mental model intact. Even though you’ve faced evidence that contradicts your thoughts and beliefs, you have not done the heavy lifting that will ensure your worldview changes with your experience.