Cognitive Alchemy: 3 Understated Mental Models to Forge Your Critical Thinking

Eliminate bias, decode complexity, and unlock mental agility

“The key to better understanding the world is to build a latticework of mental models.” – Shane Parrish

Information is overwhelming.

At least, it was for Charlie Munger, the billionaire business partner of Warren Buffet.

Munger wanted a way to understand the world better, as we all do. And so he devised a series of ‘mental models’ that could decipher between relevant information and useless data.

Mental models sharpen your cognitive prowess. They allow you to manage complexity, whether it’s decision-making, problem-solving, or broadening our understanding.

Without any model, we are left to navigate uncharted terrain, with no map, no insight, and no direction. Nothing to ground our perception in.

As such, here are 3 essential mental models to forge your critical thinking skills.

1. The Map is Not the Territory

“I believe in the discipline of mastering the best of what other people have figured out.” – Charlie Munger

Maps are everywhere.

We try to model everything. Maps for navigating a city, financial statements which map out a company’s performance, scientific models that try to replicate reality.

But even the best maps are imperfect. They are merely a reduction of what they actually represent.

In 1931, mathematician Alfred Koryzbski popularised the concept that ‘the map is not the territory’. For instance, a map of a city fails to be realistic for several reasons:

• Maps have a purpose and so describe the terrain in a specific way, they cannot be used by everyone.
• The map does not tell us what it is actually like to be in a place, such as at the Eiffel Tower or by Big Ben.
• A true map would need “a map of the map’, ad infinitum. Each map corrects the reduction of reality with additional complexity.

Maps, abstractions, models, all have limitations.

For instance, take Newtonian Physics. This model served as an incredibly accurate predictor for hundreds of years, explaining the effects of gravity, classical motion, and the orbit of celestial bodies.

In 1905, Albert Einstein introduced the concept of Special Relativity, and with it was able to make more accurate predictions than the Newtonian model.

This was the creation of a new map.

So how we can use this to our advantage?

We have to take into consideration the following:

• Reality is the gold standard – the textbook, the map, the research paper can all be of assistance, but don’t let it take away from what is right in front of you. Don’t stick your head in the sand for too long and take a look around.
• A blueprint forged with emotion – Who designed the map? For what purpose was the model created? The reduction can contain traces of the subjective values and standards of the one designing it.
• Broaden your horizons – with the knowledge that maps are imperfect, we become more malleable, able to take on new diverse perspectives. We are saturated with new solutions and ideas that can update our existing map of the world.

2. The Circle of Competence

“Ignorance more often begets confidence than knowledge.” – Charles Darwin

We all have blind spots. But the worst blind spots are the ones you don’t even know exist.

One of the problems of knowledge is that as you acquire it, you begin to feel like an expert.

You think you have worked things out, that you know everything there is to know.

But the problem is, you can’t see ‘beyond the veil’. You are limited by your own circle of competence (or lack thereof).

You think you know a lot because your circle is small and confined. But in reality, there is a great deal you don’t know yet, you just can’t see it.

An expert, on the other hand, with a much broader understanding of a field, will have a better understanding of what they know and don’t know.

“A little learning is a dangerous thing;

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

And drinking largely sobers us again.” – Alexander Pope

So what is the solution?

Within our domain of knowledge, we have to be more careful with what we know and don’t know.

If not, we can’t make accurate and well-thought out decisions.

There are several recommendations we must take from this:

• Humility – don’t assume your knowledge is greater than it is, particularly as a beginner in a new field
• External feedback – speak to people with great expertise in the area we are working on, and receive honest criticism
• Stay in your circle – once you have clearly identified your area of expertise, and what you know and don’t know, make sure you don’t go skipping into other domains without careful consideration

3. Hanlon’s Razor

This final model is relatively straightforward, but the most difficult to master.

It states that ‘we should not attribute to malice that which is more easily explained by stupidity or ignorance’.

Most people assume the worst, all the time.

They think people are out to get them, that their boss hates them, that people always have bad intentions.

Hanlon’s razor is to remind us that everyone is human, and as such, are liable to make mistakes.

It is arguably one of the most important models, because it strips us of our chimp-brain reaction to most daily inconveniences.

Someone cuts in front of us in a queue, a car swerves into our lane unexpectedly, a coworker sends us what seems like an angry email.

Hanlon’s razor helps to remove the noise, to see things through a lens of logic and understanding.

What is more likely than malice, is simply the same traps we all fall into most of the time: laziness, sloppy thinking, ignorance.

So what we can takeaway from this model?

• Mistakes happen – blowing up over small matters because of our assumptions only blows us off course. Instead, attributing things to ignorance or laziness makes us more understanding
• Choose your battles wisely – the most effective use of this model is to select conflicts we do and don’t want. For most small battles, we can simply avoid them with this framework, and focus instead on the larger battles
• Always return to reason – Hanlon’s razor brings us back to a centre of reason and logic. We don’t fall into an instinctual, unconscious outburst, we just observe the situation with no emotion attached to it.

With all these mental models, it is imperative you consistently apply them to various aspects of your life, whether it be business, school, relationships, etc.

The more we can offload to our latticework of models, the more we can decode the complexity of the world, and become more grounded as a result.

As a blacksmith forges weapons through intense heat and pressure, you as well must apply the same process to disciplining the mind and forging mental clarity.