What is a psychologist doing at a microbiology conference?

Reflections from a Conference about what to do about incorrect mental models. 

Why is a psychologist giving a talk at a microbiology conference talking about a special kind of bacterial form called biofilms and the mental models we use to understand them in research and healthcare practice?

The short answer is that both research and clinical practice are affected by mental models. Mental models are knowledge structures that forms in people’s mind about how things work. Therefore, to understand the governing mental models and how they affect the research logic is of huge importance.

Now, the longer answer to what mental models are:

All human practices - from everyday behaviour to the workplace to research - are governed by mental models. Mental models both help us grasp what is novel and unknown - but they also limit our understanding. 

In design, we use mental models to ensure that users can proficiently build in existing knowledge (and the underlying mental models) to use new devices intuitively. This is called positive transfer. 

On the flip side, if the user has a wrong mental model about how something works based on their previous knowledge, we call it negative transfer. To have a detailed understanding of the mental models that exists in the business area you operate is therefore a business strategic and design-tactical must! 

The audience of microbiological researchers at the conference reacted very positively to this notion of "quality assurance" of the mental models that underlie their research thinking. They also posed some highly pragmatic questions to me, i.e., "what do we then do questions",  that I would like to share here.  

So, what do we do about mental models? 

As said, we need to understand what mental models people use in a particular field of interest. What to do about them once they are uncovered, depends on the field you are in. Basically, there are two strategies. 

1. The first is to "go with the flow" and capitalise on the existing mental models. Frame your communication or design to work perfectly with the mechanics of the mental models. The only "mental model influence" option we have is to "trigger" or activate the suitable mental models (as people tend to have many). We typically employ this strategy when we design user interfaces for different sorts of devices or communication strategies.

2. The second option is to update the mental model. This is a very inefficient strategy, why we primarily use of the first strategy. However, sometimes updating the user’s mental model is our only option. This was the case of research into biofilm bacteria that I presented at the microbiology conference. Continued use of an incorrect mental model impedes scientific progress and leads to suboptimal clinical practice. Therefore, we need to update the incorrect biofilm mental models (to learn more about what they are you can read here). And how do we then do that? - as one conference participant asked.

Mental models are usually subconscious. We don't experience their presence and influence on our perception, thinking and behaviour. Therefore, we need to build awareness of the mental models. Vocalise them and their causal structure. 

For instance, the urologists I have met have told me that their patients often have a mental model of their bladder as a “gas tank”. We are all exposed to this model in anatomy models and drawings, where the bladder just sits there as a cavity in our bodies - sometimes half full, but always the same size. 

To update this incorrect mental model (that can have advisor effects if you are to use a catheter to empty your bladder), a urologist will demonstrate how the bladder is actually more like a latex glove that expands and contracts depending on the amount of liquid in it. And, like a latex glove, it should never be exposed to too much urine as it can then expand beyond what is healthy for the bladder. Therefore, it is critical to have a correct mental model of how one’s bladder works (especially if you need to use a catheter to empty your bladder).

Usually, mental models have a host of associated keywords that fit into the causal structure of the mental model. These words are trigger words that activate the mental model, and they also help reinforce its causal logic. In addition to awareness about particular mental models, we need to understand the associated lingo that will keep us trapped within that mental model. Therefore, we also need to curate a new lingo associated with alternative and more appropriate mental models. 

Following a similar logic, one of the conference participants suggested the following solution (phrased as a question): “So in order not to constantly reiterate the wrong mental model of biofilm, is there a way we can curate a language in our research community to more aptly reflect a more precise mental model?”. And yes, we should identify the terms that “talk into” one undesired mental model and then avoid those terms. We can also curate an alternative language associated with more desirable and more correct mental models to make things easier.

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