The “Mental Model” Wins

Remember my query back in September, “Should I call it a Mental Model or an Alignment Diagram?” Well, I am remiss in announcing the results… early this year we made the call to stick with the phrase “Mental Model.” There has been an explosion of definitions for the term in the past ten years, so my use of it shouldn’t rock the cognitive science/psycholog boat too much.

So, this means that we’re changing the name of the book from “alignment diagrams” to “mental models.” The former title was the result of a few people worrying that “mental model” might be too overloaded with meaning. It was a challenge to come up with the phrase “alignment diagrams,” and it has been a challenge to remind myself to use that term instead of what comes more naturally. So, to be honest, I’m relieved that we’re switching back to “mental model.”

We will change the title of the book page soon.