Framers

Humans think using mental models. These are representations of reality that make the world comprehensible. They allow us to see patterns, predict how things will unfold, and make sense of the circumstances we encounter.

The Principle of Mutability When conjuring up an alternative reality, people focus on aspects that they believe they can alter.

Put in the context of framing: as humans explain the world using causal frames, they are actually learning more about the world they are explaining, generating deeper and more accurate insights. Explaining the world to others leads to understanding it better oneself. The finding has direct application to education and parenting: get kids to explain

At the core of any frame lies a trade-off. The fewer constraints, the more counterfactuals a frame can generate. This gives a decision-maker more options, but it also means that many impractical ones have to be weeded out. The more constraints, the fewer options a frame elicits. This helps keep the decision-maker focused, but runs the risk of missi

The second element of our mental models is counterfactuals, which we examine in chapter 4. These are imagined alternatives to reality; hypotheses of a world in which one or several things are changed. As with causality, we think in counterfactuals all the time. They come naturally to us. Counterfactuals let us escape the cognitive here and now: we

The Minimal-Change Principle When selecting which constraints to loosen or tighten, we should aim for the fewest, not the most, modifications. We should aspire to minimal change.

Around the eleventh century, an innovation emerged. Books started to be produced with spaces between the words and rudimentary punctuation. It made reading easier in general, but especially silent reading—one could read a book on one’s own, without guidance.

Mutability, minimal change, and consistency are principles to apply when iterating the constraints we place on counterfactuals.

the meaning here is somewhat different: not how something is positioned but a deliberate act of harnessing mental models to elicit options prior to making a decision.

These three dimensions of cognition—causality, counterfactuals, and constraints—together form the basis of framing. They are our tools for seeing beyond the obvious and thinking forward.