Nikolas Fragkias 
When we want to go somewhere we have never been before, we use a map. A map shows the key landmarks of an area, such as well-known buildings and squares. It also shows how those squares, buildings and monuments relate to each other and to our final destination. In short, we use maps to tell us where we want to go and how we will get there.
A few things about maps:
- A map gives us one specific view of an area. There are general maps and maps of monuments, as well as more specialised maps, such as geological or climate maps.
- Maps are made for many different reasons, some of which we may never know.
- Maps work by encoding images and words.
- Maps create worlds; they do not copy them.
- To do its job, a map may leave things out so that it is easy to read.
In the same way, architects create precise designs before a building goes up. Those designs are the foundation, the model the construction is based on.
Models of human behaviour and skill are like maps and architectural designs: they describe the elements, the repeated behaviours and the meanings connected to a particular skill. But not all descriptions are the same, just as not all maps are the same. A useful map gives us the information we need to reach our destination. In the same way, a model of behaviour is useful when it helps us bring a skill that someone else has into our own experience and behaviour. The key question is: “Does this suit me?”
Most of our skills and abilities develop over a lifetime, through education, knowledge and experience. Through trial and error, through teaching, correction and encouragement, we have learned to use language, to recognise inconsistency and unethical behaviour in our social interactions (or to behave unethically ourselves), to ride a bicycle, solve an algebra problem, read, work, have fun, or simply tell a joke.
In every case, we need to learn the different perspectives, thought patterns and behavioural responses that make a model work effectively in a particular context. Decision-making relies on recognising repeated patterns. We see something we already know and instinctively follow the mental map we have already built for it… nothing more.
Much of what we know may come from our efforts to imitate people who impressed or inspired us, or to whom we are close: our mother, father, grandfather, brother, teacher, neighbour, or a character from a book or film.
Consciously or unconsciously, we may have tried to imitate their facial expressions, their gaze, their language patterns or their behaviour. We have tried to say things exactly the way they said them, do what they did, read what they read, choose what they chose, or think the way they thought. So why create a formal modelling process for acquiring skills?
The main reason is that the informal modelling we all do is not something we chose. What we learn depends largely on the vast amount of information we happen to receive and select along the way, whether we like it or not, as we discover who we are.
Nikolas Fragkias
