Mental Model
Divide and Conquer
An algorithm design paradigm that solves large problems by recursively breaking them into smaller, more manageable subproblems, solving each independently, then combining the solutions
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Mental Model
Do Locusts Understand Prime Numbers?
Dennett uses the prime-numbered life cycles of periodical cicadas to separate a functionally useful pattern from comprehension of its mathematical rationale
Mental Model
Do-Something Syndrome
The bias toward action over inaction, especially in ambiguous situations where the best course is actually to wait, observe, or do nothing
Mental Model
Domain Dependence
The failure to apply lessons learned in one domain to structurally identical situations in another domain
Mental Model
Domain Dependence (Dobelli)
Rolf Dobelli's term for the failure to transfer knowledge and skills from one domain where you possess them to another domain where they'd be equally applicable
Mental Model
Domestic Systems Thinking
A household is a system of interconnected subsystems—financial, logistical, relational, maintenance—requiring the same systems thinking applied to organizations
Mental Model
Domino Effect
A chain reaction where one event triggers a cascade of subsequent events, each causing the next
Mental Model
Dopamine Reward Prediction Error
Wolfram Schultz discovered that dopamine signals the difference between expected and actual rewards, not pleasure itself
Cognitive Move
Dose
Turn the intensity dial: how hard, how long, and how often each repetition runs. Scale asks how big the whole thing is and scope asks which parts are included; this one asks the strength of a single serving and its frequency.
Mental Model
Dose-Response Relationship
A dose-response relationship links a defined exposure level with a specified outcome
Mental Model
Dot Collector (Real-Time Feedback)
A feedback tool associated with Ray Dalio’s management system that supports timely observations and multidimensional ratings
Mental Model
Double Bind Communication (Bateson)
Gregory Bateson's concept from schizophrenia research: a communication pattern where someone receives two contradictory messages simultaneously, cannot comment on the contradiction, and cannot escape the situation
Mental Model
Double-Entry Bookkeeping
Double-entry bookkeeping records transactions through equal total debits and credits across the affected accounts, preserving the accounting equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity
Mental Model
Double-Loop Learning
Chris Argyris's distinction between single-loop learning (adjusting actions to achieve existing goals—a thermostat adjusting temperature) and double-loop learning (questioning whether the goals themselves are correct—ask…
Mental Model
Doubt/Avoidance Tendency
Munger's observation that the brain reflexively resolves doubt by reaching quick conclusions rather than tolerating uncertainty—because uncertainty is psychologically costly (it consumes cognitive resources and produces…
Cognitive Move
Downstream
Ask who receives the output and what it costs them. Follow the work forward past your current stopping line to the people who wait on it, rework it, or absorb the damage, and let their pain count as part of the problem.
Cognitive Move
Downstream outcome
The last link: what actually changes in the world after you act, including the effects nobody planned. It is the only link that can tell you whether the whole chain was sound, and it arrives weeks or months after the decision.
Cognitive Move
drag to rearrange
The reader moves items and the arrangement they leave behind is their answer. Nothing is computed. What the carrier supplies is a low cost of trying an order, so the fifth arrangement gets attempted instead of the first one being defended. Keep a way back to the starting order, because that is what makes experimenting cheap.
Mental Model
Dragonfly Eye (Aggregating Perspectives)
A metacognitive strategy from Philip Tetlock's superforecasting research: like a dragonfly's compound eye that integrates thousands of lenses into a single image, excellent forecasters aggregate multiple analytical persp…
Mental Model
Drama Triangle (Karpman) Dynamics
Stephen Karpman's Drama Triangle identifies three dysfunctional roles people unconsciously rotate through during conflict: the Persecutor (blames, criticizes, dominates — 'This is all your fault'), the Victim (feels help…
Mental Model
Drama Triangle (Karpman): Persecutor, Victim, Rescuer
Karpman's Drama Triangle describes shifts among Persecutor, Victim, and Rescuer positions within recurring conflict patterns
Cognitive Move
Draw Before Explain
When dependencies are hard to hold in words, draw nodes and typed arrows first, and delete any edge you cannot define.
Cognitive Move
Draw the Enough Line
Mark the smallest amount that solves the problem and the point where extra gains stop mattering.
Mental Model
Dream Sharing Practice Protocol
A structured protocol for partners to share and support each other's individual dreams and aspirations, based on Gottman's finding that gridlocked conflicts often have unfulfilled dreams at their core