Mental Model
Ecological Resilience vs Engineering Resilience
Engineering and ecological perspectives on resilience emphasize different properties
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Mental Model
Ecological Succession
Ecological succession is change in the composition of an ecological community over time, often examined after disturbance or the opening of space
Mental Model
Ecological Succession as Life Metaphor
Ecological succession—the process by which ecosystems develop from bare ground (primary succession) or disturbed states (secondary succession) through predictable stages toward mature, complex communities—provides a powe…
Cognitive Move
Ecology
Recast the problem as living populations competing and cooperating inside an environment with limited resources. You stop asking what a thing is and start asking which niches exist, what feeds what, what crowds something out, and what conditions let a species take hold.
Mental Model
Economies of Scale
Economies of scale mean declining long-run average cost as output expands under the relevant production and input conditions
Mental Model
Ecosystem
An ecosystem comprises organisms and their physical environment considered through their interactions and exchanges
Mental Model
Edge Effects (Boundaries Create Unique Conditions)
Edge effects are changes in conditions and ecological interactions near habitat boundaries
Mental Model
Edge of Chaos (Optimal Complexity Zone)
The concept from complexity science that the most adaptive, creative, and innovative systems operate at the boundary between rigid order and complete disorder—the 'edge of chaos.' Too much order (rigid hierarchy, strict…
Cognitive Move
Edges
Map the connections around the work: what has to arrive before it can start, who receives the output and in what form, what kicks it off, what it depends on, and where the worker sends anything that does not fit the normal path.
Cognitive Move
Edit, Exit, and Review
Precommit when the goal gets reviewed, revised, rolled back, or abandoned, and by whom.
Mental Model
Editorial Judgment Framework (Newsworthiness Assessment)
Editorial judgment is the skill of rapidly assessing whether information merits publication, weighing: significance, timeliness, proximity, prominence, conflict, human interest, and consequence
Mental Model
Effective Altruism
Effective altruism uses evidence and reasoning to seek better ways to help others and act on them
Cognitive Move
Effective?
A three-question check a person can remember after remapping: Same facts? Better move? Worth it?
Mental Model
Efficient-Market Hypothesis
The efficient-market hypothesis concerns how asset prices reflect a specified information set and whether that information permits systematic abnormal returns under an appropriate return model
Mental Model
Effort Heuristic (Valuing Effort Over Outcome)
The tendency to judge the value of a product, service, or performance by the effort that went into it rather than by its actual quality or utility
Mental Model
Ego Depletion
The (debated but practically useful) model that self-control draws from a limited resource that gets depleted through use—like a muscle that fatigues
Mental Model
Ego Development Theory (Loevinger)
Jane Loevinger's ego development theory describes a sequence of increasingly complex stages of meaning-making, self-awareness, and interpersonal understanding
Mental Model
Einstellung Effect (Mechanized Thinking Blocks Better Solutions)
The phenomenon where a known solution method prevents the discovery of a better one—your familiarity with one approach to a problem literally blocks you from seeing superior alternatives
Mental Model
Eisenhower Matrix (Eisenhower Box)
A task-prioritization heuristic separating urgency from importance, commonly associated with Eisenhower's quoted distinction and later time-management frameworks.
Mental Model
Eisenhower Matrix Action Protocol
A daily prioritization protocol that classifies every task into one of four quadrants based on urgency and importance, then prescribes a specific action for each quadrant
Mental Model
Elaborative Interrogation
A learning technique where you ask 'why is this true?' and 'how does this connect to what I already know?' for each new piece of information
Mental Model
Elder Council Governance
Elder council governance, practiced across African, Indigenous American, Pacific Island, and Aboriginal Australian societies, vests primary decision-making authority in councils of elders chosen for their accumulated wis…
Mental Model
Elderhood as Developmental Stage
Bill Thomas and other gerontologists argue that elderhood (roughly 75+) is a distinct developmental stage — not merely 'late adulthood' but a qualitatively different period with its own developmental tasks, gifts, and ch…
Mental Model
Electoral vs. Non-Electoral Civic Action
This framework distinguishes electoral action (voting, campaigning, running for office) from non-electoral action (organizing, litigation, direct action, boycotts, cultural production, mutual aid)