When Is the Problem Not Learned Helplessness or Confusion But Our Mental Models?

I learned a lot about my mental models last week. That’s when several people asked me “obvious” questions about specific software tools. I hope I was reasonable when I answered. But I assumed they exhibited learned helplessness. Wasn’t the answer obvious to everyone?

Clearly not.

Then, this week, I did exactly the same thing. Twice. On products I own and have used for years.

Ouch.

(Maybe I was being a little hard on those people last week? Yes.)

Then I realized why I made the same mistakes. All these products are more complex now. Even though I read the documentation, I still didn’t know what to do. My mental models of the product had not advanced with the product.

Obvious answers are clearly not obvious to everyone. That’s why I thought I’d examine my initial assumptions and see the alternatives. Let me start with learned helplessness.

Define Learned Helplessness

We fall prey to learned helplessness when one experience (often, repeated) causes us to act the same way in a new situation. In the case of software products, we might think the documentation will be unreadable. Or that search won’t give us the necessary answers. So instead of reading the documentation or searching, we ask someone else. That’s what happened last week to me.

There’s a reason we believe this about the products we use. Too often, that documentation stinks. And search these days focuses on ads, not offering me the answers.

However, if we don’t try? That’s the learned helplessness.

But these people weren’t exhibiting learned helplessness. Just as I had, the product complexity confused them. We can choose how to react in the face of that confusion.

Confusion About Product Complexity

I’ve been busy reporting problems with two products I rarely use. In both cases, I described the problem and the steps I took. Then, in both cases, the support people asked me to send in screenshots, even after I explained what occurred. So I did.

In their reply emails, the support people said, “That can’t be the problem. It’s not supposed to work that way.”

I managed to keep my tone civil and said, “The screenshots show you the proof that this situation is that way.”

The support people needed to change their mental models.

Then, there were the two products I used a lot. And thank goodness I asked questions instead of blaming these nice people. In both cases, I learned I had changed something while looking to solve a different problem. Both cases.

That’s when I realized my confusion arose from not updating my mental models. And I suspect the same is true of the people I spoke with last week.

Update our Mental Models More Often

The more often we check our assumptions against our mental models, the more often we can choose to adjust our thinking. That might change our actions. And certainly, in my case, my reactions.

When we think people exhibit learned helplessness or some other personal characteristic (such as laziness), we blame them for their reactions to a confusing situation. Instead, we might ask, “What would have to be true for people to react like this?”

That’s not just a generous interpretation, that question helps us reassess our mental models.

That’s the question this week: When is the problem not learned helplessness or confusion but our mental models?