Shared Mental Models and Collaborative Activities: a Comparison of Research Approaches

Abstract

Introduction. In domestic science, the activity approach has received great development, in which joint activities were described in sufficient detail, as part of the study of collective activity. On the other hand, the concept of mental representation has been developed in cognitive psychology. However, there are practically no studies in which the concepts of domestic scientists would be compared with the concepts of mental and general mental models that are widely known in foreign psychology.Objective. Analyze and compare research approaches to the formation of common mental models and the formation of joint activities.Concept and characteristics of mental models. Foreign researchers consider mental models as internal (mental) images of the external world, which can be represented by internal images, knowledge, ideas about specific or generalized situations, systems of the surrounding world. For a person to function optimally in the world, it is important that their mental models are sufficiently complex and accurate.Shared mental models. Research interest in shared mental models arose from the need to find ways to improve the performance of work teams. Essentially, it is the shared cognitive representation of team members about tasks, goals, conditions, other members and their behavior. The most important characteristic of shared mental models is similarity, which is important to ensure. Research in this area has shown that a high degree of similarity together with a high degree of accuracy can lead to high production results. A comparison of scientific ideas about common mental models and joint activities showed that: 1) similarity can be correlated with the unity of the group meaning-forming context; 2) the process of integrating individual mental models into a common one is correlated with the process of forming joint mental activity and achieving semantic resonance, 3) communication in creating a common mental model with subject-subject interaction and the second stratum of relationships in the team.Discussion. Comparing research approaches from different paradigms can have a significant positive impact on the development of scientific knowledge. The importance of this is emphasized by the fact that today the development of the concepts of a common mental model and joint activity proceed in almost parallel paths without mutual citation, despite similar scientific subjects.