Your mental model of mental model doesn't match mine. I have a mental model of how an elevator works from using them many times, but it's absolutely a simplifi

Your mental model of mental model doesn't match mine. I have a mental model of how an elevator works from using them many times, but it's absolutely a simplified understanding of the real mechanisms at work. I believe elevators are fully understandable but I don't need that level of detail to operate one. If it became important to know more about them (say I was in an elevator that malfunctioned) then I'd invest more in making my mental model more correct. So to me, mental models aren't necessarily intentionally or consciously formed and they can certainly be used for quick simplified reasoning about things that may be in fact well-understood.