The Cognitive Model in Action
Plant Shop Predicament
Imagine for a moment you’re in a plant shop. After encountering some truly gorgeous photos of monstera and pothos plants online, you'd decided that plants were just what you needed to spiff up your place. You're not much of a plant person, but, hey, it's never too late to become one!
As you enter the shop, you look around and marvel at all the plants, hanging from racks overhead, lined up neatly on shelves, and scattered at your feet. The shop is buzzing with salespeople and customers talking like old friends. There’s talk of light levels, soil acidity, and root rot prevention.
You scan the plants' placards looking for the names of those you’d seen online: monstera and pothos. But the plants aren’t labeled by name. The placards indicate the plant's light, soil, and water needs through an impenetrable code involving stars, shaded circles, and diamonds. But no names.
You’re an outsider in the plant shop--that much is clear—and you don’t know what to do next. Do you choose the plants that look like the ones you saw? What if they’re not right for your north-facing windows? Do you try to suss out who the salespeople are and stand off to the side, waiting to ask for their help? Just grab a pretty plant and go? Come back another time with your friend who knows plants?
When we strip the plant shop scenario of the specifics, we can see that this moment is like any other moment of challenge, ambiguity, or uncertainty. How we act in these moments is inextricably connected to how we think and feel about what’s happening. This is what the cognitive model can help us understand.
Imagine for a moment you’re in a plant shop. After encountering some truly gorgeous photos of monstera and pothos plants online, you'd decided that plants were just what you needed to spiff up your place. You're not much of a plant person, but, hey, it's never too late to become one!
As you enter the shop, you look around and marvel at all the plants, hanging from racks overhead, lined up neatly on shelves, and scattered at your feet. The shop is buzzing with salespeople and customers talking like old friends. There’s talk of light levels, soil acidity, and root rot prevention.
You scan the plants' placards looking for the names of those you’d seen online: monstera and pothos. But the plants aren’t labeled by name. The placards indicate the plant's light, soil, and water needs through an impenetrable code involving stars, shaded circles, and diamonds. But no names.
You’re an outsider in the plant shop--that much is clear—and you don’t know what to do next. Do you choose the plants that look like the ones you saw? What if they’re not right for your north-facing windows? Do you try to suss out who the salespeople are and stand off to the side, waiting to ask for their help? Just grab a pretty plant and go? Come back another time with your friend who knows plants?
When we strip the plant shop scenario of the specifics, we can see that this moment is like any other moment of challenge, ambiguity, or uncertainty. How we act in these moments is inextricably connected to how we think and feel about what’s happening. This is what the cognitive model can help us understand.
In Comes the Cognitive Model
Our actions are influenced by how we perceive and interpret situations. Some might see the plant shop—abundant with plants and people excited about plants—as an opportunity for exploration and adventure. Those who see the situation in this way would want to step boldly into their new identity as a Plant Person, relishing the opportunity to learn about plants and participate in this lively community. But others might see the plant shop as a place that threatens to expose their botanical ignorance, a place that will bring embarrassment and shame upon them. |
How we perceive situations like this isn’t random. The way we size up a situation is a kind of automatic thought, a thought that springs to our mind. Our automatic thoughts connect to our core beliefs. Core beliefs are beliefs we hold about ourselves, others, and the world and how to respond to it. Core beliefs make up the schema, or mental framework, that shapes how we perceive and interpret situations.
If we see ourselves as always the outsider or as someone who isn’t capable or knowledgeable, we see the plant shop as a threat and proceed to slink out the door empty handed. But if we think of ourselves as curious and capable and the world as an opportunity for learning and excitement, we just might stick around and work with a salesperson to find the plants that are just right for us. The cognitive model helps us see that our actions, thoughts, and feelings are all connected. They shape and reinforce each other.
It also helps us understand how our actions, thoughts, and feelings are self-reinforcing. Our schemas narrow our attention to just the information that makes sense within the schema. Those who are excited to explore, enjoy, and master a new hobby might notice, for example, that the salespeople and customers seem to be excited to talk about plants. This, in turn, motivates them to join in.
Others, however, might see the people in the plant shop as deep in comfortable conversation with each other, which leads to the assumption that they have close, long-standing relationships and therefore don’t want to be interrupted by an interloper. Those cheerful plant people gabbing about root rot become members of a secret society, keepers of secret knowledge to which you’ll never have access.
It also helps us understand how our actions, thoughts, and feelings are self-reinforcing. Our schemas narrow our attention to just the information that makes sense within the schema. Those who are excited to explore, enjoy, and master a new hobby might notice, for example, that the salespeople and customers seem to be excited to talk about plants. This, in turn, motivates them to join in.
Others, however, might see the people in the plant shop as deep in comfortable conversation with each other, which leads to the assumption that they have close, long-standing relationships and therefore don’t want to be interrupted by an interloper. Those cheerful plant people gabbing about root rot become members of a secret society, keepers of secret knowledge to which you’ll never have access.
The Good News, for All of Us
The cognitive model doesn’t spell endless success and happiness for some and doom for others. On the contrary, the cognitive model serves as a concrete tool we can all use to evaluate how our thoughts, feelings, and actions influence each other. It can help us notice and interrupt self-reinforcing thought patterns that lead us to take unhelpful actions. When we cultivate our awareness of how these relationships are playing out in a moment of challenge, we can recognize the self-defeating distortions in our thinking, adjust our perception, and take action.
So even if we felt a flash of embarrassment in the plant shop, the cognitive model can help us see the situation anew, make a new plant friend, and walk out with arms full of monsteras for our north-facing window.
The cognitive model doesn’t spell endless success and happiness for some and doom for others. On the contrary, the cognitive model serves as a concrete tool we can all use to evaluate how our thoughts, feelings, and actions influence each other. It can help us notice and interrupt self-reinforcing thought patterns that lead us to take unhelpful actions. When we cultivate our awareness of how these relationships are playing out in a moment of challenge, we can recognize the self-defeating distortions in our thinking, adjust our perception, and take action.
So even if we felt a flash of embarrassment in the plant shop, the cognitive model can help us see the situation anew, make a new plant friend, and walk out with arms full of monsteras for our north-facing window.