Thinking in Models

Week 1 · Reasoning, Models & Scarcity

What models are, why they simplify, and how to judge whether a simplification helps.

Time to set aside
4-6 hours: 2 hours reading, 1 hour notes, 1-2 hours exercises, 30 minutes review.
Progress
Current week

Your AI study mentor

Sofia's briefing

Why this week

This program starts with a simple habit of mind: before accepting or rejecting an explanation, ask what kind of model it is. A model is a disciplined simplification that makes some features easier to see while pushing others into the background. I placed this first because economics, psychology, and philosophy simplify reality differently; learning to inspect those choices gives you a reusable method for the entire course.

What to watch for

Do not judge a model only by whether it is literally true. Ask whether its omissions are appropriate for the question it is being used to answer.

Which omission would most change the conclusion of the model you are using?

  1. 1
    Orient

    Start with the aims and questions so the readings have a purpose.

  2. 2
    Read actively

    Use the prompt under each source to produce notes, not highlights alone.

  3. 3
    Apply

    Test the ideas through observation, analysis, or a small intervention.

  4. 4
    Demonstrate

    Save the deliverables and check your work against the completion criteria.

Questions and aims

Define what you are trying to understand before deciding that you have understood it.

Study Aims

  • Explain the difference between reality, a representation, and a model.
  • Identify assumptions, variables, and omissions in a simple economic model.
  • Use one personal decision to compare economic, psychological, and philosophical styles of explanation.
  • Write a short model audit that says what a model clarifies, what it hides, and when it may mislead.

Guiding Questions

  • What does a model gain by being simpler than reality?
  • Which assumptions are harmless simplifications, and which ones control the result?
  • When is a model useful even if it is false in obvious ways?

Before you read

When reading, keep a running note titled Model Audit Template:

  1. Target: What part of the world is the model about?
  2. Purpose: What question is it trying to answer?
  3. Variables: What changes inside the model?
  4. Assumptions: What is being held fixed or simplified?
  5. Payoff: What becomes easier to see?
  6. Cost: What becomes harder to see?
  7. Failure mode: In what situation would this model mislead me?

Core material

Reading plan

3 guided readings, in the order shown.

  1. 45-60 min

    The Economy 2.0: Microeconomics Opens in new tab

    CORE Econ · CORE Econ

    Why it earns a place

    A research-informed introductory microeconomics text organized around scarcity, institutions, incentives, strategic interaction, markets, inequality, and public policy.

    How to study it

    Read section 2.2, 'Economic models: How to see more by looking at less.' Make a two-column note: useful simplifications on the left, dangerous simplifications on the right.

  2. 60-75 min

    Models in Science Opens in new tab

    Roman Frigg and Stephan Hartmann · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Why it earns a place

    A rigorous philosophy-of-science overview of what models are, how they represent, and how they relate to theories.

    How to study it

    Read the introduction, section 1 on representation, and section 4 on models and theory. Skim the taxonomy; focus on why models are tools for representation and explanation rather than copies of the world.

  3. 30 min

    The Economy 2.0: Microeconomics Opens in new tab

    CORE Econ · CORE Econ

    Why it earns a place

    A research-informed introductory microeconomics text organized around scarcity, institutions, incentives, strategic interaction, markets, inequality, and public policy.

    How to study it

    Stay with section 2.2 only far enough to see how CORE uses a decision model. Note the variables, assumptions, and predicted behavior.

Apply and demonstrate

8 study actions turn the reading into observable work.

Practice

  1. Choose one live decision you actually care about, preferably related to study, work, health, money, or time.
  2. Write the decision as a simple model: options, constraints, variables, likely tradeoffs, and one predicted choice.
  3. List at least five assumptions. Mark each as realistic, simplifying-but-useful, or possibly misleading.
  4. Rewrite the same decision as a psychological situation: attention, motivation, emotion, habit, identity, and social pressure.
  5. Rewrite it once more as a philosophical question: what value is at stake, what would count as a good reason, and what kind of person the choice trains you to become.

Deliver

  • A one-page model audit of your chosen decision.
  • A glossary entry for model, assumption, variable, representation, and explanation.
  • A short paragraph naming one thing economics sees clearly, one thing psychology sees clearly, and one thing philosophy keeps open.

Confirm

  • You can explain why a model can be useful without being literally true.
  • You can identify the central assumption doing the most work in your own model.
  • You have written and saved the one-page model audit.

Additional Resources

Optional resources for going further after the reading plan.