This paper posits mental modeling as autopoietic systems of ideas based on processes of selection. A thought experiment is proposed to illustrate the argumentation. After reviewing the essential features of selection theory and mental models, we present modeling as driven by a process of variations and selections. We then show how the deliberate process of model development fosters the generati...

The cognitive theory of conceptual blending models human creativity as a mental process that combines two mental spaces into a new mental space, called a blend. According to this theory, a blend is constructed by taking the commonalities among the input mental spaces into account, to form a so-called generic space, and by projecting their non-common structure in a selective way to the novel ble...

Wakefield's claims to have identified and objective scientific component of mental disorders in the concept of dysfunction are examined in light of previous attempts to state a value free concept of mental disorders. The harmful dysfunction concept of dysfunction is not value free because it confounds cause and purpose in a specious use of evolutionary theory and because evolutionary theory can...

BACKGROUND Individuals with severe mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder) die 10-25 years earlier than the general population, primarily from premature cardiovascular disease (CVD). Contributing factors are complex, but include systemic-related factors of poorly integrated primary care and mental health services. Although evidence-based models exist for integrating mental health...

BACKGROUND The Theory of Learned Industriousness states that durable individual differences in industriousness are due in part to differences in the extent to which individuals were rewarded for high effort at an earlier time. Individuals rewarded for high effort during training are thought to generalize greater persistence to subsequent tasks than those rewarded for low effort. This study test...

The practice, theory, and preparation associated with nursing people with mental health issues has changed in profound ways in recent decades. This has in part been reflected by a shift in nurses identifying as being mental health rather than psychiatric nurses. Context, theory, and values shape what it means to be a mental health nurse. Thirty experienced mental health nurses in Ireland comple...