9 Exercises to break mental patterns

Imagine for a moment if every time you interpret a phenomenon or decide to act in a certain way you had to completely rethink everything from the beginning: clearly, you would combine very little! Instead, by redirecting each new experience back to the mental patterns you learned in the past, learning and decisions become much faster.

In this way, our brain can think and act quickly, but it tends to remain completely prisoner of the schemes it has built. This is precisely the main risk of mental patterns, that is, exchanging one's own truth for the absolute truth, falling into the trap of cognitive biases and prejudices. In this Psychology-Online article we will discover then how to break mental patterns.

Index

1. What are mental patterns
2. Exercises to change mental patterns
3. Analyze your daily behavior
4. Identify the origin of mental patterns
5. Identify unnecessary mental patterns for your growth
6. Get out of rigid mental patterns
7. Highlight the benefits you will get
8. Highlight potential downsides
9. Develop a more useful mental pattern
10. Practice your new mental pattern

mental patterns are representations of real, hypothetical or imagined situations of a concept or a reality and of the reciprocal functional relations of its components. A mental pattern of a concept or domain of knowledge consists of a network of elements and connections between them that unconsciously guide reasoning and the acquisition of new data on that domain. Our brain uses mental patterns for the following:

• Understand the world around us.
• Interpret what we see or what happens to us.
• Organize our behavior in response to external stimuli.
• Predict what will happen in this or that circumstance.
• Decide what to do to achieve this or that objective.

Theoretical foundations of mental patterns

The first to speak of mental patterns was the Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craick (1943), according to which the mind builds small scale models of reality that he uses to predict events, conduct reasoning, and support explanations. Building on this original insight, cognitive scientists argued that the mind builds mental patterns as a result of perception, imagination and knowledge, as well as the understanding of language. In this article you will find more information about How does the human mind work.

In fact, the construct was developed by the English psychologist Philip Johnson-Laird at the end of the 20th century to describe the results of his experimental research on the human language and reasoning, in order to demonstrate the relevant role of semantic information and mental logic in the organization of language and the construction of knowledge.

Mental patterns are the psychological basis of understanding and, as Johnson-Laird himself said, if we understand what inflation is, how a certain mathematical proof is carried out, the way the computer works, DNA or the divorce, then we must have a mental representation of the entities considered, that is, an internal mental copy that has the same relationship structure as the phenomenon that It represents.

Although mental patterns allow us to understand the world, sometimes they condition and limit us when it comes to making changes. Therefore, it is important to learn to break mental patterns. Next, we will show you different ways to do it.

The first thing is identify your personal standards, that is, to become aware of your expectations in life, since they will give you interesting ideas to discover the mental patterns that govern you. To do this, you can ask yourself the following questions:

• What expectations do you have?
• What do you expect from work?
• What do you expect from relationships?
• What do you expect from social interactions?

As you answer, pay attention to the words you use, as they may leave some clue to your underlying mental patterns.

Examine how your behavior style develops within the interactions and events that occur to you during the day with these questions:

• What situations cause you the most anxiety and worry?
• Who and what makes you feel uncomfortable?
• Do you tend to adopt a pessimistic attitude?
• What do you criticize the most about yourself?
• What don't you dare to do that you think you should do?
• What annoys you in other people?
• What do you expect from others?

Then mark the answers on a piece of paper and try to identify what mental patterns they may hide.

Observe and analyze how certain mental patterns that you have seen have taken root since you were a child. One way to identify where they come from is to ask yourself the following questions:

• What did they tell me to do and what did they forbid me as a child?
• What happened when I disobeyed?
• When and how was I punished?
• What have I done to be accepted?
• What words have they said to me when I have not lived up to the expectations of others?
• Do you see any connection between the mental patterns you had as a child and the ones you think influence your decisions today?

Many of your mental patterns may have evolved over time and manifest in the present in different ways. Although they are the same from childhood. To modify them you will have to make the effort to go back to the origins.

Another way to break mental patterns is to list the ones that have arisen from the answers to all the questions asked so far. Then you should take into account these factors:

• Degree of rigidity and inadequacy have these patterns.
• Consider whether the schemes are unrealistic and irrational.
• Assess whether these schemes are excessive.

Most unnecessary mental patterns are caused by your assumptions, so it is important to analyze what facts support them and what consequences it has for your existence to keep them alive.

When you get here, now, you will have to understand if your mental pattern should be maintained or not. To do this, you must assess what limits you and decide in the most appropriate way whether to keep it or not. Discover some examples of mental patterns that should be broken:

• Mental scheme that has little to do with logic.
• Rigid and non-adaptable mental scheme.
• Mental scheme that limits your personal development.

The clearer your schemes are, the greater the motivation and the desire to break the mental patterns that no longer work and incorporate others that are more useful for your growth. In this process, it may be useful for you to consult this article on adaptation to change according to psychology.

Any action that you practice, any belief that you have raised in your head and any mental scheme that you have assumed, has a purpose. So, one of the exercises to change mental patterns consists of ask yourself what benefits you will get if you maintain a mental pattern determined and whether these benefits are consistent with your current life situation.

Think about the fact that they may only be small, short-term rewards that hide high emotional costs to be paid in the near future.

How to change mental patterns? Focus on the negative consequences which you will face if you continue the path traced by certain mental schemes. To do this, you must assess the following:

• Risks of continuing with the pattern.
• Limitations of not changing the pattern.
• Assess what mental patterns keep you away from success.
• Negative impact of certain mental schemes in your life.
• Assess the advantages or disadvantages of keeping specific mental patterns alive.

Using the perception of possible pain can help you make the necessary changes to improve your life and reprogram negative thought patterns. In this article you will see how to control negative obsessive thoughts.

Once you have put the previous steps into practice, it is time to build more useful mental patterns and consistent with your current needs and replace the old ones. They must be mental models that maximize benefits and minimize drawbacks, as well as being balanced, flexible and realistic.

An exercise to change mental patterns that can help you in this phase is to describe what your ideal mental pattern would be using flexible words and visualize how you would act in different life contexts Like at work or with friends.

Once you have defined your new mental pattern, make it a habit until it's automated. Take the time you need to settle into the new mindset and see if it flows with your daily life. When it comes to knowing if it has really settled, you can assess if your actions reflect this mental pattern and if the changes in behavior linked to it have improved your quality of life.

This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to How to break mental patterns, we recommend that you enter our category of cognitive psychology.

• Bush, S. (2022). Schemi mentali: the foundation of our thoughts. Recovered from: https://vadoalmassimo.net/schemi-mentali/
• Elle, a. (2021). Modelli Mentali – Come Utilizzarli Per Potenziare il Pensiero. Recovered from: https://www.gliaudacidellamemoria.com/modelli-mentali/
• Johnson-Laird, P. N., Girotto, V., Legrenzi, P. (1999). Modelli mentali: an easy guide for the layman. intelligent system, 1:63-84.