Mental Models and the Acquisition of a Complex Skill across Individuals and Teams: A Multilevel Study
Year: 2014
Type: dissertation
Abstract: A mental model reflects the structural relationships between concepts within a\nspecified knowledge domain. Measuring the structure of knowledge is important because\nit offers the possibility of capturing expert knowledge which is often difficult to assess\nusing traditional declarative knowledge measures. The concept of mental model has\nbeen extensively studied over the last decades and it is often acknowledged in the\ntraining literature as one of the key antecedents of performance in complex tasks,\nparticularly in the context of teams where the construct of shared mental models has\nreceived ample attention. Whereas the training literature has established the validity of\nmental models for predicting individual and team performance using single-level studies,\nthe extant literature has not yet tested the validity of mental models as a multilevel\nconstruct. Consequently, the purpose of the present study was to assess the extent to\nwhich the relationships between mental models and performance generalizes across\nindividuals and teams, that is to test a homologous multilevel model.\n\nParticipants in this study completed a dynamic, networked computer-based\nsimulation. Three-person teams operated the simulator collectively (through specialized\nroles) and as individuals (performing all roles simultaneously) over the course of a 2-day\n48-hour-interval protocol. The sample consisted of 243 individuals nested in 81 3-person\nteams. Consistent with the multilevel nature of the problem under study, multilevel\nanalyses were conducted to test the study hypotheses.\n\nConsistent with theory and previous research on individual and team cognition, it\nwas hypothesized that stronger relationships between mental models and performance\nwould exist at the individual level compared to the team level. In essence, processes\noccurring at the team level were expected to attenuate the relationship between mental\nmodels and performance compared to the individual level of analysis. Contrary to this\nexpectation, the magnitude of the relationship between mental models and performance\nwas similar across levels of analysis. Additionally, consistent with previous research on\nthe effectiveness of declarative knowledge measures for predicting complex\nperformance, the present results indicated that declarative knowledge was more\npredictive of individual performance than team performance.\n\nIn addition to performance, an objective measure of behaviors was utilized to\nfurther understand of the processes through which mental models translate into effective\nindividual and team performance. It was hypothesized that the relationship between\nmental models and behaviors would be stronger for individual tasks than team tasks as a\nfunction of the additional interaction requirements associated with team tasks. However,\ncontrary to this expectations, mental models and behaviors were more strongly\nassociated at the team level than the individual level.
Author: Munoz Galvez, Gonzalo Javier
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6992853705