Tom Davidson blog #5

What is the user’s mental model with respect to an object's personality and surrounding interactions?
The user's mental model is how the user thinks something works. As with the trash can example, this model can differ substantially from how the object actually works. An example other than the trash can used in the book, was one we used in class. A thermostat. People think that they can turn the dial down further and it will get cold faster, but in reality that's not how a thermostat works.

How might this mental model contrast with the implementation model of the programmers? (Don’t get too involved with this one.)
Programmers have to know exactly how something works, from the most basic level to the most advanced. If they didn't, the object wouldn't exist. The model of the user will almost always differ from the programmers' unless the user is a programmer.