Jeff, I agree with what you're saying in principle, but to do so, you'd essentially have to "erase" someone's mental models, memories, etc. and then replace them with these artificial ones. Makes me think of the Jason Bourne book and movie series...

I think what Brian writes echoes what's written in the "Power of Impossible Thinking". That is (paraphrasing), you need to continuously challenge your mental models, test them, reconstruct them and remain flexible and open to intuition (vs. the voice that says it should be this or that). The best way to do this is to immerse yourself in other cultures, preferrably other countries.

I've lived in 3 countries (more than 2 years each - Japan, Eritrea and now Ukraine) and while my degree of immersion varied, in the first two, I was 90% immersed and while I learned a whole lot about the culture(s) I was living in, I learned as much about myself and my own cultural and personal models. I still make a hell of a lot of mistakes, but one thing I have learned is never, never assume that I know what's going on or that my assumptions are right or real. I always try and triangulate my information sources if I can.

The problem with analysts is that if they're analyzing data in an office in Langely, then they're at a double disadvantage. They have their own American models and then they have their CIA training and culture to overcome. Kind of hopeless if you ask me. Hence, the efforts like these, I suppose.

By the way, Brian, the model you propose is pretty damn similar to the Peace Corps (I am a returned volunteer). I have a lot of interesting examples from my time in Eritrea. One construct or model I could never overcome was "time" and my sense of it. I tried, but could never fully embrace the Eritrean concept of time. Another simplistic, but interesting example, was how many Peace Corps volunteers used to "dress down" in an attempt to be closer to their colleagues, however, this was their own model and assumption. Eritreans are a very proud people and even the poorest would take meticulous care of their clothes and alwasy try to be as presentable as possible. Dressing down was indulgent and even offensive to some (even your poorest American is much wealthier than most Eritreans).

Well, I'm now too long-winded, but it's a subject I find very interesting. By the way, I found the link to Dr. Johnston's work. His whole study is published here.