Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M11156

Bǎi Huā Qí Fàng / Bǎi Jiā Zhēng Míng

Bǎi Huā Qí Fàng / Bǎi Jiā Zhēng Míng
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Updated 2026-08-15

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

A Chinese phrase meaning let a hundred flowers bloom, applied to the deliberate preservation of diverse approaches during a period of exploration. The core proposition is that premature standardization eliminates options before their relative value is known, so heterogeneity should be protected while the question is still open. The qualification is that diversity is a stage rather than a permanent state: without a later selection mechanism, variety degrades into an inability to choose.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Option protection: resist standardizing while the relative merits of approaches are still unknown. - Environment design: supply the conditions each approach needs to develop rather than backing one. - Selection timing: set in advance when and how the competing approaches will be evaluated.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Early standardization concentrates resources on one approach chosen with little information, which forfeits the possibility that a better option exists. Allowing several to develop in parallel preserves the option value of each and generates comparative evidence about their performance. Selection afterwards converts that evidence into a decision, which is why the exploration stage must be followed by a choosing stage.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%99%BE%E8%8A%B1%E9%BD%90%E6%94%BE%E3%80%81%E7%99%BE%E5%AE%B6%E4%BA%89%E9%B8%A3ZH · Explicit
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