Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping

Decision-making occurs all the time. There are different levels of decision-making from what to eat for dinner to a choice of life or death. Many techniques have been developed to aid in decision-making. This paper discusses the specific technique of mind mapping.

The mind mapping concept has been around for centuries. Though he did not "invent" mind mapping, a British psychology author named Tony Buzan popularized mind mapping in the 1970's (Wikipedia (a), 2006). While at University, Buzan became frustrated with traditional notes that took to much time to create and review. Research indicated the brain responds well to key words, images, colors, and direct association hence, mind mapping was discovered to be the best way a sheet of paper could act as a technique for taking notes. In Buzan's co-authored book, The Mind Map Book, these ideas and techniques were refined into a simple set of guidelines one could follow to capture notes from one's own creative ideas. Buzan claims that mind mapping is superior to traditional outline style of note taking because the mapping uses both hemispheres of the brain, the 99% of the brain that is not used (Buzan, 1991).

A mind map is an illustration used to symbolize words, ideas, actions, or other items linked and arranged around a central key word or idea (Wikipedia (b), 2006). The mind map is used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas and thoughts. A mind map involves images, words, and lines but does not have any formal restrictions on how these are used. The elements are arranged spontaneously according to importance and are organized into groupings, branches, or sections. Mind maps are useful in many applications such as personal, family, educational, and business situations. They are used for note-taking, brainstorming, summarizing, revising and clarifying of thoughts. Mind maps may be hand drawn or mapping software is available for use on computers (Appendix A-C).

There are many advantages for mind mapping. Mapping can reduce the amount of work perceived in a project or study. An overview of a topic can aid employees or students to