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The project of the "mental toolkit" was originally inspired by Ralph Ellis' Rational-Emotive Therapy. Ellis identified learned ideas as a source of personal effectiveness. He asserted that certain learned ideas are "correct" in that they guide us towards effective actions, while others are "false" in that they guide us towards misplaced actions. This pro-active approach contrasts with the more passive traditional "psychotherapy," wherein the therapist only helps the patient to find their own solution, by the mere act of listening while the other talks.

We could generalize this principle to create more "scientific" self-help books. One could for example assemble inter-disciplinary teams of accredited specialists, who would work together to identify sets of "right ideas" that could help set us all on the right track towards individual success, as well as collective change (this is the "political" part of the mental toolkit).

==Constructivist Epistemology==
The theme of the "mental toolkit" is close to ideas developed by various thinkers that are often grouped into a current called "Constructivist Epistemology." Those frequently cited include:
*Lev Vygotsky
*Jean Piaget
*Alfred Korzybski
*Gregory Bateson
*Ralph Ellis himself

One well-known off-shoot of Constructivist Epistemology is Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). However, this latter school of thought is generally considered to be pseudo-scientific. (Also, NLP lost considerable credit after one the founders was tried for murder.)

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