Cognitive Depth Model: A Structural Description of Progressive Deepening in Human Thought

This paper proposes a ten-stage model of cognitive depth, describing the progressive deepening of human thought from the initial perception of incongruence (Stage 1) to the integration of theory into worldview (Stage 10). The model targets not differences in intelligence but volitional and habitual differences in how far thinking is driven. Each stage functions as an independent stopping point. The model is structurally connected to the Reason-Based Thinking axis of the Mental-4-Element Framework(TekitouQ, 2026; DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19148797) and is presented as an independent descriptive model. This paper was written with AI assistance.