"Human beings possess the striking reflexive capacity to hold mental states about mental states, that is, to engage in thinking about thinking. This has been heralded as a grand evolutionary achievement of our species and its kin, and its social & psychological significance may scarcely be exaggerated. Daily life is replete with complex determinations about the reliability of our own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs as well as attributions about the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of others around us. For centuries, philosophers have speculated about the dependability of self-knowledge and about the problems inherent in drawing inferences about the contents of other minds. Contemporary psychologists, too, have devoted considerable theoretical and research attention to the topic of metacognition, which recently cracked the 'top 100 topics' of psychological research.
Although a good number of edited volumes on the subject now exist, there is no consensually agreed on definition of metacognition. ... the term 'has been variously referred to as "cognitive monitoring", "executive processes", "self-communication", and "knowledge about knowledge"'. Typically, metacognitive researchers investigate mental processes whereby individuals 'control' and 'monitor' their own mental activity."
Jost JT, Kruglanski AW, Nelson TO. Social metacognition: an expansionist review. Pers Soc Psychol Rev. 1998; 2(2): 137-54.
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| Dalhousie University, February 13, 2014 |
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