Cognition refers to thinking, and metacognition refers to thinking about thinking. Seems pretty straightforward, but as I wrote in my blog post T Is for Thinking, the subject is considerably more convoluted than you might…think.
Someone responded to author Raymond Carver’s famous short story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love with: “We usually talk about feelings and sex.”
My perception is that when we talk about thinking, we usually talk about our thoughts, our self-talk, our judgments and opinions, and occasionally some of our mental processes. As a result, we tend to equate “thinking” with unconscious (System 1), rather than conscious (System 2), cognition.
Metacognition is a higher order of conscious cognition. If this is starting to sound complicated, here’s a quick way to distinguish between the different levels of cognition.
……..1. System 1 Cognition (unconscious/autopilot):
………….reacting to a situation automatically without first assessing it
……..2. System 2 Cognition (conscious):
………….assessing a situation before responding to it
……..3. Metacognition:
………….assessing the assessment of the situation
Metacognition and Change
Metacognition is our most powerful tool to adjust our thinking and improve thinking outcomes. —Daniel DiSalvo, Brain Changer
The part of the brain that runs us most of the time is the unconscious. System 1 initiates thoughts and actions that serve to maintain our personal status quo. If we want to change our status quo, we need to develop an awareness of our mental processes—and the ability to evaluate them—instead of simply reacting to them or being at the effect of them.
Metacognition is one of the ways in which we come to know ourselves. The better we know ourselves, the likelier we are to make sound decisions, understand and connect with other people, and identify and achieve meaningful goals.
If we want to change the status quo on a larger scale or help others change their status quo, we need to understand how people think. Thinking itself—conscious, System 2 thinking, that is—is not easy, so thinking about thinking and thinking about how other people think can be challenging.
Even if the word is unfamiliar, most of us already use metacognition to some extent or in some areas of our lives, so improving our ability to think about our thinking is primarily a matter of practice. Improving our metacognitive skills can help us more accurately assess our strengths, identify our limitations, and determine ways of compensating for them.
Here are a couple of examples of the effects of poor metacognition.
Denial: It Ain’t Necessarily So
There’s a prevailing psychological theory about people who don’t acknowledge they’re making really bad choices that have put them and possibly their loved ones in jeopardy—addicts or alcoholics, for example. According to the theory, these individuals are aware of their issues or problem; they just refuse to admit it.
But another view is that they may simply have poor metacognitive skills. They may not actually recognize that they need some kind of help. And it stands to reason that the deeper someone gets into an addiction, the less able they will be to access or utilize metacognitive skills.
Self-Image: A Faulty Lens in the Eye of the Beholder?
Poor metacognitive judgment may also underlie some individuals’ over-inflated or under-inflated estimations of their own abilities or intelligence. It’s possible to fail to recognize how good or how bad we are at something even in the face of clear evidence that’s apparent to onlookers.
Being unable to accurately evaluate our own abilities or assess our strengths could mean not knowing when we’ve mastered or successfully completed something. It could also mean failing to recognize a bad decision or choice and not making the necessary adjustments or course correction.
At the next MONTHLY MEETING OF THE MIND (& BRAIN), we’ll explore the role of metacognition in learning, behavior change, and decision-making. We’ll also discuss some effective metacognitive strategies you can adopt to help you think smarter. If you’re in the area and able to attend, please join us!