Métaconscience et métacognition.

Reviews recent research on the concepts and interrelationships of consciousness, cognition, metaconsciousness, and metacognition. Emphasis is on the role of metaconsciousness in permitting reflection on higher processes of executive regulation and control (metacognition) required for any cognitive task. Metacognitive capacity, metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive activity, and differences between factual and strategic metacognition are discussed. The 3 principal dimensions of metaconsciousness that are associated with progressive optimization of cognitive activities are also described. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

英语阅读中的元认知及其培养

通过分析元认知、元认知知识、元认知体验、元认知监控与英语阅读的关系,提出重视传授条件性知识、提高阅读活动的意识性以及丰富元认知体验是培养学生元认知能力的具体途径。     

Psychology and Phenomenology: A Clarification.

Controversies are rampant in contemporary psychology concerning the appropriate method for observing consciousness and the role inner experience should play in psychological theorizing. These conflicting orientations reflect, in part, methodological differences between natural science and human science interpretations of psychology. Humanistic psychology and philosophical phenomenology both employ a human science approach to psychology that seeks to explain behavior in terms of a person's subjective existence. Maslow's and Heidegger's formulations are both fulfillment theories in that they specify moral values that suggest how life ought to be lived. Natural science methodology rejects the possibility that moral imperatives can be validated, whereas human science methodology allows phenomenological convictions to justify recommendations about a fulfilled life and a good society. The social role of psychology is analyzed within the framework of phenomenological convictions and scientific truth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The philosophy and psychology of consciousness.

Comments on a paper by T. O. Nelson (see record 83-26608) on consciousness and metacognition. A. B. Newberg et al agree with Nelson that psychology can benefit tremendously from philosophical questions, but contend that it can lead toward the notion of other models in which consciousness is primary. Newberg et al agree that further investigation of philosophy with a focus on its relation to psychology would be beneficial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Researching cognitive processes.

Comments on the work of T. O. Nelson (see record 83-26608) on consciousness and metacognition. A. D. Kornfeld contends that Nelson failed to take into account the scope exhibited by the work of Wilhelm Wundt and that he substantially overstated the extent to which Dunlap rejected mental processes. Kornfeld argues that the metacognition model's synthesis of verbal reports of consciousness and objective measures of behavior is most accurately seen as an evolutionary development rather than as a radical break with older research traditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can prototypes inform moral developmental theory?

L. J. Walker and R. C. Pitts (1998) suggest that research on prototypes of moral excellence can lead to important new insights for accounts of moral development that are unlikely to emerge from the efforts of theorists working within psychological or philosophical paradigms. In this commentary, I argue that (a) experts in philosophical and psychological paradigms can and do contribute to revisions of theories of moral excellence, and (b) the study of prototypes has limited value for resolving some important theoretical issues. Three research topics that can be informed by the investigation of prototypes of moral excellence are described.     

Interest and metacognitive word knowledge.

Tested the hypothesis that students' metacognition would be enhanced on content that aroused situational interest or that was related to students' topic interests. A metacognitive evaluation procedure was used in which students estimated their word knowledge, which was then determined objectively by a multiple-choice vocabulary test. Students could then update their vocabulary knowledge by reading a passage dealing with heart disease in which all of the previously encountered words were defined explicitly or implicitly. With differences in prior knowledge controlled, nursing students, for whom the content was related to topic interests, made more accurate metacognitive judgments than did freshmen. None of the other main effects or interactions was significant. The implications of the findings for research on interest, its relationship to prior knowledge, and the assessment of metacognition are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching thinking and problem solving: Research foundations.

Reviews 2 general research approaches to the development and effective teaching of reasoning, thinking, and problem solving. The first derives from studies of individuals who are experts in particular domains and emphasizes the role of domain-specific knowledge. The second emphasizes general strategic and metacognitive knowledge; ideally, people who develop the ability to learn new information and to monitor their current levels of proficiency will be able to function more effectively in a variety of contexts. Issues discussed include developmental and intraindividual differences, the representation of knowledge, means of facilitating memory access, and the concept of metacognition. It is concluded that many existing programs designed to teach thinking and problem solving could be strengthened by focusing more explicitly on domain knowledge, especially when students are helped to understand how different ways of learning new knowledge can affect their abilities to solve relevant problems. (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive processes in auditory hallucinations: attributional biases and metacognition

BACKGROUND: Cognitive models suggest that auditory hallucinations are experienced when mental events are misattributed to an external source; therefore, this study was designed to examine attributional biases in patients experiencing auditory hallucinations. The study also examined the role of metacognitive beliefs in the experience of auditory hallucinations, as some theories have implicated metacognition in the development and maintenance of auditory hallucinations. METHODS: Fifteen participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia experiencing auditory hallucinations were compared with 15 non-hallucinating schizophrenics and 15 non-psychiatric control subjects on several measures, including an immediate source monitoring task and a questionnaire assessing metacognitive beliefs. RESULTS: Results indicated that patients experiencing hallucinations exhibited the predicted bias towards misattributing internal events to an external source, as measured by ratings of internality of responses in a word association task. All groups had lower perceived levels of internality and control for emotionally salient words, which provides further evidence for the importance of emotional content in hallucinations. Patients experiencing hallucinations were found to score higher than the other two groups on metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability and danger and positive beliefs about worry. In addition, a logistic regression analysis showed that beliefs about uncontrollability and danger were predictive of whether subjects experienced auditory hallucinations or not. CONCLUSIONS: These results offer considerable support to cognitive bias models of auditory hallucinations, particularly those that implicate metacognition.     

Toward integrating feminist psychotherapy and feminist philosophy.

Describes liberal, cultural, radical, and socialist feminist philosophies and proposes that psychologists' orientations toward feminist political and philosophical theory will have an impact on their practice of feminist psychotherapy with regard to their preferences for group or individual modalities, therapeutic interventions, diagnostic practices, and organizational affiliations. Psychologists' philosophical positions may also influence their attitudes about research, epistemology, and the role of men and women as clients and therapists. Specific connections between feminist philosophy and psychological theories and other aspects of practice are discussed. It is proposed that all psychologists who work with gender-related issues can benefit from contemplating how their therapeutic practices intersect with feminist philosophy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflections on the commenters' views.

In response to the comments that followed my article, I explain my agreement with the commenters' positions that (a) feminists take differing positions on similarities and differences between the sexes, (b) the science and politics of gender are intertwined and inseparable, and (c) sex-related differences show a wide range of magnitudes in research findings. Also, I note my disagreement with the commenters by maintaining that (a) the effects of psychological treatments that were aggregated by M. W. Lipsey and D. B. Wilson (see record 1994-18340-001) are not representative of all psychological findings, (b) quantitative syntheses of research test theories of sex-related differences and derive from detailed analyses of research reports, and (c) feminism has strongly influenced the scientific consensus about sex-related differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introducing the grandmother test into psychological science.

It is a commonly held belief among many psychological scientists that the more plausible a hypothesis, the better it is scientifically. It is also often believed that if there are two alternative theories which are equally strong in terms of explanatory power, one should choose the plausible theory over the implausible one. The goal of this article is to challenge these assumptions. Based on Popper's philosophical views, it will be argued that psychological scientists should be encouraged to formulate implausible (yet testable) hypotheses and theories. Examples from other scientific disciplines will be presented to illustrate this argument. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of metacognitive knowledge and aptitude on problem solving.

The author investigated whether high levels of metacognitive knowledge about problem solving could compensate for low overall aptitude. To test this hypothesis, a 2 (high–low aptitude)?×?2 (high–low metacognitive ability) design was used to analyze children's problem-solving performance. Processing differences between ability groups were determined through an analysis of "think aloud" protocols. Protocols were analyzed at two levels: (a) grouping of subroutines that function as heuristic processes and (b) grouping of subroutines that function as strategies. Regardless of aptitude, higher metacognitive children performed better than the lower metacognitive children. Higher metacognitive ability groups were more likely to rely on hypothetico-deductive (if–then propositions) and evaluation (check the adequacy of a hypothesis) strategies than was the lower metacognitive group. The results are discussed in terms of the independence of metacognition and general academic aptitude. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition as intuitive statistics.

Reviews the book, Cognition as intuitive statistics by Gerd Gigerenzer and David J. Murray (see record 1987-97295-000). Psychologists tend to think of their statistical methods simply as neutral tools. The use of a particular statistical technique is not supposed to influence one's psychological theorizing. Methods and theories are entirely different things, just like facts and theories are quite different. These sharp distinctions are generally accepted as articles of faith. They are not empirically based but are part of the philosophical legacy of positivism which continues to have a strong hold on our discipline. According to this philosophy methods and facts are both supposed to be theory-neutral, so that they can be used to test the claims of rival theories. Now, the post-positivist phase in the philosophy of science has been going on for long enough to have had some effect on the rhetoric, if not on the practice, of psychological investigation. In particular, the distinction between theories and facts is not likely to be insisted upon as dogmatically as it was in the heyday of logical positivism. But the parallel distinction between theories and methods has seldom been explicitly questioned in psychology. Gigerenzer and Murray's book goes a long way towards filling this gap. Their thesis is that after psychologists came to take a specific statistical methodology for granted in their research they began to base their theoretical models of human cognition on the psychologists' own statistical practice. Gigerenzer and Murray illustrate their general thesis by drawing on examples from four areas of psychological research: signal detection theory, perception, memory and thinking. In each case they combine a broad historical account with a detailed critical assessment of some contemporary work. The value of such an approach is that it opens up a refreshing new perspective on the research literature in these fields, making visible fundamental assumptions which normally remain hidden. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychobiology of Altered States of Consciousness.

The article reviews the current knowledge regarding altered states of consciousness (ASC) (a) occurring spontaneously, (b) evoked by physical and physiological stimulation, (c) induced by psychological means, and (d) caused by diseases. The emphasis is laid on psychological and neurobiological approaches. The phenomenological analysis of the multiple ASC resulted in 4 dimensions by which they can be characterized: activation, awareness span, self-awareness, and sensory dynamics. The neurophysiological approach revealed that the different states of consciousness are mainly brought about by a compromised brain structure, transient changes in brain dynamics (disconnectivity), and neurochemical and metabolic processes. Besides these severe alterations, environmental stimuli, mental practices, and techniques of self-control can also temporarily alter brain functioning and conscious experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the uses of psychological theory and research in the process of ethical inquiry.

The question addressed here is whether psychological theories and empirical data can play any useful role in the normative enterprise of determining what is normal. Work within four approaches to moral psychology is evaluated. Considered here are (a) the taxonomic approach; (b) the dialectical approach; (c) the cognitive-developmental approach; and (d) the constructionist, interactional approach. The philosophical objections to moral psychology are discussed, including (a) the naturalistic fallacy, (b) the implications of teleological and deontological analyses, (c) the problem of scope, (d) confusions in everyday moral language, (e) sociocultural and sociohistorical analysis, and (f) noncognitivism and irrationalism. Two suggestions are offered concerning how empirical evidence may appropriately be introduced into the process of ethical inquiry. First, research may be used to evaluate claims regarding human nature in the moral realm. Second, empirical evidence can be used to assess the factual status of teleological moral claims. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Traps and gaps in action explanation: Theoretical problems of a psychology of human action.

This article deals with the question of whether human action can be explained empirically by a psychological theory that refers to intentions, expectancies, and evaluations as determinants. In contrast with the majority of action theories in psychology and philosophy, a logical connection between action and intention is defended and, consequently, a causal relationship between action and intention is refuted. This is illustrated by reference to one of the most widely known and applied psychological action theories: the theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen, 1991). However, the logical-connection argument can be circumvented if the existing research findings are reinterpreted as part of a psychology of intention. This article demonstrates the value of such an approach for future research. However, the final section of the article outlines some further fundamental theoretical difficulties for this perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Metacognition, cognition, and human performance.

Reviews the book, Metacognition, cognition, and human performance edited by D. L. Forrest-Pressley, G. E. MacKinnon, and T. Gary Waller (1985). This collection is the second of two volumes devoted to metacognition, cognition, and human performance. In volume 1 emphasis was placed on basic theoretical issues in metacognition; volume 2 deals with the application of metacognitive principles to the fields of education and clinical remediation. Overall, I found the volume quite informative and indeed enjoyable. All contributions were of excellent quality, and presented active engaging research in the field, with the authors borrowing extensively from their own and their students' work. The research reported is permeated by vitality, ingenuity of methodology, and, to varying degrees, good linkages to other areas such as developmental, social, and cognitive psychology, social learning theory, and educational theory. This reviewer, however, was disappointed by the obvious omission of Piagetian theory from the theoretical conceptualizations of the various sub-areas of metacognition offered here. A second concern I had was with the relative lack of cohesiveness in the volume, with the inevitable repetitions across chapters. Although the editors' preface provides a summary of each chapter, it does not attempt to integrate the volume. Thus we end up with a collection of papers in the field but know little about how they fit in the overall scheme of things metacognitive. The volume will certainly be of value to basic researchers in cognitive, social, and developmental psychology. It would also be of particular relevance to child clinical psychologists, special educators, and teachers for the wealth of ideas it provides for implementation not only with LD but also with socio-affectively disturbed, mentally retarded, and culturally disadvantaged children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How to study consciousness scientifically

The neurosciences have advanced to the point that we can now treat consciousness as a scientific problem like any other. The problem is to explain how brain processes cause consciousness and how consciousness is realized in the brain. Progress is impeded by a number of philosophical mistakes, and the aim of this paper is to remove nine of those mistakes: (i) consciousness cannot be defined; (ii) consciousness is subjective but science is objective; (iii) brain processes cannot explain consciousness; (iv) the problem of 'qualia' should be set aside; (v) consciousness is epiphenomenal; (vi) consciousness has no evolutionary function; (vii) a causal account of consciousness is necessarily dualistic; (viii) science is reductionistic, so a scientific account of consciousness would show it reducible to something else; and (ix) an account of consciousness must be an information processing account.     

Developmental and instructional analyses of children's metacognition and reading comprehension.

Children's understanding of their own cognitive skills, or metacognition, has been hypothesized to play a major role in learning and development. In this study, we examine the developing relation between children's metacognition and reading comprehension. Children in third- and fifth-grade classes were given an experimental curriculum, Informed Strategies for Learning (ISL), designed to increase their awareness and use of effective reading strategies. In both grades, children in experimental classes made significant gains in metacognition and the use of reading strategies compared with children in control classes. The multivariate profiles of reading skills derived from the developmental analyses helped to identify subgroups of children who responded differently to the metacognitive instruction. Although there were specific aptitude-by-treatment interactions, there was a general trend for metacognition and strategic reading to become more congruent from 8 to 10 years of age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)