Definition
Metacognition is knowledge and regulation of your own cognitive processes — the meta seat from which you observe thought and emotion without drowning in them.
Origin
Flavell (1979) opened metacognition as a developmental field — monitoring comprehension and memory accuracy predicts learning control. Contemplative traditions describe an observing witness; psychology converges on a continuum from automatic fusion to deliberate self-regulation (Levels of consciousness).
Mechanism
Metacognitive monitoring is not one skill: goal-driven versus data-driven regulation produce different judgment patterns during learning (Koriat et al., 2014). In recovery contexts, the meta seat maps dissociation-as-skill — observe the scene, refuse to negotiate from fatigue-authored sentences (attention governance), then activate Anchoring or Down-Regulation.
Example
Fatigue-authored thoughts feel like facts — you catch the fusion (I am this sentence) before debating content, then switch body first. That is B3 miss — you almost negotiated strategy from inside the loop instead of the meta seat.
Applications
When hijacked, name the process (I am fused with a tired thought) before debating content — one line in a journal or Victory log counts as a rep.
Sources
Cite
- Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34(10), 906–911.
- Koriat, A., Ackerman, R., & Adiv, S. (2014). Metacognitive monitoring during learning: Goal-driven and data-driven regulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 386–403.
Related doctrine
attention governance · Quality of Questions
Adjacent
Levels of consciousness
Pattern detective
The Refractory Period