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Meta-cognition -- What is it?

by rbarnhart1
4 replies
Most Mind Warriors are probably interested in thinking -- am I right? If so, I have something I'd like to offer for further thought: meta-cognition, which is "thinking about thinking".

What do you think about thinking? Specifically, what do you think about your own thinking? Do you pay attention to it? Analyze it? Find better things to think about?

I would be very grateful to know how you go about thinking in your daily life -- techniques you use for generating ideas, evaluating ideas, deciding on ideas, etc. Looking forward to your responses.
#metacognition #thinking
  • Profile picture of the author heavysm
    I think it's far more helpful/beneficial to be meta-conscious, or self reflecting consciously over our behavior on a continual basis.

    I've dealt with this thinking about thinking stuff in meta-ethics in university and it just gets confusing and theoretical without really having any application.

    To be meta-conscious, however, means more to be aware of everything within your being.

    Thoughts are just one thing you can be aware of here, so with meta-cognition you might be literally "thinking too much" since some situations might be better dealt with kinesthetically.

    For me thinking about thinking can be almost as annoying and being conscious of your breath when you don't want to be. You find your awareness drifts away from important matters and you're literally left with over analysis of often very simple ideas/issues.
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  • Profile picture of the author bobandnanci
    To be totally accurate "meta" means "to go beyond"; so, meta-thinking would not mean that you are thinking about thinking it means that you go beyond the thought process.
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    • Profile picture of the author rbarnhart1
      @heavysm - that's a good distinction. The concept of meta-cogniton would include that. You have to be aware of the whole being, consciousness and emotions. The critical point about meta cognition is understanding what thought skills you have and use. Also, what weaknesses exist.

      Are you good with logic? Do you easily explore new ideas or do you criticise them? Do you you have thinking skills that go above and beyond logic?

      These are valuable things to think about. The stuff they teach in university is probably more technical than what the average person needs. Functional meta cognition only needs to focus on the thoughts you currently think and the tools you use to come up with new and better thoughts.
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    • Profile picture of the author rbarnhart1
      Originally Posted by bobandnanci View Post

      To be totally accurate "meta" means "to go beyond"; so, meta-thinking would not mean that you are thinking about thinking it means that you go beyond the thought process.
      That is probably true, but I'm thinking there are other variations or connotations. For example, meta data is data about data (examples are the back of a books title page and html meta tags). So meta cognition would similarly be thinking about thinking. See books by Edward de Bono and other thought teachers.
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