Imagine yourself, deciding whether to take a new job, thinking whether you made the right choice buying a house in the suburbs, figuring out how, when, or what to study for an exam, not knowing how to solve a problem, or realizing that you made a mistake and need to change your course of action. These, among many others, are examples of self-reflection or metacognition. According to Fleming (2021), a cognitive neuroscientist and author of Know Thyself, “metacognition is the ability to reflect on, think about, and know things about ourselves, including how we remember, perceive, decide, think, and feel” (p.2). He believes that it is central to how we experience the world. Referring to the teachings of Socrates, Fleming says that the essence of a life well lived is the time and effort taken to know ourselves. “The unexamined life is not worth living” (Apology, 38a; Plato, trans. 2002). This famous quote by Socrates resonates in many of the pages throughout this book as the basis of self-reflection through which one questions, takes time to wonder, and searches for meaning in one’s daily actions, words, and interactions.
The biggest takeaway and the core of this book is Fleming’s message that the skill of metacognition is under increasing threat from modern life. Overfocus on achievement and productivity, time spent on technology that is taking away our competence/autonomy (through autopilots, AI, surgical robots…), stress, and disease lead to less time spent on reflection or our complete inability to use it. Through strong research-based studies from the field of psychology, computer science, and neuroscience, he hopes that by helping people understand the roots of self-awareness, the factors that lead to its failure, and how/when it is used, people can take necessary steps to recognize its importance and work on boosting it.
This is exactly the order of topics through which he organized the book. Making it easy to read, yet not always easy to understand due to its high amount of neuroscience/psychology specific concepts, theories, and terminology. Therefore, having background knowledge in those fields would be helpful when reading the book. Otherwise, be prepared to occasionally look up information.
The first part of the book is devoted to the origin of self-awareness and factors that lead to its failure. The idea of “finding ourselves” is the starting point of self-awareness, originally introduced by Greek philosophers like Socrates and eastern traditions of Buddhism. From there, evolution led the way from implicit metacognition, through which we unconsciously sense our uncertainty as early as childhood, tracking errors in our actions and autocorrecting them, to the explicit metacognition, through which we become consciously aware of ourselves and others. The next building block of metacognition is the theory of mind or “mindreading”. As the author writes, “at some point in our evolutionary history, humans found it important to keep track of what other people were thinking, feeling, and doing” (p.55). This meant that they were reflecting on others, what others thought about them, and consequently using the same tool (part of our brain) to think about themselves. That special part of the brain used in both “mindreading” and metacognition is the pre-frontal cortex (part of the association cortex).
Understanding why self-awareness malfunctions or is destroyed is important for our own self-analysis and that of others. That’s why the author explains this in detail through research, including his own. Not that everyone who reads this book should be getting an fMRI, but that is one of the ways of determining one’s “metacognitive sensitivity” (or level of metacognition: moment-to-moment changes in one’s performance). “People with better metacognition tended to have more gray matter in the frontal pole (also known as the anterior prefrontal and frontopolar cortex). They also had greater white matter integrity in bundles of fibers projecting to and from this region” (p. 81). Brain damage either directly to the prefrontal cortex (such as through brain trauma, alcoholism, or lack of oxygen at high altitudes) or to the temporal lobe (with memory being impacted first) is another reason for poor self-awareness. Other factors such as disease (Alzheimer’s/dementia), personality, mental health, emotions, stress (high cortisol), cognitive abilities, upbringing, environment, education, metacognitive distortions (ex., illusions: mind wandering), and our ability to map our confidence level also play a role in shaping metacognition.
Mapping out our confidence is one of the malfunctions that stood out to me the most and seems to be a big factor in metacognition. The author says that “confidence is a construction that can sometimes be misleading—it does not always track what we are capable of” (p.126). Yet it is a big precursor to what actions we take and what we succeed at. For instance, overconfidence when being wrong/unprepared, feeling confident when being wrong, or feeling less confident when being right are signs of poor metacognition and can lead to failure or embarrassment. Fleming compares this to Alfred Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, in how our beliefs in our abilities influence our performance. Being able to accurately determine our abilities instead of pretending we have them is the key to healthy metacognition and then a true level of confidence. This also made me think of the motivational phrase, “Fake it till you make it,” which seems to advocate for overconfidence without the ability. According to the research in this book, following it would be self-sabotage.
In the second part of the book, the author provides a good summary of when and how metacognition is used and the important role it plays in people’s lives, followed by some useful ideas in cultivating and enhancing it. Think about your learning and the times you ask yourself what I need to learn, how I will learn it, when do I stop studying, am I using good resources, or how I will monitor my progress? These are all examples of metacognition, which sets the stage for how we learn. Teaching children and youth how to self-reflect on their studying improves their achievement, especially later in life, because it teaches them to see their mistakes (am I right/wrong), to solve problems, or to change their minds. Employers also like to test people’s self-awareness because those who know their minds also know their skills and limitations. Knowing how to broadcast our thinking to others allows for better collaboration both at work and in school. “For instance, by engaging in regular social interaction, team members can intuitively apply mindreading and metacognition to adapt to each other’s communication style and avoid metacognitive mismatches when under pressure” (p. 171). Metacognition is also used in science, politics, in the courtrooms, relationships, and in teaching.
Evidently, metacognition helps us live deeper, easier, successful, and more meaningful lives. Acquiring it has been and is an evolving process that matures and is cultivated through adulthood. It is not fixed, and it can be shaped or improved. So, if you have found yourself stuck in your study habits or communication with colleagues, perhaps evaluating and boosting your own metacognition is what you need. Reading this book can help you figure out what the issues might be and give you solutions. The author gives a few, such as teaching others because that way we become aware of our and others’ mental states, doing regular mindfulness meditation, practicing being more aware, lowering stress and noradrenaline, increasing dopamine, and, if you have the courage, going for electrical current stimulation to your prefrontal cortex sessions.
References
Fleming, S.M. (2021). Know Thyself: The new science of self-awareness. Basic Books. Plato. (2002). Five dialogues (G. M. A. Grube, Trans., 2nd ed.). Hackett Publishing Company. (Original work published ca. 399 BCE)
