What is Metacognition?
Metacognition is thinking about thinking: the awareness and regulation of one’s own cognitive processes. It includes knowing what you know, recognizing when you do not understand, and adjusting your learning strategies accordingly.
How it works
Flavell (1979) distinguished metacognitive knowledge (what you know about cognition) from metacognitive regulation (how you control cognition). A person with strong metacognition monitors their comprehension while reading (noticing when they stop understanding), allocates study time to difficult material rather than easy material, and adjusts strategies when current ones are not working. Metacognition is a stronger predictor of academic achievement than intelligence, because it enables efficient learning regardless of raw cognitive ability.
Applied example
A student who rereads their notes three times and feels confident they know the material has poor metacognition: they confuse familiarity with mastery. A student who tests themselves with practice questions and discovers gaps has strong metacognition: they know what they do not know.
Why it matters
Metacognition is the master skill of learning and decision-making because it enables accurate self-assessment and strategy adjustment, without which practice and effort are poorly directed.
