Concretely, metacognition consists of having a mental activity on one's own mental processes. If this skill is often reduced to "thinking your own thoughts", it is a superb means of personal development.
The term "metacognition" has the prefix "meta" (on or about) and the word "cognition". The latter concerns the mental processes that make it possible to distinguish humans from other species animal – mainly intelligence and knowledge. Thus, cognition provides the means to reason, to memorize, to learn, and of course to express oneself. When we talk about metacognition, it is then a question of becoming able to recognize cognitive processes . This faculty is very interesting since it improves the quality of learning and the transmission of knowledge.
John Flavell is a developmental psychologist specializing in the cognitive development of children. In the 1970s, the person popularized the notion of metacognition. Nevertheless, its origins would date back to Ancient Greece and the famous philosopher Aristotle. In recent years, the field of personal development has grown to an unparalleled extent, so that some coaches are followed by millions of followers. However, these people would not really need this kind of teaching deciding to use metacognition. It's just a matter of learning to think about your own thoughts.
We identify metacognition as a personal development tool based on three points . The first is metacognitive knowledge, characterized by confidence in one's own learning abilities. This then gives the opportunity to think about strategies (or methods) to optimize learning. Then comes the metacognitive experience, the purpose of which is to perceive emotions and other impressions in order to assess the progress of learning. This is a means of assessing learning difficulty about this or that new thing. There are also metacognitive strategies, giving the possibility of evaluating one's own progress in learning. Mainly, it is a question of better managing the work of reflection by taking concrete action.
In short, metacognition is a tool allowing introspection and thus, identifying one's own strengths and weaknesses . It can provide the means to become a good leader, to improve one's multicultural interactions or to understand different societal codes. In general, this ability allows you to get involved in interactions without being afraid of the mistakes that it is normally possible to make, which can also promote openness to others people.
