Rembrandt, Faust, 1653
We’re insufferably self-aware, like some
post-modern novel, so that the brain can’t go for more than a few seconds
before it starts calling attention to itself, reflecting on its own contents,
thoughts, and feelings. This even applies to thoughts we’re trying to avoid,
which is why those white bears are so inescapable.
But metacognition isn’t just a quirk of consciousness: It also has immense practical value, which scientists are only beginning to fully grasp. As the world confronts a series of epic problems, from global warming to the financial crisis, world leaders (including the new American president) will be making a slew of difficult decisions. In addition to weighing their myriad policy options, they could find that reflecting on the decision-making process itself proves an extremely powerful tool. How we decide is normally described in binary terms: There’s rational deliberation or gut instinct, Apollonian logic versus Dionysian feeling, the reptilian brain fighting the frontal lobes. Human nature is reduced to an either/or situation. In recent years, however, scientists have begun to discover that while both of these approaches have distinct advantages, they also have many shortcomings. There is no universal solution to the problem of decision making, for the real world is just too complex. In fact, many scientists now argue that the best predictor of good judgment isn’t intuition or intelligence or even experience. Rather, it’s the willingness to engage in introspection, to cultivate what Philip Tetlock, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, calls “the art of self-overhearing.” The mind that thinks about itself thinks better.
But metacognition isn’t just a quirk of consciousness: It also has immense practical value, which scientists are only beginning to fully grasp. As the world confronts a series of epic problems, from global warming to the financial crisis, world leaders (including the new American president) will be making a slew of difficult decisions. In addition to weighing their myriad policy options, they could find that reflecting on the decision-making process itself proves an extremely powerful tool. How we decide is normally described in binary terms: There’s rational deliberation or gut instinct, Apollonian logic versus Dionysian feeling, the reptilian brain fighting the frontal lobes. Human nature is reduced to an either/or situation. In recent years, however, scientists have begun to discover that while both of these approaches have distinct advantages, they also have many shortcomings. There is no universal solution to the problem of decision making, for the real world is just too complex. In fact, many scientists now argue that the best predictor of good judgment isn’t intuition or intelligence or even experience. Rather, it’s the willingness to engage in introspection, to cultivate what Philip Tetlock, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, calls “the art of self-overhearing.” The mind that thinks about itself thinks better.
The technical term for this is “metacognition,”
and it’s a rather surreal skill. Imagine that M.C. Escher drawing of a hand
drawing a hand, or a video camera making a movie of itself. The cortex is the
same way, as it constantly transforms the subject at the center of
consciousness — you — into yet another object contemplated by
consciousness. Of course, like all things meta, the process can quickly spiral
out of control. When a mind thinks about metacognition, it’s thinking about how
it thinks about how it thinks. And so on.
Read the rest at Seed.
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