Social Metacognition

Metacognition refers to thinking about our own thinking. It has assumed a prominent role in social judgment because our thoughts about our thoughts can magnify, attenuate, or even reverse the impact of primary cognition. Metacognitive thoughts can also produce changes in thought, feeling, and behavior, and thus are critical for a complete understanding of human social behavior.

The present volume presents the most important and advanced research areas in social psychology where the role of metacognition has been studied. Specifically, the chapters of this book are organized into four substantive content areas: Attitudes and Decision Making, Self and Identity, Experiential, and Interpersonal. Each section consists in several chapters summarizing much of the work done in recent decades on critical topics, such as attitude strength, persuasion, bias correction, self-regulation, subjective feelings, embodiment, and prejudice, among others. This book also emphasizes interpersonal aspects of metacognition as they play an essential role in close relationships, groups, consumer and clinical interactions. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field, and presents a state-of-the-art view of the many ways metacognition has been examined by social psychologists.

P. Briñol, K.G. DeMarree, Social Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking in Social Psychology. Part 1. Attitudes and Decision Making. P.S. Visser, A.L. Holbrook, Metacognitive Determinants of Attitude Strength. B.C. Wagner, P. Briñol, R.E. Petty, Dimensions of Metacognitive Judgment: Implications for Attitude Change. D. Dunning, Confidence Considered: Assessing the Quality of Decisions and Performance. D.T. Wegener, P.P. Silva, R.E. Petty, T. Garcia-Marques, The Metacognition of Bias Regulation. Part 2. Self and Identity. K.G. DeMarree, K.R. Morrison, What Do I Think About Who I Am? Metacognition and the Self-Concept. A. Achtziger, S.E. Martiny, G. Oettingen, P.M. Gollwitzer, Metacognitive Processes in the Self-Regulation of Goal Pursuit. E. Schryer, M. Ross, People’s Thoughts About Their Personal Pasts and Futures. L.K. Son, N. Kornell, B. Finn, J.F. Cantlon, Metacognition and the Social Animal. Part 3. Experiential Metacognition. L.J. Sanna, K.B. Lundberg, The Experience of Thinking: Metacognitive Ease, Fluency, and Context. J.R. Huntsinger, G.L. Clore, Emotion and Social Metacognition. P. Briñol, R.E. Petty, B. Wagner, Embodied Validation: Our Body Can Change and Also Validate Our Thoughts. Part 4. Interpersonal Metacognition. V.Y. Yzerbyt, S. Demoulin, Metacognition in Stereotypes and Prejudice. J. Vorauer, Do You See What I See? Antecedents, Consequences, and Remedies for Biased Metacognition in Close Relationships. L. Thompson, T.R. Cohen, Metacognition in Teams and Organizations. D.D. Rucker, Z.L. Tormala, Metacognitive Theory in Consumer Research. A. Wells, Metacognition and Psychological Therapy.