Evaluation of the relationship between one's differentiation of cognitive processes and metacognitive self-ratings

It is questionable whether people can provide accurate and credible metacognitive self-evaluations. This study examined the relationship between metacognitive self-assessment and the representation of cognitive processes. Fifty-four college students submitted written descriptions of different cognitive processes. Latent semantic analysis evaluated the descriptions with regard to each individual's differentiation among different processes at three stages: conditions, mental operations, and outcomes. Findings indicated that individuals with good self-ratings differentiated different processes consistently at all three stages, whereas those with poor metacognitive self-ratings made clear distinctions between different processes in terms of conditions or outcomes of the processes, but much less so in terms of how the processes develop. The complex relationship between metacognitive self-perception and one's conceptual knowledge in this domain is discussed.