Metacognition in the Rationality Debate: Self-confidence and its Calibration

Effective decision-making relies on both feelingconfident about the decision and realisticallyassessing its accuracy. This book presents theresults of several large-scale studies of test-takingsituations in which people stated their level ofconfidence in their answers. These judgments wereinternally stable and habitual across differenttypical and novel cognitive domains. Self-perceptionof the competency of the fundamental cognitiveabilities predicted confidence levels; these levelswere compared with the actual results, indexing thequality of Self-monitoring processes. Errors inconfidence ratings were consistent, habitual, andlinked with particular heuristic modes of thinking;these errors reflected the irrationality that plaguesmetacognitive processes. By determining the status ofconfidence judgments and their calibration within thecognitive/metacognitive taxonomy and theirpsychological determinates, this book demonstratesthat both phenomena reside at themetacognitive/rational level. This book will bevaluable to psychology and education professionals,and to anyone interested in understandingdecision-making processes and their underlyingintrapersonal factors.

Sabina Kleitman (PhD) is a Lecturer in Psychology at theUniversity of Sydney. Her research areas include metacognitionand differential and educational psychology. Her publicationshave appeared in leading international journals, includingHarvard Education Review, American Education Research Journal,andLearning and Individual Differences.