[8 Pillars of METACOGNITION] III. Self-Monitoring
Internal attention; the ability to watch and to perceive your cognitive states and cognitive operations in real time.
[The 8 Pillars of METACOGNITION]
I. Academic & theoretical knowledge of cognition and cognitive abilities
II. Operational knowledge about the functionality of cognitive abilities, their cognitive freedom degrees and cognitive constraints
IV. Self-regulation
V. Adaptation
VI. Recognition — Anagnorisis
VII. Discrimination — Diakrisis
VIII. Meta-awareness — Mnemosyne
[Self-monitoring]
[internal attention, the ability to watch and to perceive in real time cognitive states and individual cognitive operations]
Self monitoring is an executive process, activating and deactivating other processes as a function of on-line evaluation of thought processes and products as they occur.
It refers to the ongoing process of seeking, integrating, and responding to both external and internal data and it requires motivation, attentiveness, and cognitive flexibility.
Self-monitoring allows for early recognition of cognitive biases, technical errors, emotional reactions, and may facilitate realistic self-assessment and self-awareness.
Working memory, especially the central executive, the attentional control mechanism, play a key role in monitoring information processes.
Highly socially and emotionally intelligent people are skilled at self-monitoring.
The human [psychobioMACHINE] is a semi-open system that subject to the universal rule of the second law of thermodynamics, and particularly under the destructive influence of entropy.
Entropy tends to disorganize an unattended system, leading it gradually and inevitably from order to disorder to 'self-destruction'.
Consider the entropic degradation of neural circuitry that occurs when a brain is left unexercised. Consider how that manifests as a functional degradation of cognitive abilities such as language and working memory.
Human cognition needs monitoring and control in order to achieve higher levels of the threefold of self-organization, self-knowledge, and self-consciousness.
Self-monitoring is more than simply focusing on your cognitive processes when a task occurs. The road to self knowledge cannot be traveled without uncovering our true selves. The first step is to acknowledge our blind spots, implicit motivations [implicit biases], and to reflect on our thoughts feelings and desires.
Introspection and self-observation could be considered the most efficient self-focused methods, in order to consciously turn our attention inward and neutrally describe what is happening inside us.
Self-observation initially coincides with the detachment of an inner observer and an objective observer that permits us to recognize and discriminate our illusions, the distorted forms of reality we have established in our minds leading to cognitive impairments and emotional disorders. During self observation, one of the main obstacles is the excessive weight people place on their internal thoughts and feelings.
“—even the observation itself alters and distorts the state of the object observed.”
[Kant, 1786 AK IV:471]
Open monitoring could minimize the aforementioned side-effects since it involves observation of the content of experience from moment to moment without any specific focus of attention.
Self-knowledge is fostered not only through intrapersonal communication, but also through interpersonal communication. The feedback we receive from the observation of the other, about what others think of us, is sometimes worth consideration.
[More so if they're in a position that you would like for yourself, less so if they're your average human being.]