THE ILLUSION OF NOT KNOWING IN METACOGNITIVE MONITORING: A BRIEF REVIEW

Purpose. The paper is aimed to analyze some key features of the illusion of not knowing in metacognitive monitoring of the learning activity of university students. Among the main conceptions of the influence of the illusion of not knowing on metacognitive monitoring accuracy of the learning activity of university students we tend to study and to analyse different types of the learned information, as well as personal, cognitive, metacognitive, and individual psychological characteristics of students. Moreover, the study may allow to clarifying the phenomenon of the illusion of not knowing and its influence on metacognitive monitoring accuracy measures. Methods. The theoretical and comparative practical methods of studying the illusion of not knowing in metacognitive monitoring of university students have been used in the study. The participants learned texts, statements and pairs of words in Ukrainian. They performed JOLs, aJOLs, RCJs, and aRCJs. Calibration procedure helped to define average indicators of both the illusion of knowing and the illusion of not knowing. Results. The findings indicate that the illusion of not knowing as an error of metacognitive monitoring accuracy (alongside the illusion of knowing) can occur in all types of metacognitive judgments, especially in the prospective judgments of learning. The highest levels of the illusion of not knowing are shown in learning pairs of words, smaller texts of all styles, and in ‘Yes’/‘No’/‘Do not know’ questions. Moreover, the effects of personal, cognitive, metacognitive, and individual psychological characteristics are also allocated. Conclusions. The paper provides an account of the effects of different types of information chosen for the experiment, and of personal, cognitive, metacognitive, and individual psychological characteristics of university students. The findings indicate the illusion of not knowing as an error of metacognitive monitoring accuracy alongside the illusion of knowing. These findings might help to solve the problem of metacognitive monitoring accuracy in the learning activity of university students.

Iranian Students’ Experience of K-12 and Higher Education: Use of Drawings to Convey the Difference Between Ideals and Reality

The focus of education during K-12 and Higher Education (HE) in Iran is on theoretical empowerment of students; therefore, our students get an illusion of knowing. In fact, what happens is not learning and understanding; rather, it is verbatim transfer of available information in the textbooks into the students’ minds. It might be because the students and teachers (as the main stakeholders of the education) are the least powerful parties within the pyramid of power amongst educational practitioners and policymakers. It means their voice, feedback, needs, and ideologies have no place in the educational decisions and policies. In alignment with the mainstream of the present research; it is an innovative idea to explore the students’ living/ studying experience during K-12, and their ideals and expectations from higher education studies. To do so, we asked 60 university students to portray their experience (in a phenomenological research design) concerning living and studying through K-12 and their ideals and expectations from Higher Education. Students’ drawings are the main source of data collection and inductive analysis of data is administered to find students’ responses which are categorized under three major and six minor themes, respectively.

Causal Attribution Preferences and Prospective Self-Assessment: The Unknowns of the Middle Eastern Learner

In the present field experiment, we examined the effects of a self-assessment exercise conducted in the middle of the semester on metacognitive awareness (i.e., the accuracy of self-assessment and its subjective confidence) and final test performance of college students of Middle Eastern descent. Effects were measured in the classroom against a business-as-usual control condition. It was hypothesized that if the exercise focuses students’ attention on internal causes (e.g., effort) in response to specific task demands, metacognitive awareness, metacognitive control, and, ultimately, final test performance would be enhanced. In poor performers, the exercise indeed improved the accuracy of self-assessment (as measured by grade estimates) and final performance. There was no evidence of the illusion of knowing phenomenon (i.e., the unrealistic belief that one knows or is able to perform a given task) among poor-performing students as their confidence in estimates remained low. Furthermore, the exercise did not change students’ causal attribution preferences, thereby suggesting that other dynamics are responsible for the effects of the self-assessment exercise.

A Close-Up on a Predictive Moment: Illusion of Knowing or Lack of Confidence in Self-Assessment?

Prediction allows learners to adjust behavior toward the future by exploiting information pertaining to the present and the past. Through a field study, we examined whether poor performing students are truly unaware of not knowing their deficiencies as the illusion of knowing (IoK) phenomenon implies. College students’ ability to predict their final test performance was surveyed as a function of experience (before and after the test), performance level, and self-efficacy. In this study, high performers’ prospective and retrospective predictions were more accurate and confident than those of poor performers. Although poor performers overestimated their grades (as predicted by IoK), they were less confident in their predictions. Furthermore, both their prediction accuracy and confidence benefited from the experience of taking the test. These findings, coupled with the lower self-efficacy of poor performers, suggest that prediction errors involving inflated estimations reflect the wishful thinking exhibited by students who are aware of their lack of competence but may have little confidence in their abilities.

How Perceived Processing Fluency Influences the Illusion of Knowing in Learning From TV Reports

The present two-study work aims to contribute to an understanding of the causes and consequences of perceived processing fluency. Regarding its causes, the experimental studies ( N1 = 399; N2 = 337) found that features of television reports (e.g., footage used, background music) can heighten perceptions of processing fluency. Regarding its consequences, it was found that heightened perceived fluency biases metacognitive judgments. Specifically, considering perceived knowledge in relation to actual knowledge, recipients experiencing fluency have been found to overestimate their knowledge about the issue depicted in the experimental stimuli. The resulting illusion of knowing was particularly pronounced under conditions of low involvement, indicating that the so-called ease-of-processing heuristic underlies the effect.

The illusion of knowing in college: A field study of students with a teacher-centered educational past

In the present study, the tendency to overestimate performance (illusion of knowing) was examined in college students whose educational past experiences had emphasized verbatim learning. Female students enrolled in core curriculum classes were sampled. Classes taught by the same instructor were randomly assigned to a self-assessment practice condition, where students predicted their test and class performance and were asked to reflect on discrepancies between predictions and actual performance, or to a control condition. At the end of the semester, irrespective of condition, as performance declined on the final test, predictions of final test grades became more inflated, but less confident, indicating that students were aware of their own deficiencies. Overall, students in the practice condition displayed not only greater prediction accuracy, but also greater final test performance than students in the control condition. Practice, however, benefited the most self-assessment accuracy of students whose final test grades were just above the passing grade. Although the responses to self-assessment practice of students with a teacher-centered educational past were largely similar to the responses of students from Western countries reported in the extant literature, differences in impact and meaning could be inferred.

Does media exposure relate to the illusion of knowing in the public understanding of climate change?

By acknowledging that people are cognitive misers, this study proposes that people may rely on the illusion of knowing as cognitive devices for attitudinal or behavioral change, in addition to factual knowledge. Accordingly, this study shifted the focus of inquiry from assessing media effects in increasing factual knowledge to assessing how media consumption relates to the illusion of knowing. Using a nationally door-to-door survey in Singapore ( N = 705), the results revealed that individuals’ attention to media messages about climate change and elaboration of these messages were positively related to the illusion of knowing. Furthermore, elaboration had moderating effects on the relationship between media attention and the illusion of knowing. These findings suggest that media consumption of climate change messages could drive the illusion of knowing, which is speculated to account for pro-environmental behaviors in addressing climate change. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Педагогічний супровід метакогнітивного моніторингу навчальної діяльності студентів

Стаття присвячена теоретичному обґрунтуванню цілеспрямованого педагогічного супроводу в оптимізації метакогнітивного моніторингу навчальної діяльності студентів. Визначено пріоритетні за­в­дан­ня педагога, що спрямовані на сприяння оптимізації метакогнітивного моніторингу навчальної діяль­ності і можливі через визначення, oрiєнтування та кooрдинування пiзнавальнoї дiяльнoстi студентiв. Так, ви­кладач пoвинен звертати увагу на рiвень рoзвитку oсoбистiсних, кoгнiтивних та метакoгнiтивних харак­теристик студентiв; зважати на викoристoвуванi для перевiрки пoтoчнoгo та пiдсумкoвoгo кoнт­рoлю знань студентiв характеристики iнфoрмацiї та завдань (з метoю запoбiгання виникненню iлюзiї знання); враховувати особливості прояву ілюзії знання в метакогнітивних судженнях; враховувати ефекти склад­ності/легкості запам’ятовування, впливу емоційного забарвлення та цікавості інформації, впливу поперед­ніх навчальних успіхів; враховувати специфіку психологічних механізмів, що лежать в основі різних видів метакогнтивного моніторингу; сприяти метакогнітивному моніторингу студентів через зворотний зв’язок, самозвіт щодо розвитку відчуття істинності власного знання тощо. Крім того, завданнями педа­гoга виступають надання мoжливoстi студентам самoстiйнo ствoрювати iндивiдуальну прoграму на­вчання з урахуванням oсoбливoстей свoєї пiдгoтoвки та здiбнoстей; навчання студентiв рiзних кoгнiтивних стратегiй навчальнoї дiяльнoстi з oвoлoдiння прoфесiйними знаннями, з яких вoни мoжуть вiдiбрати найбiльш ефективнi для себе; пoстiйне залучення студентiв дo рефлексивнoї дiяльнoстi. Також здійснено аналіз важливості врахування психологічних характеристик студентів у ході здійснення ними метаког­нітивного моніторингу. Зокрема, підкреслено важливість стимулювання навчальної мотивації студентів, формування у них адекватної самооцінки, розвитку високих показників рефлексивності, метакогнітивних обізнаності, знань та активності, здатності до самостійного оцінювання своєї діяльності та її резуль­татів. Окреслені перспективи подальших розвідок з цієї проблеми The article is dedicated to the theoretical description of the goal-oriented pedagogical assistance in optimization of metacognitive monitoring of the learning activity of university students. In particular, we highlighted priority tasks of university teachers that are oriented to provide assistance with optimization of metacognitive monitoring of the learning activity and are possible through definition, orientation, and coordination of the cognitive activity of university students. Thus, the pedagogical tasks are to provide students with the opportunity to create a self-study program taking into account their own learning backgrounds and interests; training students for different cognitive strategies of the learning activity in the sphere of professional knowledge, from which they are able to choose the most effective ones for themselves; constant involvement of students in reflexive activities. Thus, the teacher is obliged to pay attention to the level of development of personal, cognitive and metacognitive cha­racteristics of students; take into account the use of tools for checking the precise and subjective control of students’ knowledge of the features of information and tasks (with the aim of preventing the occurrence of illusion of knowing); take into account the peculiarities of manifestation of the illusion of knowing in metacognitive judgments; take into account the effects of hard/easy effect of retention, the influence of emotional side and curiosity of infor­mation, the impact of previous learning successes; take into account the specificity of the psychological mechanisms that underlie various types of metacognitive monitoring; promote metacognitive monitoring of students through feedback, self-report on the development of a sense of truth of own knowledge, etc. In addition, an analysis of the importance of psychological characteristics in students’ judgments of metacognitive monitoring was carried out. Among the most important characteristics, student motivation, academic achievements, feedback, and self-regu­lation are the characteristics aimed to provide better understanding of the nature of metacognitive monitoring effectiveness and can help in the annihilation of the negative impact of the illusion of knowing. In particular, the importance of stimulating students’ learning motivation, forming of their adequate self-esteem, development of high indicators of reflectivity, metacognitive awareness, knowledge and activity, ability to independently evaluate their activity and its results is emphasized. The prospects for further researches on this problem are outlined