“Metacognition, thinking about thinking, and it’s what allows people to outsmart their shortcomings”. Thinking about thinking is understanding how you think. For instance a thought process might be connected like such “why is the sky blue? I’d like my hair blue. That girls laptop is blue”. Then once you snap out of it you are back to thinking on your previous thoughts. You can think about thought patterns and change them at your own will, which can eliminate negative thought tracks, or behaviors. To find out these patterns of thought we engage in metacognition. An example of this may be an overweight teenager wondering why he or she possesses the urge to eat the unhealthy products advertised to young consumers. However if we know why we are thinking what we are thinking then we can counter it and adjust the thought process however we may want. For instance if the same overweight teen knew why he or she was having the urge to eat these unhealthy products, he or she would be able to substitute it for another thought that may change the outcome.
I like your example about the overweight teen - if I'm correct, are you saying that if he/she knew she was thinking about eating because he/she was thinking about the commercial, she/he'd be able to prevent it?
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