Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures
Success in cognitive tasks is associated with effort regulation and motivation. We employed the meta-reasoning approach to investigate metacognitive monitoring accuracy and effort regulation in problem solving across cultures. Adults from China, from Israel, and from Europe and North America (for si...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Intelligence |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/9/171 |
| _version_ | 1797579353324781568 |
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| author | Rakefet Ackerman Avital Binah-Pollak Tirza Lauterman |
| author_facet | Rakefet Ackerman Avital Binah-Pollak Tirza Lauterman |
| author_sort | Rakefet Ackerman |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Success in cognitive tasks is associated with effort regulation and motivation. We employed the meta-reasoning approach to investigate metacognitive monitoring accuracy and effort regulation in problem solving across cultures. Adults from China, from Israel, and from Europe and North America (for simplicity: “Western countries”) solved nonverbal problems and rated their confidence in their answers. The task involved identifying geometric shapes within silhouettes and, thus, required overcoming interference from holistic processing. The Western group displayed the worst monitoring accuracy, with both the highest overconfidence and poorest resolution (discrimination in confidence between the correct and wrong solutions). The Israeli group resembled the Western group in many respects but exhibited better monitoring accuracy. The Chinese group invested the most time and achieved the best success rates, demonstrating exceptional motivation and determination to succeed. However, their efficiency suffered as they correctly solved the fewest problems per minute of work. Effort regulation analysis based on the Diminishing Criterion Model revealed distinct patterns: the Western participants invested the least amount of time regardless of item difficulty and the Israelis invested more time only when addressing the hardest items. The Chinese group allocated more time throughout but particularly in moderate to difficult items, hinting at their strategic determination to overcome the challenge. Understanding cultural differences in metacognitive processes carries implications for theory (e.g., motivational factors) and practice (e.g., international teams, education). The present findings can serve as a foundation for future research in these and other domains. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:35:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2275f293bbb6457ea84dd81cbf6e61ad |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-3200 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:35:59Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Intelligence |
| spelling | doaj.art-2275f293bbb6457ea84dd81cbf6e61ad2023-11-19T11:24:52ZengMDPI AGJournal of Intelligence2079-32002023-08-0111917110.3390/jintelligence11090171Metacognitive Effort Regulation across CulturesRakefet Ackerman0Avital Binah-Pollak1Tirza Lauterman2Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, IsraelTechnion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, IsraelTechnion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, IsraelSuccess in cognitive tasks is associated with effort regulation and motivation. We employed the meta-reasoning approach to investigate metacognitive monitoring accuracy and effort regulation in problem solving across cultures. Adults from China, from Israel, and from Europe and North America (for simplicity: “Western countries”) solved nonverbal problems and rated their confidence in their answers. The task involved identifying geometric shapes within silhouettes and, thus, required overcoming interference from holistic processing. The Western group displayed the worst monitoring accuracy, with both the highest overconfidence and poorest resolution (discrimination in confidence between the correct and wrong solutions). The Israeli group resembled the Western group in many respects but exhibited better monitoring accuracy. The Chinese group invested the most time and achieved the best success rates, demonstrating exceptional motivation and determination to succeed. However, their efficiency suffered as they correctly solved the fewest problems per minute of work. Effort regulation analysis based on the Diminishing Criterion Model revealed distinct patterns: the Western participants invested the least amount of time regardless of item difficulty and the Israelis invested more time only when addressing the hardest items. The Chinese group allocated more time throughout but particularly in moderate to difficult items, hinting at their strategic determination to overcome the challenge. Understanding cultural differences in metacognitive processes carries implications for theory (e.g., motivational factors) and practice (e.g., international teams, education). The present findings can serve as a foundation for future research in these and other domains.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/9/171metacognitionmeta-reasoningproblem-solvingmental effort regulationmonitoring accuracymental effort stopping rules |
| spellingShingle | Rakefet Ackerman Avital Binah-Pollak Tirza Lauterman Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures Journal of Intelligence metacognition meta-reasoning problem-solving mental effort regulation monitoring accuracy mental effort stopping rules |
| title | Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures |
| title_full | Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures |
| title_fullStr | Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures |
| title_short | Metacognitive Effort Regulation across Cultures |
| title_sort | metacognitive effort regulation across cultures |
| topic | metacognition meta-reasoning problem-solving mental effort regulation monitoring accuracy mental effort stopping rules |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/9/171 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rakefetackerman metacognitiveeffortregulationacrosscultures AT avitalbinahpollak metacognitiveeffortregulationacrosscultures AT tirzalauterman metacognitiveeffortregulationacrosscultures |