Research led by Professor Patrick Carroll has documented that raising metacognitive doubts about one’s thoughts led to greater commitment to personal goals, Ohio State University reported. The findings, published in the journal Self and Identity, explain that questioning the validity of insecurities can strengthen one’s resolve to achieve identity goals, particularly those related to who a person wants to become. Carroll and his team analyzed how people respond to an “action crisis,” a type of decisional conflict that arises when the desirability of pursuing a goal is questioned despite the challenges encountered along the way.
According to The Ohio State University, these “action crises” arise in the context of identity goals, which are understood as long-term goals focused on the pursuit of becoming a particular person. An example was given of the desire to become a doctor, a goal that is often associated with difficulties and intense work and can raise significant doubts about its feasibility or relevance. Carroll focused on analyzing the influence of metacognitive doubt, defined as the degree of certainty a person experiences about the validity of their thoughts. As the media details, questioning one’s doubts can become an unexpected source of confidence, contrasting with the previous research trend that focuses on the impact of uncertainty on endurance.
The first study developed by Carroll involved 267 virtually recruited people. Volunteers first rated their status on an action crisis scale tied to their most important personal goal and responded to items such as “I doubt whether I should continue to fight for my goal or distance myself from it,” with response options ranging from complete disagreement to complete agreement. After this first part, participants were told that they would take part in a second, supposedly separate exercise that addressed the effects of memorization on self-confidence. Half of the volunteers were asked to write a text about a time when they felt confident in their thoughts, while the other half had to describe an experience when they felt doubt about their own thoughts. After completing the task, each person was asked to rate their level of commitment to achieving their personal goal, again on a scale from “not at all committed” to “very committed.”
As reported by Ohio State University, the results of the study showed that the writing exercise was effective in influencing participants’ level of certainty or uncertainty about their thoughts. Those who expressed doubts about their goals and then wrote about experiencing safety expressed less commitment to achieving those goals. In these cases, the exercise seemed to solidify their confidence in the validity of their doubts about their goal. In contrast, the group that faced doubt and wrote about this feeling of uncertainty reflected an increasing commitment to their individual goals. Carroll noted that this result suggests that writing about doubts about one’s thoughts can reverse the paralyzing effect of uncertainty and, in effect, lead to a reduction in general doubt. Therefore, the team concluded that the combination of doubt and doubt far from increasing the effect, but rather leads to a reduction in the strength of the uncertainties.
According to Ohio State University, the research included a second study of 130 university students that used a different method to elicit metacognitive doubt. On this occasion, participants were required to complete the action crisis scale using their non-dominant hand. This technique, developed by other researchers at the same university, is justified by the tendency of people to interpret sloppy writing as a sign of the lack of validity of their thoughts. Carroll explained, “Previous research has shown that using the non-dominant hand causes participants to have doubts about their own thoughts because they use their shaky handwriting as a signal that their thoughts must be invalid.” The results of both studies agreed that the introduction of metacognitive doubt led to participants’ own doubts being questioned, which promoted greater commitment to achieving personal goals.
The media emphasized that it is not easy for most people to generate metacognitive doubts in everyday life, since the effect observed in the study was partly due to the participants not knowing that the exercise was directly related to their personal goals. Carroll suggested that the help of third parties such as therapists, teachers, friends or family could make this process easier because someone from the outside can guide the person to challenge their doubts about their goals. The professor warned that “the person should not be aware that you are forcing them to question their doubts about their goals,” adding that using this approach requires caution as excessive or inappropriate use could impair individual judgment.
With these results, the Ohio State University team contributed to the understanding of the psychological mechanisms that occur when individuals encounter obstacles in the pursuit of personal goals. The study’s conclusions suggest the possibility of supporting persistence in identity goals through strategies that facilitate questioning one’s own doubts, always taking into account the importance of maintaining good judgment and autonomy in decision-making.
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