science

Metacognitions questionnaire

Metacognitions questionnaire is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Metacognitions questionnaire rather than just read about it. In short: The metacognitions questionnaire is a self-report scale assessing different dimensions of metacognitive beliefs (beliefs about thinking). Examples of metacognitive beliefs are; "Worry is uncontrollable", "I have little confidence in my memory for words and names", and "I am constantly aware of my thinking".

Key takeaways

Metacognitions questionnaire belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Metacognitions questionnaire to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Metacognitions questionnaire from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The metacognitions questionnaire is a self-report scale assessing different dimensions of metacognitive beliefs (beliefs about thinking). Examples of metacognitive beliefs are; "Worry is uncontrollable", "I have little confidence in my memory for words and names", and "I am constantly aware of my thinking". The development of the questionnaire was informed by the Self-Regulatory Executive Function model (Wells & Matthews, 1994) which is the metacognitive model and theory of psychological disorder. This model is the foundation for metacognitive therapy developed by Adrian Wells (see e.g. Wells, 2009). There are two versions of the metacognitions questionnaire.

The Metacognitions questionnaire (MCQ) first developed by Sam Cartwright-Hatton and Adrian Wells (1997), consist of 65 items and has a five-factor structure: 1) Positive worry beliefs, 2) Beliefs about uncontrollability and danger of worry, 3) Meta-cognitive efficiency, 4) General negative beliefs, and 5) Cognitive self-consciousness. Responses are required on a four-point scale ranging from 1 (do not agree) to 4 (agree very much), high scores reflect more reported problems with the item in question. The Metacognitions questionnaire 30 (MCQ-30; Wells & Cartwright-Hatton, 2004) is a 30-item version of the MCQ consisting of the same five-factor structure, but the subcategories were renamed: 1) positive beliefs about worry; 2) negative beliefs about the controllability of thoughts and corresponding danger; 3) cognitive confidence; 4) negative beliefs about thoughts in general/need to control thoughts; and 5) cognitive self-consciousness. MCQ-30 uses the same four-point scale as MCQ. These questionnaires have established reliability and validity, are widely used and have informed research on the importance of metacognitive beliefs and metacognitive knowledge in psychological disorders. They are elevated across psychological disorders. However, there is also evidence that more specific metacognitive beliefs exist in different disorders. Following this work several questionnaires have been developed to measure more disorder-specific metacognitive beliefs. E.g. Wells proposed that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with a specific type of metacognitive belief concerning the dangerousness and significance of intrusive thoughts. These meta-beliefs are termed thought-fusion beliefs, and can be measured by the 14 item Thought Fusion Instrument (TFI; Wells, Gwilliam, & Cartwright-Hatton, 2001). There is an adolescent version of the MCQ that has been used in research on children (Cartwright-Hatton et al. 2004).

References Cartwright-Hatton, S., & Wells, A. (1997). Beliefs about worry and intrusions: The meta-cognitions questionnaire and its correlates. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 279–296. Cartwright-Hatton, S., Mather, A., Illingworth, V., Brocki, J., Harrington, R. & Wells, A. (2004). Development and preliminary validation of the Meta-cognition Questionnaire- Adolescent version. Journal of Anxiety Disorder, 18, 411–422. Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. New York: Guilford Press. Wells, A., & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2004). A short form of the metacognitions questionnaire: properties of the MCQ-30. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 385–396. Wells, A., Gwilliam, P., & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2001). The Thought Fusion Instrument (TFI). Manchester, UK: University of Manchester. Wells, A., & Mathews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion. A clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum & Associates.

External links MCT Institute Metacognition Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Metacognitions questionnaire

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Metacognitions questionnaire claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Metacognitions questionnaire before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Metacognitions questionnaire ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Metacognitions questionnaire

In research: Metacognitions questionnaire appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Metacognitions questionnaire in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Metacognitions questionnaire is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cognitive therapy, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Metacognitions questionnaire outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Metacognitions questionnaire in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Metacognitions questionnaire means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Metacognitions questionnaire out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Metacognitions questionnaire in simple terms?

Why does Metacognitions questionnaire matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Metacognitions questionnaire?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Metacognitions questionnaire.