Exploring the effects of procedural and declarative metacognition on social problem solving strategies in preschool children

Previous research in the field has been limited to proposing a potential association between metacognition and social problem-solving abilities in preschool children, without providing empirical evidence to support this assertion. The aim of this thesis study is to investigate the extent to which metacognitive skills (procedural metacognition and declarative metacognitive knowledge) are associated with social problem-solving strategies in the preschool age group. In total, 30 children aged between 51 and 70 months (Mmonths = 60.16, SDmonths = 6.33) participated in the study. Metacognition was assessed using two different measures in the context of a problem-solving puzzle task. A procedural Metacognition Coding Scheme (ProMeta) was developed for this study, which aimed to capture both procedural metacognition (monitoring and control behaviors) and failure of procedural metacognition during the puzzle task. The Metacognitive Knowledge Interview was used to evaluate declarative metacognition (knowledge of people, task, and strategies) related to the puzzle task. The children's social problem-solving strategies (generation of compromising vs. submissive/self-serving strategies) were evaluated by analyzing their solutions in response to 3 vignettes depicting peer disagreement. Results showed that declarative and procedural metacognition exhibited a positive but non-significant relationship with each other. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to assess the influence of procedural metacognition and declarative metacognition on social problem-solving strategies while controlling for age. The results revealed that declarative metacognition was a significant predictor of generating compromising solutions to social problems, whereas procedural metacognition did not have a predictive effect in this relationship. Failure of monitoring behaviors significantly predicted generating submissive/self-serving strategies to peer disagreement. Overall, the results of this study highlight the importance of conscious awareness and articulation of metacognitive skills (declarative metacognition), rather than employing them at the procedural level. The results were discussed in light of the relevant literature in terms of theoretical and practical implications.