ABSTRACT
Metacognition is a range of interrelated factors consisting in cognitive processes that involve the interpretation, monitoring, or control of cognition. Metacognitive knowledge incorporates beliefs and theories that people hold about their own thinking. So, it is a way of applying cognition to monitor and control cognition. To Alford and Beck, metacognition is the result of a conscious control system operation that has evolved to prevail over primal thinking, affect and motivation, being responsible for setting and attaining long-term goals and problem-solving. So, differently from the automatic reflexes and impulses associated with the emotional and behavioral systems, this system allows the individual to form conscious intentions. When the therapist uses the trial-based metacognitive awareness (TBMA) or Trial II, he explicitly introduces and explains this concept to the patient. The patient learns how to reverse the roles in which she gains the power of accusing and sentencing the prosecutor.
