Editing Metacognition (section)

=== Attitudes as a function of social metacognition ===
The way that individuals think about attitude greatly affects the way that they behave. Metacognitions about attitudes influence how individuals act, and especially how they interact with others.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203865989|title=Social Metacognition|last=Briñol|first=Pablo|editor1-first=Pablo|editor1-last=Briñol|editor2-first=Kenneth|editor2-last=Demarree|date=27 April 2012|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780203865989|pages=21–42|doi=10.4324/9780203865989}}</ref>

Some metacognitive characteristics of attitudes include importance, certainty, and perceived knowledge, and they influence behavior in different ways.<ref name=":2" /> Attitude importance is the strongest predictor of behavior and can predict information seeking behaviors in individuals. Attitude importance is also more likely to influence behavior than certainty of the attitude.<ref name=":2" /> When considering a social behavior like voting a person may hold high importance but low certainty. This means that they will likely vote, even if they are unsure whom to vote for. Meanwhile, a person who is very certain of who they want to vote for, may not actually vote if it is of low importance to them. This also applies to interpersonal relationships. A person might hold a lot of favorable knowledge about their family, but they may not maintain close relations with their family if it is of low importance.

Metacognitive characteristics of attitudes may be key to understanding how attitudes change. Research shows that the frequency of positive or negative thoughts is the biggest factor in attitude change.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203865989|title=Social Metacognition|last=Briñol|first=Pablo|editor1-first=Pablo|editor1-last=Briñol|editor2-first=Kenneth|editor2-last=Demarree|date=27 April 2012|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780203865989|pages=43–62|doi=10.4324/9780203865989}}</ref> A person may believe that climate change is occurring but have negative thoughts toward it such as "If I accept the responsibilities of climate change, I must change my lifestyle". These individuals would not likely change their behavior compared to someone that thinks positively about the same issue such as "By using less electricity, I will be helping the planet".

Another way to increase the likelihood of behavior change is by influencing the source of the attitude. An individual's personal thoughts and ideas have a much greater impact on the attitude compared to ideas of others.<ref name=":3" /> Therefore, when people view lifestyle changes as coming from themselves, the effects are more powerful than if the changes were coming from a friend or family member. These thoughts can be re-framed in a way that emphasizes personal importance, such as "I want to stop smoking because it is important to me" rather than "quitting smoking is important to my family". More research needs to be conducted on culture differences and importance of group ideology, which may alter these results.