The sense of certainty and the reliability of first person reports
An investigation using micro‐phenomenological self‐inquiry
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21391866 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Terje Sparby (0000-0001-5721-0066, Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy University of Witten/Herdecke Witten Germany, corresponding author), Friedrich Edelhäuser (0000-0001-7900-188X, Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Psychology (ICURAP) University of Witten/Herdecke Witten Germany), Ulrich Weger (0000-0002-5476-0932, Witten/Herdecke University), Ulrich W Weger (0000-0001-6803-6155, Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy University of Witten/Herdecke Witten Germany) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 775-783 |
| Publication date | 2020-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scandinavian Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-5564 • E-ISSN: 1467-9450 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/sjop.12671 |
| OpenAlex | W3046433536 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 11 |
The reliability of introspective or first‐person reports has often been questioned. Micro‐phenomenology is a method that has been devised to increase the reliability of such reports. One way of showing that the method actually increases reliability is to test it in experiments where reporting can be checked by an external observer. Though such approaches are highly valuable, the problem remains that the actual experience cannot be investigated directly by external means. This justifies the complimentary approach of developing internal criteria for evaluating first‐person reports. Here we investigate the sense of certainty as a possible internal criterion. We employed the technique of micro‐phenomenological self‐inquiry to investigate the characteristics of this internal sense. A mind‐wandering task was conducted that repeatedly leads to situations in which certainty and uncertainty in relation to past mental events and descriptions can be experienced. These situations were explored in a number of trials until a certain set of characteristics of the sense of certainty emerged. The result is a methodical procedure to enhance the reliability of first‐person reports
Certainty · Cognitive psychology · Epistemology · Introspection · Phenomenology (philosophy) · Reliability (semiconductor) · Mental Health Research Topics · Mind wandering and attention · Pain Management and Placebo Effect · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Philosophy of Metacognition
Describing one’s subjective experience in the second person
Micro-Phenomenological Self-Inquiry
Training naive subjects in using micro‐phenomenological self‐inquiry to investigate pain and suffering during headaches
A methodological dilemma for investigating consciousness empirically
How something can be said about telling more than we can know
A gap in Nisbett and Wilson’s findings? A first-person access to our cognitive processes
Cogito, Ergo Sum
The Unreliability of Naive Introspection
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2024 (4) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |