The importance of awareness of our human limits: A view from cognitive psychology and beyond

Abstract

Throughout my career I have been interested in human cognitive limitations, with an emphasis on limits of working memory, the small amount of information that we hold in mind and use to solve problems and comprehend language and other communication. Here I focus on one kind of implication of these limits. In particular, I discuss some of the consequences when people are unaware of their limits. Being unaware means that one will assume one knows things that one actually doesn’t know, which can lead to less-than-ideal actions and social interchanges. I trace the topic of not knowing as it applies to cognitive psychology, cognitive development, scientific methods, and relations of these topics to social and personality issues, using my own research career as the source of examples. I expect that better understanding of our own cognitive limits can lead to better science and a better world.