736388
TAP0010.1177/0959354317736388Theory & PsychologyVan Seggelen – Damen et al.
research-article2017
Article
Theory & Psychology
1–22
© The Author(s) 2017
Reflection: A Socratic approach
Inge C. M. Van Seggelen – Damen
Open University of the Netherlands, the Netherlands
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354317736388
DOI: 10.1177/0959354317736388
journals.sagepub.com/home/tap
René Van Hezewijk
Open University of the Netherlands, the Netherlands
Anne S. Helsdingen
CEDE Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne, Switzerland
Iwan G. J. H. Wopereis
Open University of the Netherlands, the Netherlands
Abstract
Reflection is a fuzzy concept. In this article we reveal the paradoxes involved in studying the
nature of reflection. Whereas some scholars emphasize its discursive nature, we go further
and underline its resemblance to the self-biased dialogue Socrates had with the slave in
Plato’s Meno. The individual and internal nature of the reflection process creates difficulty for
studying it validly and reliably. We focus on methodological issues and use Hans Linschoten’s
view of coupled systems to identify, analyze, and interpret empirical research on reflection.
We argue that researchers and research participants can take on roles in several possible
system couplings. Depending on who controls the manipulation of the stimulus, who controls
the measuring instrument, who interprets the measurement and the response, different
types of research questions can be answered. We conclude that reflection may be validly
studied by combining different couplings of experimenter, manipulation, stimulus, participant,
measurement, and response.
Keywords
Coupled system, Linschoten, reflection, reflective practice, Socratic dialogue
Corresponding author:
Inge C. M. Van Seggelen – Damen, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Open University of the
Netherlands, NL-PO Box 2960, 6401 DL, Heerlen, the Netherlands.
Email: inge.vanseggelen@ou.nl
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Ever since Plato, the philosophically good life has been propagated as a life that is permeated by reflection, that is, a life that aims at wisdom, at finding truth about our existence, and achieving a moral balance in our actions (Plato, 1997). “Man’s place in
creation” was an accepted object for reflection. St. Augustine’s confessions (circa AD
400), for instance, demonstrated a possession with reflections on the relationship of the
individual person to God and their conscience (Pusey, 1999). Ages later it became “Man’s
place in Nature” (Huxley, 1906), and Edmund Husserl tried to find the foundation of science and logic in unbiased reflection (e.g., Husserl, 1900–1901, 1936).
Reflection stems from the Latin verb reflectere, meaning “to bend” or “to turn back
on the self” (Harper, 2001–2017). From an etymological origin a variety of meanings
were derived, including whether and how persons can know or relate to themselves
(Wiley, 1994). Reflection can be considered “a highly personal, cognitive process… in
which a person takes an experience from the outside world, brings it inside the mind,
turns it over, makes connections to other experiences, and filters it through personal
biases” (Dewey, 1910/1933, p. 9). Definitions of reflection often depict a cognitive
activity of questioning (e.g., Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985; Daudelin, 1996) alleged to
have explorative, developmental, and interactive merits (e.g., Boud et al., 1985; Boyd
& Fales, 1983; Brookfield, 1988). The role of self is prevalent in making sense of one’s
own experiences (e.g., Boud et al., 1985; Boyd & Fales, 1983; Daudelin, 1996; Seibert
& Daudelin, 1999).
These definitions illustrate that reflection is considered to be a highly individual and
internal process resembling a dialogue with oneself, and mainly inaccessible to others
such as researchers. Nevertheless, we found reflection to be a tool of many trades. The
process of reflection as well as its effects have been studied by scholars in philosophy,
pedagogy, management, and organizational psychology. Many studies either explicitly
or implicitly refer to reflection as an inner dialogue between the self as a subject and an
object (or the object’s processes). Due to the nature of reflection, however, it is hard to
avoid the temptation to use one’s reflective capacities to study reflection, and, like in
Socrates’ dialogue with the slave, to interrogate oneself, thus becoming one’s own slave.
The subject of reflection scores high as a psychologist’s dilemma: to subject the self to
science or science to the self (Leary, 1990). On the one hand, no mental activity asks for
more validity and reliability for both science and self; yet, this can easily be confused
(Halligan & Oakley, 2015; Krause, 2005).
What is needed for reflection to be reliable and valid is an anchor point in a “reality”
that is accessible to others for critical discussion. Ultimately, both researchers and
reflecting individuals want reliable and valid conclusions about the perceptions, feelings, arguments, conclusions, and thoughts of their inner selves, often referring to these
as “honesty” or “integrity.” In what follows, we suggest a useful approach to analyzing
and categorizing the conceptual and methodological problems of studying reflection
that was inspired by Hans Linschoten’s ideas of coupled systems1 (1964). Linschoten
considered the relationship between a psychological researcher and their experimental
“participant” as one in which two persons have roles in several possible system couplings. Application of his coupled systems approach to a methodologically diverse set
of reflection studies reveals possible improvements to studying reflection that we will
describe in the last part of this paper.2
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
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Selected studies on reflection
Reflection is a popular research topic across various scientific disciplines. Within these
disciplines, methods like experiments, surveys, and qualitative studies have been used to
uncover it. With the intention to provide a cross-sectional image of reflection studies, we
selected a methodologically diverse sample of the literature on reflection. Table 1 provides an overview of 18 articles that served as a basis for our discussion.
A comparison of the articles suggests that reflection has frequently been studied in the
scientific domains of education, management, psychology, and philosophy. Psychology
and management studies often focused on reflection effects (e.g., Anseel, Lievens, &
Schollaert, 2009; Masui & De Corte, 2005) and the development and validation of reflection measures (e.g., Schippers, Den Hartog, & Koopman, 2007; Trapnell & Campbell,
1999). Contributions in the education literature pursued the identification of reflective
practices (e.g., Bruno, Galuppo, & Gilardi, 2011; Rogers, 2001). Some articles addressed
reflection’s neurological location (e.g., D’Argembeau et al., 2005), personality features
(e.g., Livengood, Sytsma, Feltz, Scheines, & Machery, 2010), and logical pitfalls or paradoxes (e.g., Davis & Klaes, 2003).
In general, reflection is considered to be a cognitive process to which individuals have
to provide some effort (e.g., Bruno et al., 2011; D’Argembeau et al., 2005; Grant,
Franklin, & Langford, 2002; Gürtner, Tschan, Semmer, & Nägele, 2007). In some studies, the affective process has been addressed as well, in order to stress the emotional
factors at stake (e.g., Jordan, 2010; Kember & Leung, 2000; Mann, Gordon, & MacLeod,
2009; Rogers, 2001; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999). Apart from the interest in individual,
cognitive, and affective processes, some articles discuss collective and reflective processes (e.g., Schippers et al., 2007; Van Woerkom & Croon, 2008).
Conceptual comparison reveals three different approaches toward reflection. The first
approach involves reflection in the presence of self-awareness. This approach emphasizes the investigation of personal knowledge structures by means of introspection (e.g.,
Mann et al., 2009; Procee, 2006). The second approach considers reflection in terms of
self-reference. Self-reference pays attention to the self–other relationship and stresses the
evaluative rather than critical nature of reflection (e.g., Gürtner et al., 2007; Van Woerkom
& Croon, 2008). The third approach is referred to as self-inquiry. Self-inquiry includes
“epistemic” interest in the self by means of questioning assumptions one previously has
taken for granted (e.g., Livengood et al., 2010; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999).
The different concepts of reflection have been classified according to timing (e.g.,
Jordan, 2010; Rogers, 2001; Schön, 1983, 1987), cognitive effort (e.g., Larrivee, 2008;
Schippers et al., 2007), and level of reflection (e.g., Davis & Klaes, 2003; Kember &
Leung, 2000).
Stimuli and intervention techniques give some indication of what makes people reflect.
Practicing or learning-by-doing is considered an important stimulus for reflection (e.g.,
Jordan, 2010; Masui & De Corte, 2005). As such, reflection is used as a learning strategy,
from which one can benefit the most when thinking back afterwards or even instantly about
the effect or efficiency of the practices at hand. Feedback provided by relevant others (e.g.,
Mann et al., 2009) as well as behavioral evaluation (Schippers et al., 2007) are frequently
mentioned as stimuli for reflection (see Table 1). Intervention techniques for reflection
4
Table 1. Selected studies on reflection and inclusion criteria.
Author
Journal
Method
Reflection stimulus
Anseel et al. (2009)
Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes
European Journal of
Psychology of Education
NeuroImage
Experiment
Feedback
F
Coached reflection
C
Qualitative study
(content analysis)
PET, (f)MRI
Become a trainer “for a day”
P
Writing a personal journal
J
Focus mental activity on specific topics
S
Reflective tasks
TP
Journal of Economic
Methodology
Essay/literature
review
E
Survey
S
Considered as phenomenon
rather than intervention
technique
Questionnaire
TP
Reflexivity intervention
TP
P
Question routinized ways
Interactive practices
C
Kember & Leung
(2000)
Larrivee (2008)
Assessment & Evaluation in
Higher Education
Reflective practice
Survey
Training by means of guided reflection:
team-based military air-surveillance task
Explicit and indirect reference to diversity
and the necessity of asking questions
Monthly rotation
Interactive on-the-job training
Alternation of peripheral and full
participation (learning-by-doing)
Case-based teaching
Emphasis on reconstructing abstracted rules
Class evaluation
P
Jordan (2010)
Social Behavior and
Personality
Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes
Management Learning
There is more than one possible strategy
to respond to the various dimensions of
reflexivity.
Journal or diary keeping
F
Questionnaire
SR
Emotionally supportive learning climate
Mediation processes
F
Prompts
Journaling
Non-judgmental questioning
J
Bruno et al. (2011)
D’Argembeau et al.
(2005)
Davis & Klaes (2003)
Grant et al. (2002)
Gürtner et al. (2007)
Experiment
Qualitative study
(ethnography,
narrative)
SR
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Survey
Intervention technique
Author
Journal
Method
Reflection stimulus
Livengood et al. (2010)
Lyke (2009)
Philosophical Psychology
Personality and Individual
Differences
Advances in Health Sciences
Education
Experiment
Experiment
Personality, philosophical training
Psychotherapy
P
E
Cognitive reflection test
Questionnaire
SR
SR
Essay/literature
review
PF
Observational methods
Analytical methods
SR
C
Masui & De Corte
(2005)
Procee (2006)
British Journal of
Educational Psychology
Educational Theory
Experiment
Awareness of a need or disruption in usual
practice
Anticipatory phase
Appropriate supervision
Novel or challenging situations
Intellectually and emotionally supportive
environment
Training
P
Questionnaire
SR
P
Intelligence (Kant’s Verstand)
Judgment (Kant’s Urteilskraft)
TP
Rogers (2001)
Innovative Higher Education
Essay/literature
review
Reflection partners
Exercise
Empathy
Coaching
Uncertainty
E
J
Schippers et al. (2007)
Applied Psychology: An
international review
Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology
Personnel Review
Survey
Team work
E
Journaling
Role modeling
Use of questions
Critical incidents
Questionnaire
Survey
Self-focus
S
Questionnaire
SR
Survey
Experience
P
Questionnaire
SR
Mann et al. (2009)
Trapnell & Campbell
(1999)
Van Woerkom &
Croon (2008)
Essay/literature
review
Intervention technique
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
Table 1. (Continued)
SR
Note: Column 4: F = Feedback, P = Practicing, S = Self-focus, E = Evaluation Column 6: C = Coaching, J = Journaling, TP = Task performance, SR = Self-report.
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include self-reports (e.g., Kember & Leung, 2000), evaluating task performance (e.g.,
Gürtner et al., 2007), coaching (e.g., Jordan, 2010), and journaling (e.g., Bruno et al., 2011).
The main purpose scholars have attributed to reflection is the assessment of cognitive
functioning (e.g., D’Argembeau et al., 2005; Trapnell & Campbell, 1999). Here, reflection is used to determine a person’s critical thinking skills. Other purposes are sensemaking (e.g., Bruno et al., 2011; Jordan, 2010) and redirection or self-regulation skills
(e.g., Anseel et al., 2009; Procee, 2006). Livengood et al. (2010) have emphasized the
importance of reflection as a merit or legitimization of one’s (cognitive) behavior. Other
studies have suggested that reflection enhances performance. In their article, Mann et al.
(2009) mentioned mixed effects of reflection on performance. This supports the negative
and mixed effects from reflection on well-being (e.g., Lyke, 2009; Trapnell & Campbell,
1999). With regard to understanding, again some studies demonstrate mixed or positive
effects (e.g., Davis & Klaes, 2003; Grant et al., 2002; Jordan, 2010; Livengood et al.,
2010; Rogers, 2001).
The above suggests that a person reflects to qualify their own cognitive functioning in
terms of task performance and critical understanding and to manage their own behavior.
When a person’s thinking ends in vicious circles, reflection hampers well-being rather than
improving performance. All studies, however, seem to be caught in a chicken-and-egg situation: They suggest that reflection has positive results for cognitive functioning and for
performance, but depend on the very same person’s reports about their cognitive functioning, their performance, or the reception of a stimulus—if not incentive—to reflect.
Problems studying reflection
Recent discussions seem to concentrate more on the methodological nature of the challenge than on the deeper problem residing in research on reflection. Experimental tasks
that aim to investigate reflection vary enormously within and across domains. They vary
from demonstrations of internalized learning of study skills (Masui & De Corte, 2005), to
written individual and group discussions (Gürtner et al., 2007), elaboration with and without feedback (Anseel et al., 2009), solving math problems (Livengood et al., 2010), and
reflecting on the self, others, or social issues during positron emission tomography (PET)
scans (D’Argembeau et al., 2005). With the exception of the neuropsychological experiment of D’Argembeau et al. (2005), they show little relation with self-reflection as studied
through surveys. Only some of the studies have tried to distinguish levels of self-reflection.
Moreover, many confounding factors surface, such as new ways of processing information
(e.g., by email), using multiple-choice items (which seems a distinct type of activity from
reflection), or learning to learn, which was not related to reflection as such. There was only
limited transfer (or the measurement thereof) to other domains and limited long-term
knowledge of applying reflection in resembling domains. Furthermore, authors found
hardly any distinction between individual and group processes. In other words, a unifying
paradigm has not yet been found, and if it is found it will not be easily related to the qualitative variations involved in reflection. The reporting of procedures, participants, and
results does not always conform to what unequivocal conclusions require.
As alarming as these methodological problems may be, however, they may obscure
a deeper problem in reflection research. This has to do with the nature of reflection and
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
7
the temptation to use one’s reflection capacities to study reflection and, like Socrates
reflected in interrogating oneself, thus becoming one’s own Socratic slave.
Simultaneously addressing who reflects on what and what is represented reveals a paradox in reflection, however, resembling the infamous reflective paradox involving selfcontradicting premises (Ashmore, 1989; Bartlett & Suber, 1987). Combining the
premises “Lying means not telling the truth,” and “I now do not tell the truth,” results in
the paradox “I am now lying (about my telling the truth).” Since the act of combining
both premises and the act of “lying” refer to the same person (the self), the truthfulness
of the conclusion is uncertain. In other words, the subject and the object of lying become
identical. In reflection issues, the same seems to be the case: the actor and the observer
of reflection are identical.
Turning ourselves into objects overlooks the fact that this act of objectification is
subjective in itself (Cunliffe & Jun, 2002). Or, in Hegelian terms, the subject has a
permanent blind spot. Hegel illustrated this by a reflecting pole that can only see the
other pole (the “reflectee”) and not itself (Wiley, 1994, p. 79). Or, as Kant’s picture
metaphor illustrates, “whenever the knower tries to know the knower it thereby turns
the knower into the known. The knower knows the known, but not the knower” (as
cited in Organ, 1987, p. 115). Apparently, we can only discriminate these two elements in an analytical sense and not in a physical or statistical sense when confronted
with locus issues.
Linschoten’s system couplings
The problem may be illustrated with a view we borrowed from Dutch psychologist Hans
Linschoten. Linschoten (1964) observed that psychologists seem to believe the position
that all psychological knowledge about human beings is self-implicating. That is, psychologists’ scientific knowledge is also referring to themselves, and therefore self-committing and self-biased. In other words, psychologists should apply whatever they know
about human beings to psychologists as well. Consequently, the biases and prejudices
that psychologists observe in human beings have to apply to psychologists as well (i.e.,
“Idols of the psychologist”3).
Linschoten considered the relationship between a psychological researcher (E) and
their experimental “subject” (O; now “participant”) as one in which two persons have
roles in several possible “system couplings.” In an experiment (Figure 1(a)), a psychologist with the role of experimenter E has control over stimulus situation (x) and
measuring instrument (m), whereas the observed participant (O) “controls” the response
(r) to E’s manipulation (x). Figure 1(b), (c), (d), and (e) reflect other couplings in which
psychologists gain knowledge about the validity of the instrument (Figure 1(b)), the
reliability of the observer by comparing observations with those of others (Figure 1(c)),
and properties or traits of the participant, as in using questionnaires (Figure 1(d)). In
system couplings in Figure 1(c) and (d), E does not manipulate the stimulus to know its
effect, but studies reactions to a “given” stimulus in order to get more insight into the
properties of the measuring instrument or into the characteristics of the participants.
Below, we further discuss the different couplings of systems involved in research, and
give some examples.
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Figure 1. Five ways that an experimenter, his instruments, and his participant can be coupled.
See the text for an explanation.
Examples of coupled systems in reflection studies
Reflection has been studied by means of experiments, surveys, and qualitative studies.
Researchers determine what to measure, how to measure, and how to interpret measurement outcomes; participants are subject to measurement and sometimes are (non)deliberately able to influence measurement outcomes. Clear-cut as it seems, however, there is
still some leeway. Earlier, we mentioned paradoxes and blind spots that are typical for
reflection. The paradoxical nature of reflection is not restricted to the object of study, but
often also involves measurement. For instance, how autonomous is the “self” that initiates reflection? Is reflective behavior probed by researchers distributing reflective tasks
similar to “spontaneous” reflective behavior that is self-reported by participants? Whose
reflective behavior is at stake: that of the research participants, the researchers, or both?
For example, on the one hand participants involved in an empirical study on their reflective behavior are subject to paradoxes and blind spots such as biased memories.
Researchers, on the other hand, do not only have to identify participants’ blind spots, but
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
9
also have to deal with their own paradoxes and blind spots. Linschoten’s coupled systems are informative to analyze these issues in empirical studies.
Below we give some examples of reflection studies that can be characterized by the
way systems are coupled. We do not pretend to cover all the studies and mixed methods
published. To illustrate how in reflection research systems are coupled differently, we
only discuss some striking examples.
Coupled system #1: The experiment
In experiments, the researcher (E) has control over the stimulus (x) and the measurement
phase (m). After stimulation, the participant (O) responds (r). The focus in this coupling
is on the effect of x (independent variable) in terms of r (dependent variable), and m is
used to establish the effect.
For instance, in an experiment by Masui and De Corte (2005) young participants had
to formulate study recommendations for themselves and for peers, and establish relations
between their personal study behavior and good and weaker study results in two previously followed domain-specific courses. The experimental treatment involved training
sessions in—as well as practice and transfer tasks on—self-regulated learning. These
sessions and tasks included the self in relation to social relations and the self in relation
to consequences of study behavior (“the future profession”). In this coupled system (#1),
the experimenter had control over the stimulus (a set of instructions) and the measurement (attribution and reflective behavior measurements, as well as academic achievements); the participant had control over the response, that is, his reflective behavior.
According to Linschoten’s systems criteria, Anseel et al. (2009) conducted an experiment investigating the effect of reflection on performance. They provoked experimental
“reflection” in feedback or no-feedback task conditions. The authors (E) defined four
task conditions (x) in which participants (O) had to select an answer to different work
emails and: (a) write down examples of their own strong and weak task performance
based on performance feedback (reflection/feedback task); (b) do so without such feedback (reflection/no feedback task); (c) not write down anything but receive feedback; or
(d) write down and not receive feedback. Next, they had to do similar email-response test
tasks (r), and performances (m) between the four different feedback/reflection conditions
were analyzed. Feedback with reflection generated the highest test performance.
Coupled system #2: Calibration
In calibration studies, the main aim is to establish the validity of the instrument (Figure
1(b)). In other words, the psychologist is interested in the precise way the measuring
instrument relates to responses by participants. Studies use the measured strength of the
stimulus in relation to the kind and/or strength of the response. The focus in this coupling
is on the validity or standardization of m, using the effect of x (independent variable) on
r (dependent variable) in the case where m is used to establish the effects of r.
One way to validate findings in reflection research is to triangulate methods, such as
interview, observation, and document analysis (see Denzin, 1978). In an extensive study,
Carson and Fisher (2006) “raised the bar” by indicating how the reflective quality of
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student writings can be established by using identification procedures of values, beliefs,
assumptions; changes in these values, beliefs, and assumptions; their making connections to political, social, and cultural values; and changing their habits. Scott empirically
tested the usefulness of portfolios as learning tools. The research question in this “calibration study” was straightforward: “Is student portfolio use positively associated with
reflection?” (Scott, 2009, p. 62). In other words, can we use portfolios to establish serious reflection? Portfolios were offered to students as a stimulus to reflect on learning and
performance in an MBA course. The effect on reflection performance was established by
measuring the level of reflection exhibited in an exam paper. Apparently, that was not the
only aim of her study. The portfolio stimulus used in the study was also validated by a
qualitative evaluation of the students’ excerpts from their portfolios to establish whether
the stimulus actually elicited reflection.
Coupled system #3: Self-calibration
According to Linschoten, self-calibration takes place when the focus of the researcher is
on improving the interpretation of the measurement instrument. In a more straightforward measurement situation the focus is on preventing “reading errors” of instruments,
the correct interpretation of test results, and so forth. The experimenter does not control
the stimulus, but is interested in the question of whether he or she rightly interprets the
measured response.
Christie and Menhuir (1997) studied (E) what a “reflective practitioner” means and
how the process of reflection can be operationalized and evaluated in the context of the
continuing professional development (CPD) of those who work in the field of early education. This is an example of how teachers (O) can be supported to evoke (x) more reflection techniques in their pupils (r), and at the same time it gives an example of how they
can “self-calibrate” their method of establishing progress (m) in their students. Another
example is Jordan’s study (2010) who, as a participant observer (E) observed and interviewed (m) novice nurses (O) of an anesthesiology department regarding how they
would become reflective practitioners, addressing different dimensions of reflective attitudes, and how to interpret the “measurement” of them. Jordan investigated how organizational practices (x) fostered reflection-in-action in a high reliability context (r), by
categorizing her field observations of seven novice nurse anesthetists (verbal and nonverbal communication), narratives, interviews, or document analyses into different theoretical dimensions that structured the thick descriptions (an ethnographic approach).
Coupled system #4: Measurement
There are many examples of studies in which there is negligible or no stimulation by the
researcher. The researcher, however, controls the measuring instrument, as in a survey or
questionnaire, and establishes any response of a participant that can be interpreted as a
reflective practice. Another way to ascertain an external effect more independently is to
use modern neuropsychological technology during reported reflection in order to obtain
more objective measurements of reflective activity. For example, Northoff et al. (2006)
and Saxe, Moran, Scholz, and Gabrieli (2006) used neurological measurements. In their
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
11
neuropsychological experiment, D’Argembeau et al. (E) used three topics to evoke (x)
reflection: reflection on one’s personality, reflection on someone else’s personality, and
reflection on social issues. To identify the dependent variable (r)
immediately after each scan, subjects were asked to verbally report the thoughts, images, and/
or memories they had had while they were reflecting on the topic. Then they rated several
aspects of the mental activity they had experienced during the scan, including amount of
thoughts (i.e., total amount of thoughts experienced, whatever their content); relative amount
of thoughts about the self; thoughts about other persons; memories; physical sensations and
combined those ratings with measurements of brain metabolism patterns through PET scans.
(D’Argembeau et al., 2005, p. 620)
They inferred that self-reflection differs from reflection on others or society and from a
resting state, although during rest some similar patterns were visible, both in the metabolism scans and in the self-ratings. Apparently, self-reflection plays an important role
during rest.
Coupled system #5: Spurious coupling
For our study, spurious coupling is a most relevant system coupling. Linschoten referred
to number 5 as “spurious” because, as he called it, “science appears as power” (Linschoten,
1964, p. 157). No reliable or valid knowledge is collected (Linschoten, 1964, p. 157). The
psychologist or their client wants a certain result of the study, and stimulates and
measures just long enough to attain the wanted result. His examples seem to refer to
applying power that disguises as scientific knowledge, as you often see in advertisements
of dubious products, using the phrase “scientifically proven.” For instance, we forbid our
client to use the word polar bear and we observe that the client does not use the word
polar bear, or worse: we report that the client does not think about polar bears. In our
study, reflection could border on spuriousness if we use reflections to “prove” how—or
that—reflection has the effect we wished for. For instance, in a study on distributed
shared sense-making, Ladewski, Krajcik, and Palincsar (2007) theorized that
inquiry and reflection are mutually constitutive processes that play a key role in human flexible
shared sense-making, enabling sense-making systems (individual and collective) to “open” to
consider multiple possible options and then to “close” to the “best fit” option for a particular
situation based on criteria such as reproducibility, coherence, and fruitfulness. (Ladewski et al.,
2007, pp. 45–46)
They tested their theoretical frame by documenting reflections and prediction or what
they called “sense-making activities” of students and not collecting other performance
data or data from comparison classrooms. In a post-graduate course for pharmacists,
Black and Plowright (2010) exposed their students to a systematic reflective learning
strategy and a written reflective portfolio. Next, they asked focus groups and individuals
in an interview to reflect upon reflective learning, resulting in a multidimensional model
of reflection. They argued that reflective learning is more complicated than usually
described. In both cases it seemed that a model of reflection that the investigators already
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Table 2. Classification of empirical studies on reflection, based on Linschoten’s coupled
systems, with one added by the present authors.
Coupled system
Researcher influences Participant Measurement’s function
the experimental
influences
intervention X
response R
1. The experiment
Yes
Yes
2. Calibration
Yes
Yes
3. Self-calibration
No
Yes
4. Measurement
No
No
5. Spurious coupling
Yes
No
No
Addition:
6. Meretricious coupling
Yes
Researcher tests effect of
intervention
Researcher tests validity of
measurement
Researcher tests validity of his/
her own interpretation
Researcher measures an external,
non-controlled for effect
Researcher intervenes and
measures to obtain a wanted
result
Researcher = participant
must have had in mind was used to reflect on the model of reflection that was under
construction. It is a Socratic situation.
Table 2 classifies types of studies based on Linschoten’s coupled systems, including
an extended meretricious coupling (discussed below).
An additional system: The meretricious coupling
In addition to the original set of five couplings, our analysis suggests a sixth one. In this
situation, the participant’s (or subject’s) role (O) cannot be distinguished from the role of
the psychologist (E), and the measurement (m) and response (r) have faded into the mind
of the experimentalist/object as well. The psychologist as his/her own object, as it were,
administers his/her own stimulus (x) and has the response “in his/her head,” and designed
the measurement as well. As a name, we propose “the meretricious coupling.” We suspect that the meretriciously coupled system relates to spurious coupling. The reflecting
individual actually plays two if not three roles: to be their own psychologist, to be their
own object, and to be their own judge of successful reflecting. In spurious coupling, two
parties are involved, the researcher and the client who wants to get the result of the study
that he or she demanded; in meretricious coupling, both parties are one and the same
person. Figure 2 demonstrates the spurious interdependency of meretricious coupling.
Conceptually, this seems to be the basic problem, if not paradox, with reflection as a
technique for thinking about our own behavior, thinking, learning, and its improvement
(in the eyes of which beholder?) In the Cartesian situation, I can observe another’s
behavior (but not their inner experience), and they can observe my behavior (but not my
inner experience). This resolves the question of whether we deal with a knower who is
open to the external world (although it is internally represented), or with a self-contained
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
13
Figure 2. Meretricious coupling #6 (inspired by Linschoten, 1964).
knower, closed to the world, for whom all things that seem real are the mere product of
imagination and construction: Descartes versus Vico, Popper versus Wittgenstein, Munz
versus Rorty (Munz, 1984, 1985; Rorty, 1980). Regardless of whatever insight we gain
about ourselves, we can only be our own judges of the validity of insight. In terms of
objectivity, there is no way that, for insight and the test of its validity, traces of the
knower can be removed or ignored.
Therefore, we cannot reasonably be sure that we are honest and reliable instruments
for the assessment of the truthfulness of our reflections. Notwithstanding its personal
worth and explorative value, all personal diaries, log books, and other journaling, blogging, and vlogging initiatives fit this meretricious coupling, at least whenever authors
use them as arguments for the validity and reliability of reflection.
We consider it defendable that any attempt to design experiments that go deeper
than looking at the effect of alleged reflection tasks will result in serious problems as
soon as reflection is seen as a mental process in which words are used as definite
indicators of inner thought processes. Experiments that report effects of what is only
roughly indicated as “reflection” may demonstrate that instructing to reflect can help.
They do not demonstrate that reflection works, let alone how it works. Many seem to
claim to be effect studies but fail to be so and are, at best, calibration or self-calibration studies.
A way to approach this problem is to look at the opportunities offered by triangulation, for instance with neuropsychological data. It is not our aim to study brain processes during mental activities to find the exact spot where reflection is located.
Neuropsychological evidence, however, can help to validate whether or not an alleged
mental process corresponds with a related brain process (Wegner, 2002). We discuss
this approach in the next section.
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Implications
From the above we can conclude that the concept of reflection can have many different
meanings and interpretations. Is reflection considered thinking? Is it conscious thinking?
Or thinking about consciousness? Consciousness of what (DaSilveira, DeSouza, &
Gomes, 2015)?4 Does reflection occur intentionally and, if it does, to what extent should
we consider it truthful if it concerns only conscious and intentional thinking? How do we
manage self-bias? Is the scope of reflection restricted to actions rather than to thinking?
The objects of reflection, and especially the self as object, are often subject to discussion. Reflection is doubted as a reliable source of representing reality, including one’s
own place in reality. Most of our cognitive processes are inaccessible to consciousness.
Since there are, for now, no means of observing the contents of personal thought independently of thought, the self-reflecting person is trapped in a reflexive paradox. This
includes the psychologist and results in considering reflection to be a state of mind where
attitudes and intentions are invented as explanations of one’s behavior during events or
phases one happened to participate in. It results in a self-constructed story.
Research program on reflection
To overcome the problems of the self-implicated nature of reliable and valid psychological knowledge about reflection, and the “meretriciousness” of reflection, we will now
briefly suggest additional ways to investigate the true nature of reflection. The actual
issues are twofold: (a) does the participant really reflect on his/her focal problem; and (b)
what processes are involved in reflection?
Based on Linschoten’s coupled systems, we suggest an “ideal” research design, consisting of multiple research waves. The first wave involves a basic research design that
refers to coupled system 1. Next, subsequent waves serve to separately validate
Linschoten’s coupling elements X, O, r, m, and E. As such, coupled system 1 is more or
less “quintangulated” to arrive at an ideal design for a research program in which each
separate element is controlled for (Figure 3). For instance, the reflective task or prompt
(x) is compared with a self-reflective task—asking the participant to suggest a relevant
question for him/her to start reflecting on (cf. content validity). Participants’ (O) consequent and unadulterated responses to the reflective and self-reflective tasks are checked
by means of combining intentional verbal responses with unintentional physical
responses (cf. criterion validity). To validate participants’ responses (r) in themselves,
comparisons with “relevant others,” for example, friends and relatives (cf. 360-degree
feedback) as well as between cultures could be helpful. With regard to measurement (m),
combination of multiple methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging ((f)
MRI; e.g., what are the active brain parts), eye-tracking (e.g., selective and first attention), and verbal responses (e.g., self-reports, diaries) could be informative. Finally, the
activities of the researcher or experimenter (E) are validated by testing his/her interpretations and first focus (e.g., eye-tracking of reading (f)MRI results) in relation to other
relevant researchers (cf. inter-encoder or inter-rater reliability).
For time, access, and budget restrictions, a research design containing five waves may
be utopian in itself. Each wave, however, addresses subsequent questions5 that are
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
15
Figure 3. “Ideal” research design in which coupled system 1 is “quintangulated.”
necessary to answer in order to disentangle reflection. Even a triple wave design using
(f)MRI or PET scans can help to avoid some of the pitfalls and biases that impair many
studies on reflection. For instance, being involved in a reflective task, research participants could be shown a photograph expressing a universal emotion. Next, participants’
immediate responses could be traced by measuring a physiological response ((f)MRI),
signalling first attention (eye-tracking), and asking for a comment (interpretation). This
would help researchers detect becoming aware of the activities involved in reasoning
about a certain human emotion. To investigate a self-reflective task would involve
another wave in which participants are invited to provide feedback on their own behavior. For instance, participants could be asked to describe and explain their emotions when
seeing the photograph. Additionally, they could be encouraged to suggest some reflective
questions themselves, which in their mind would help to make sense of the photograph.
Although it is not our aim to find the location of the “organs” of reflection (if they
exist at all), we hypothesize that there are processes involved in reflection that differ
from, for example, “mere” thought or problem-solving. To investigate, two elements
must be observed. One concerns the nature of the “experimental task,” the other the
probable nature of reflection as a Socratic dialogue.
Traditionally, the approach has been to ask the participant to reflect on a certain problem and report the results. Concerning the experimental task, we suggest that the
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Theory & Psychology 00(0)
approach taken long ago by Shepard (1982) and Shepard and Cooper (1986) to present
participants with a binary imagery problem and ask for the right interpretation, can act as
an example. Shepard and Cooper presented their participants briefly with a 3D block
structure, and then briefly with a rotated version of it, or with a rotated and mirrored version. Participants were to answer the question whether or not the second structure was
the mirrored version of the first structure. The experimenter’s measurement was whether
the participant was correct, which led to an unequivocal conclusion: does he/she use
mental imagery effectively or not? Transposing this to the reflection problem would lead
to experiments in which the participants are asked to use reflection to “solve” a problem
with two possible answers, one of which the experimenter knows is right. Similarly,
regarding the task used by Livengood et al. (2010), who presented participants with
mathematical problems from the Cognitive Reflectivity Test developed by Frederick
(2005), it could be argued that this involves not so much reflection, but mere problemsolving or thought. To deal with that, we would like to suggest several comparisons. One
comparison is between (f)MRI scans of participants’ activities while solving mathematical problems from the Cognitive Reflectivity Test and (f)MRI scans of participants’
activities answering the following question: “think of what questions the researcher
should ask you to establish what you are considering when reflecting on a subject of your
own choice.” The latter question is an open question. It prevents the criticism, however,
that participants do not reflect but only solve the problem of what to say when the experimenter asks them to reflect about a specified subject. It is our impression that a question
like this invites true reflection. Additionally, we suspect that the comparison of the (f)
MRI scans of both tasks indicates different brain processes that might be involved in
reflection other than mere thought or problem-solving, thus giving the opportunity to
check on “real” reflective activity.
Though very difficult to realize, another more complicated way to study the phenomenon allows answers to some deeper questions. In the meretricious coupling situation,
the supposed subsystems of experimenter and participant are not independent but coupled systems, as they are in an experimental situation. Actually, experimenter and participant are one and the same person. In philosophical terms, this is the reflection situation
in optima forma. With an open attitude, and with every self-inspired question to ask
oneself, an honest and fair answer is possible. Psychologically speaking, however, there
are many reasons why this will not result in honest and fair answers. The temptations of
self-protecting and self-indulging answers, let alone self-implicating biases and selfbetrayal, are unavoidable. Following the interesting suggestions made by D’Argembeau
et al. (2005), our suggestion is to investigate the involvement of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) in meretricious coupling. That is, the experimenter/participant
should be followed during the whole process (or all phases of the process) involved in
reflection. The reason for this is that, on the one hand, it appears necessary to gain insight
into the reflection process as a whole from self-posed questions to self-given answers
and, on the other hand, to control for self-serving biases. Technical and practical problems provided, we think these are what conceptually seem to be necessary steps. It gives
room for the phenomenologically or philosophically suggested typical features of reflection, while it constrains the experimental situation sufficiently to provide reliable and
valid answers.
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
17
Caveats and conclusions
Reflection on reflection
One caveat that can be made to our suggestions is that reflection has been given many
meanings. As one reviewer of our original manuscript adequately remarked, reflection
and self-reflection should be distinguished. Of course, the reviewer is right. We think,
however, there is no fundamental difference. Both involve the self as the locus or subject
of a reflection as well as the object or focus of the reflection. One could reflect on, say,
the sentence, “Even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand
naked” (Dylan, 1965, 7th stanza, Lines 5–6), but this would only be called reflection if it
involves the self’s own inner experiences with that sentence. If not, it would be called,
perhaps, critical thinking or artistic interpretation. It naturally implies that reflection
always involves a reflecting person’s thoughts and other experiences. “The self” cannot
be the focus of a reflection other than, either, the word self (in which case it is a thought
of a person about a word), or of the self (in which case it is a thought of a person about a
person who happens to have the same identity). The first case is trivial, the second probably impossible.
Blind spot (reflective paradox) of psychology
Another caveat concerns the reflective paradox of psychology, or what could be called
its blind spot. Indeed, as William James identified as “the great snare of the psychologist” (James, 1890, p. 196), it is easy for psychologists to confuse what their participant
thinks with what the psychologist thinks. When I see a hole somewhere under a tree, it is
easier for the psychologist to think that their participant also sees a rat hole, if the psychologist knows about rats and their holes (as many of them seem to do). It is the blind
spot of the psychologist to not realize that his or her participant might just see a rabbit
hole. Again this includes what can happen in reflection research: is it reflection in the eye
of the beholder or in the eye of the psychologist?
Socrates’ slave and Socrates’ self
Having found multiple problems at several levels in studies of reflection, we conclude
that a more thorough understanding of the conceptual problems involved in reflection
is needed. Our analysis suggests that reflection could still be seen as a substitute dialogue with another person. The psychology of reflection might be inspired by methods
used for a century or more in penal law. Asking a person to self-reflect with the possibility that a third person might “fact check” all assertions might help to unravel the
methodological and conceptual knots that psychology is in. It would be of key value
for attaining positive results.
Another inspiration might be found in the way the use of mental imagery is tested by
presenting participants with two-choice questions about 3D structures (Metzler &
Shepard, 1982; Shepard, 1982). It would resemble the Socratic method, though not so
much as a rhetorical device, but as a forced choice designed to check true reflectivity.
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Theory & Psychology 00(0)
A different approach will come from neuropsychology. We do not suggest that reduction of neurological events gives definite answers. Nevertheless, neurological evidence
can help to control for claims about the relationship between behavior and internal intentions, reflected or otherwise.
In general, claims that reflection helps to improve action by learning to better respond
to complex situations could benefit from triangulation, if not quadrangulation or quintangulation, of methods that are insufficient on their own. Reflection as an inner argument
needs anchor points to reality. As in law, stories of what happened (who did what, why
did he do it, is it punishable behavior?) need anchor points for a judge or jury to decide
on prosecution.
Overall, we suppose that reflection is truly Socratic. Superficially, it resembles a dialogue and could be called discursive, as suggested elsewhere (Larrain & Haye, 2012). On
a deeper level, we suggest that reflection resembles the actual content of what Socrates
presented to the docile slave. Socrates gave him rhetorical questions, that is, answers
phrased as questions to which the obedient slave could only answer with a “yes” or,
depending on the question, with a “no.” The slight difference with the “real” Socrates is
that our inner Socrates cannot avoid any demand characteristics (Orne, 1962), and that
our inner slave has a self-interest in the answer.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Linschoten’s Christian name was “Johannes.” In everyday life he liked to be called “Hans,”
which is the usual abbreviated form of “Johannes” in Dutch. In the text we refer to “Hans” and
in the References we use the name Johannes. In his publications he used either “Johannes”
or “Prof. dr. J. Linschoten.” The American translation of his volume on William James, published after his death, however, used “Hans.”
For more information about Linschoten’s study see Van Hezewijk & Stam (2008).
Note that “idols” is used here in the Baconian sense of obstacles facing humans to find truth
about nature. Bacon suggested that idols were the unintended consequence of our language,
of the market, tribe, etc.
We would like to follow the phenomenologist observation that consciousness is not a function
that can be studied in and of itself; consciousness is always about something. We cannot go
into further detail here. The reader could refer to Linschoten’s study of the work of William
James (Linschoten, 1968).
The accompanying research questions may be too simple, but must more or less involve:
x: What is the object of reflection? What initiates the reflection process?
O: What (who) is the subject of reflection?
r: How do (effects of ) reflection manifest themselves?
m: What cues can be taken to refer to the reflection processes? What physical and mental processes and/or effects can be observed? How do we (researchers) define and
Van Seggelen – Damen et al.
19
operationalize reflection? How do researchers cope with the subjectivity and selectivity of
own interpretations?
E: Who controls the spectator (see Davis & Klaes, 2003) who observes reflection by another
subject? Additionally, how do the spectator and the reflecting subject relate to one another?
How do we demarcate the research design, to avoid endless relativity?
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Author biographies
Inge C. M. Van Seggelen – Damen is an assistant professor of Work and Organizational Psychology
at the Open University of the Netherlands. She received her PhD from Organization Studies at
Tilburg University. Her research interests include reflection and reflective questioning, rumination, career and talent management, and self-organization.
René Van Hezewijk is an emeritus professor of Psychology, and emeritus dean of the Faculty of
Psychology and Educational Sciences at the Open University of the Netherlands. He has published
on a variety of subjects in the theory and history of psychology, evolutionary psychology, and
theories of perception and cognition. He has an interest in matters of philosophy of science in relation to psychology, especially where the metaphysical cores and heuristics of its research programs
are concerned, into historical backgrounds of the role of evolutionary thinking in psychology, and
into the relation of mind to culture. He was co-editor of three volumes of proceedings of ISTP
conferences He was the Editor of the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Psychology, and the Editor of the
Netherlands Journal of Psychology. He was co-president Europe as well as Treasurer of the ISTP
in the 1990s. With Henderikus J. Stam as a co-author, he is currently writing a biography of
Johannes Linschoten.
Anne S. Helsdingen works as a project manager for massive open online courses at the Center for
Digital Education at EPFL in Lausanne. Anne has a PhD in educational psychology. She has 20
years of experience in human factors research, training and training development, academic teaching and (research) management.
Iwan G. J. H. Wopereis is a lecturer and PhD candidate in educational sciences at the Open
University of the Netherlands. His research interests are in instructional design, information literacy, and creativity.