Self reflection and cognitive abilities

“It is my position that critical reflection and reflective discourse assume a certain level of cognitive development, most likely something beyond Piaget’s fourth stage of formal operations” – Sharan Merriam, “The Role of Cognitive Development in Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory”

This struck me as an incredibly elitist statement to make. It seemed to me geared maybe to those living in trailer parks or something like that, while those in the educated class have higher evolved reflective abilities. The author goes on to discuss that Paiget’s higher levels are mostly achieved only by graduate students and above. It struck me that this could be more about how the reflection is measured in more academic terms than the actual ability.

There is a Garrison Keillor quote that goes something like this “Intelligence is as useful to you as four-wheel drive – it just gets you lost in more remote places.” While self reflection is mainly a cognitive endeavor, it seems like there are ways to go about it in other ways, such as through a spiritual belief that oes not have to correlate directly with the level of an individual’s personal academic achievements.

I think of highly educated people I’ve met who can still manage to make incredible messes out of their life, repeating patterns and never quite figuring out where they got it all wrong. I’ve also met a grandmother who had custody of her granddaughter and lived in section 8 housing. Both parents were "missing" (likely in jail). Would this grandmother score high on the GRE? Probably not – but there was a wisdom and likely hard self reflection that led to her to get her granddaughter off the street and enroll her in after school programs that would build the girl’s self esteem. I work with a man with a high school diploma who has spent 20+ years working on the factory floor and he seems to be fairly adept at self reflection, while I think of a former supervisor of mine with a masters and a high paying job that was always living a life full of drama and mistakes. Perhaps my experience of these individuals is unique – but I would have to disagree with Merriam’s take on self reflective abilities.