What is Truth? Sociology and Metacognition

Sociology uses tools that identify the social factors that contribute to who a person is, materially, and the reasons or motivations for their actions. That is, if one were to study the life and environment in which one is raised, and if they factor the effects those stimuli have on one’s upbringing, one can better understand who one is. I say this more directly to my students: “make a list of the things you value and believe to be True. Now, think about your upbringing and make a connection to how your society conditioned you and what you believe to be True about yourself and your beliefs”. Some teachers could spend weeks doing these sort of exercises, and they would be beneficial. This sort of thought process requires metacognitive functioning and, as a person who thinks most people in our society are painfully unaware of themselves, I would say this is a valuable exercise. Of course, I don’t have all the time in the world to do this, but normally, I give students a writing assignment asking them to begin the process of learning who they are and why they are that way. Of course, as I will show later, who they are based on social conditioning may not be anything like who their Authentic Self is.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Atlanta, Georgia. This church is just a three minute walk from my front yard where I stated really thinking about who I was. In retrospect, I have learned more about myself in relationship with Jesus Christ than in all those hours in my front yard or anywhere. (photo P. Smith) 

            I tell them the story of the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in high school. Almost every night that summer was spent sitting in parents’ front yard, in my puke-yellow sling chair. I listened to music on my brother’s Walkman. I played songs on my cheap guitar that I bought in 9^th grade because playing guitar was going to be “my thing” in high school. I journaled in my own Holden Caulfield way about how everyone I went to school with were “phonies.” I pondered two questions: “Why do people do what they know is wrong?” and “Why do I believe the way that I believe?” I never really answered either of these questions. I had just finished my freshman year in high school, and I had witnessed drugs, drinking, cheating, and all sorts of behavior that I was certain everyone knew was destructive and self-serving. I sat in that ridiculous chair for hours trying to figure out why these “friends” of mine did these things. But I judged myself, too! I tried to figure out why I felt so badly about what my classmates were up to on the weekends. I do not pretend to know the answer to either of these questions. But later I would learn that I was practicing metacognition. I was thinking about how I think. I consider it the most productive summer I have ever had. By the end of the summer, I had developed habits of taking time to myself to just think and think about how I was thinking. This would serve me well later on in life, especially as I tried to figure out what to do with the seizures and how to make important decisions in my life. Students really do appreciate the vulnerability of their teachers. If teachers can share their own high school drama and successes, it can help students feel comfortable in the classroom. There have been times when I have had students come to be after this talk and ask me if I had any answers to the first question. Teenagers know on some level the badness of so many “normal” actions, but they do not know why people persist. This is exactly what Sociology does, in a way; it looks at behaviors of people, in general, and seeks to understand why groups of people act certain ways. The simple answer, I have given my students as to why people do things that they know are wrong is: to belong. The desire to be in relationship drives us to do things we may not want to. This desire to be in relationship, of course, is evidence that we are made to be in relationship. In Catholic theology, we simply say that we are made to look like God who is relationship.