Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M8233

Reflective Dialogue

Reflective Dialogue
Learn & MetacognitionmediumLearning Science
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Updated 2026-08-11

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INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Reflective dialogue is a conversation in which the parties jointly examine their own assumptions, reasoning processes, and mental models rather than exchanging conclusions. Its premise is that a conclusion is only as good as the process that produced it, and that the process is invisible to its holder until another person's questions expose it, which makes the dialogue a diagnostic instrument rather than a debate.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Pick the right partner: choose someone who will challenge rather than agree. - Ask don't argue: use questions rather than rebuttals. - Write down what shifts: record the assumption that got exposed.

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Reasoning flaws are transparent from outside and opaque from inside, because the reasoner's attention sits on the content while the structure runs unexamined beneath it. A second person's questions interrupt that opacity, and the interruption is what allows the assumption to be inspected rather than merely held.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    doi.orghttps://doi.org/10.1080/095183998236944ZH · Explicit
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