Self-reflection is defined as which of the following?

Self-reflection is defined as which of the following?

• A. Where one can contemplate one's own mental process and/or past actions in an effort to improve
• B. Emotional disturbance that may occur following exposure to an exceptionally stressful event
• C. The redirection of a helping professional's feeling onto his or her clients
• D. None of the above

Answer: (A)

Self-reflection involves metacognition—looking at your own thinking, decisions, and actions with an eye toward improvement. By pausing to examine how you arrived at judgments or handled situations, you can identify what worked, what didn’t, and any biases that affected you. That directly matches the idea of contemplating one’s own mental processes and past actions in order to improve. It isn’t about emotional disturbance after a stressful event, which describes a trauma reaction, nor about redirecting your feelings onto clients, which is countertransference. So this description best captures self-reflection.

Self-reflection involves metacognition—looking at your own thinking, decisions, and actions with an eye toward improvement. By pausing to examine how you arrived at judgments or handled situations, you can identify what worked, what didn’t, and any biases that affected you. That directly matches the idea of contemplating one’s own mental processes and past actions in order to improve. It isn’t about emotional disturbance after a stressful event, which describes a trauma reaction, nor about redirecting your feelings onto clients, which is countertransference. So this description best captures self-reflection.