Situating and relating epistemological beliefs into metacognition: studies on beliefs about knowledge and knowing

The purpose of this Special Issue is to contribute to a better understanding of the nature and role of individual representations about knowledge and knowing, namely epistemic/ epistemological beliefs, as well as of their relations with other important psychological constructs within the realm of metacognition, especially metacognitive self-regulation in learning processes. The Special Issue starts with a theoretical paper. It is then followed by four empirical studies which deal with one or more of these questions. From all contributions it emerges that epistemic beliefs are situated within a metacognitive architecture of our mind. Moreover, all the empirical papers examine epistemic beliefs in relation to other constructs that include metacognitive aspects, mainly self-regulation in learning. We hope that the articles of this Special Issue will inspire future studies for a more indepth investigation into the complex but fascinating field of personal beliefs about knowledge and knowing.