After completing a therapy session, a clinician reviews outcomes and adjusts the plan for future patients. This illustrates which form of reflection?

• A. Reflection in action
• B. Reflection on action
• C. Metacognition
• D. Anchoring bias

Answer: (B)

Reflection-on-action occurs when a clinician looks back after a clinical encounter to evaluate what happened, learn from it, and adjust plans for future patients. In this scenario, the clinician completes a therapy session, reviews the outcomes, and changes the plan for upcoming clients. That post-encounter analysis is exactly what reflection-on-action describes, as opposed to thinking and adapting in the moment (reflection-in-action). Metacognition is the broader awareness of one’s own thinking processes, which can support reflection, but the situation is specifically about reviewing and improving after the session. Anchoring bias is a cognitive bias where initial information unduly influences judgments, which isn’t the issue here.