Answer to Question 1
The critical thinking skill of self-regulation involves monitoring one's cognitive activities, the elements used in those activities, and the results educed, particularly by applying skills in analysis, and evaluation to one's own inferential judgments with a view toward questioning, confirming, validating, or correcting either one's reasoning or one's results. The subskills associated with self-regulation are self-monitoring and self-correcting.
Answer to Question 2
The goal of Step 4 is to evaluate the relevant information, use it to inform your understanding of the problem at hand, and to come to a tentative initial decision about what to believe or what to do. Even in contexts of uncertainty and risk, it is often necessary to find the courage to make a decision and stick with it.