Benefits Of Talking To Yourself
Our inner speech
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First published: 01. Feb.2025
Overview
As children, we learned to talk out loud to ourselves during play. Later, we spoke to ourselves like adults did with us, to guide us as we learned tasks, and to regulate our behavior, and as we learned tasks. This is universal, across all languages and cultures.
As adults, our inner speech is still with us, helping us cope with our daily lives, hopefully a positive voice that motivates us, or a mild critic that prods us to accept challenges and guides us.
In this article we will discuss Self-Talk and six benefits of talking to ourselvelves: it improves cognition, lowers anxiety, and stress, relieves loneliness, helps you find things, and improves self-esteem & well-being.
References and Further Reading
(1) Latinjak, A. T., Morin, A., Brinthaupt, T. M., Hardy, J., Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Kendall, P. C., Neck, C., Oliver, E. J., Puchalska-Wasyl, M. M., Tovares, A. V., & Winsler, A., (2023). Self-Talk: An Interdisciplinary Review and Transdisciplinary Model. Review of General Psychology, 27(4), 355-386. https://doi.org/10.1177/10892680231170263
(2) Moser, J.S., Dougherty, A., Mattson, W.I. et al., (2017). Third-person self-talk facilitates emotion regulation without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI. Sci Rep 7, 4519 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04047-3
(3) Zell E, Warriner AB, Albarracin D., (2012). Splitting of the Mind: When the You I Talk to is Me and Needs Commands. Soc Psychol Personal Sci. 2012 Sep 1;3(5):549-555. doi: 10.1177/1948550611430164. PMID: 23766867; PMCID: PMC3678767
(4) Groff, Sarah Joy, (2024). Perspective-Taking, Self-Talk, and Social Connection: A Phenomenological Study of How Individual Practices Reduce Loneliness During the Menopausal Years. Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5915.
(5) Reichl, C., Schneider, J. F., & Spinath, F. M., (2013). Relation of self-talk frequency to loneliness, need to belong, and health in German adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(2), 241–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.09.003
(6) Antonis Hatzigeorgiadis, Nikos Zourbanos, Sofia Mpoumpaki, Yannis Theodorakis, (2009). Mechanisms underlying the self-talk–performance relationship: The effects of motivational self-talk on self-confidence and anxiety. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Vol 10:1, pp 186-192, ISSN 1469-0292, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2008.07.009
(7) Lupyan, G., and Swingley, D., (2012). Self-directed speech affects visual search performance. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(6), 1068–1085. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2011.647039
(8) Alexander James Kirkham, Julian Michael Breeze, Paloma Marί-Beffa, (2012). The impact of verbal instructions on goal-directed behaviour. Acta Psychologica, Vol 139:1, pp 212-219, ISSN 0001-6918, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.09.016
(9) Alderson-Day B, Fernyhough C., (2015). Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology. Psychol Bull. 2015 Sep;141(5):931-65. doi: 10.1037/bul0000021. Epub 2015 May 25. PMID: 26011789; PMCID: PMC4538954
(10) Kross, E., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., Park, J., Burson, A., Dougherty, A., Shablack, H., Bremner, R., Moser, J., & Ayduk, O., (2014). Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(2), 304–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035173
(11) Walter N, Nikoleizig L, Alfermann D., (2019). Effects of Self-Talk Training on Competitive Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, Volitional Skills, and Performance: An Intervention Study with Junior Sub-Elite Athletes. Sports. 2019; 7(6):148. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7060148
About this Article
Benefits Of Talking To Yourself, A. Whittall
©2025 Fit-and-Well.com. First Published: 01.Feb.2025. Update scheduled for 01.Feb.2028. https://www.fit-and-well.com/wellness/benefits-of-talking-to-yourself.html
Tags: Self Talk, mood, anxiety, depression, happiness, stress, self-esteem, concentration, loneliness, positivity