![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
Self-talk has fascinated scholars for decades but has received little systematic research attention. Three studies examined the conditions under which people talk to themselves as if they are another person, indicating a splitting or fragmentation of the self. Fragmented self-talk, defined by the use of the second person, You, and the imperative, was specifically expected to arise in contexts requiring explicit self-control. Results showed that fragmented self-talk was most prevalent in response to situations requiring direct behavior regulation, such as negative events (Study 1), experiences of autonomy (Study 2), and action as opposed to behavior preparation or behavior evaluation (Study 3). Therefore, people refer to themselves as You and command themselves as if they are another person in situations requiring conscious self-guidance. The implications of these findings for behavior change are discussed.
References
|
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5, 323–370. doi:10.1037//1089-2680.5.4.323 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Brinthaupt, T. M., Hein, M. B., Kramer, T. E. (2009). The self-talk scale: Development, factor analysis, and validation. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 82–92. doi:10.1080/00223890802484498 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Cloonan, T. F. (1971). Experiential and behavioral aspects of decision-making. In Giorgi, A., Fisher, W. F., Von Eckartsberg, R. (Eds.), Duquesne studies in phenomenological psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 112–131). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Deci, E. L., Eghrari, H., Patrick, B. C., Leone, D. (1994). Facilitating internalization: The self-determination theory perspective. Journal of Personality, 62, 119–142. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Fast, L., Funder, D. (2010). Gender differences in the correlates of self-referent word use: Authority, entitlement, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality, 78, 313–348. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00617.x Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M. F., Buss, A. H. (1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 522–527. doi:10.1037/h0076760 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Fernyhough, C., Fradley, E. (2005). Private speech on an executive task: Relations with task difficulty and task performance. Cognitive Development, 20, 103–120. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2004.11.002 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Fields, C . (2002). Why do we talk to ourselves? Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 14, 255–272. doi:10.1080/09528130110112303 Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Freud, S. (1927). The ego and the Id. London, England: Hogarth Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Hardy, J . (2006). Speaking clearly: A critical review of the self-talk literature. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 7, 81–97. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2005.04.002 Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hart, W., Albarracín, D. (2009). What I was doing vs. what I did: Verb aspect influences memory and future actions. Psychological Science, 20, 238–244. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02277.x Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Zourbanos, N., Galanis, E., Theodorakis, Y. (2011). Self-talk and sports performance: A meta-analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 348–356. doi:10.1177/1745691611413136 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Heavey, C. L., Hurlburt, R. T. (2008). The phenomena of inner experience. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 798–810. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.12.006 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Longe, O., Maratos, F. A., Gilbert, P., Evans, G., Volker, F., Rockliff, H., Rippon, G. (2010). Having a word with yourself: Neural correlates of self-criticism and self-reassurance. NeuroImage, 49, 1849–1856. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.09.019 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
McGuire, P. K., Silbersweig, D. A., Murray, R. M., David, A. S., Frackowiak, R. S., Frith, C. D. (1996). Functional anatomy of inner speech and auditory verbal imagery. Psychological Medicine, 26, 29–38. Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Meichenbaum, D. (1977). Cognitive behavior modification: An integrative approach. New York, NY: Plenum Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Oliver, E., Markland, D., Hardy, J., Petherick, C. (2008). The effects of autonomy-supportive versus controlling environments on self-talk. Motivation and Emotion, 32, 200–212. doi:10.1007/s11031-008-9097-x Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Oppenheim, G. M., Dell, G. S. (2010). Motor movement matters: The flexible abstractness of inner speech. Memory & Cognition, 38, 1147–1160. doi:10.3758/MC.38.8.1147 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Rozin, P., Royzman, E. B. (2001). Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 296–320. doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Ryan, R. M., Deci, E. L. (2006). Self-regulation and the problem of human autonomy: Does psychology need choice, self-determination, and will? Journal of Personality, 74, 1557–1585. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00420.x Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | ISI | |
|
Senay, I., Albarracín, D., Noguchi, K. (2010). Motivating goal-directed behavior through introspective self-talk: The role of the interrogative form of simple future tense. Psychological Science, 21, 499–504. doi:10.1177/0956797610364751 Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Tullett, A. M., Inzlicht, M. (2010). The voice of self-control: Blocking the inner voice increases impulsive responding. Acta Psychologica, 135, 252–256. doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.07.008 Google Scholar | Crossref | Medline | |
|
Vicente, A., Manrique, F. M. (2011). Inner speech: Nature and functions. Philosophy Compass, 6, 209–219. doi:10.1111/j.1747-9991.2010.00369.x Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Vygotsky, L. S . (1987). Thinking and speech. In Rieber, R. W., Carton, A. S. (Eds.), The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky (Vol. 1, pp. 37–285). New York, NY: Plenum (Original work published 1934). Google Scholar | |
|
Winsler, A. (2009). Still talking to ourselves after all these years: A review of current research on private speech. In Winsler, A., Fernyhough, C., Montero, I. (Eds.), Private speech, executive functioning, and the development of verbal self-regulation (pp. 3–41). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Winsler, A., Feder, A., Way, E. L., Manfra, L. (2006). Maternal beliefs concerning young children’s private speech. Infant and Child Development, 15, 403–420. doi:10.1002/icd.467 Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Wood, J. W., Perunovic, E. W. Q., Lee, J. W. (2009). Positive self-statements: Power for some, peril for others. Psychological Science, 20, 860–866. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02370.x Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI |
