Family Learning Center

Crazy?

Dr. Pamela Cooper, M.A., M.B.A., PhD.

Educational Diagnostician

Often, we hear that talking aloud to yourself or thinking aloud means that you are crazy; not true. Talking to yourself is also called private speech. Thinking aloud is the act of voicing thoughts as they occur; often to gather self-feedback, forming thoughts, or to clarify understanding. Positive speech is a positive sign of learning, growth, and intelligence. Think of times you asked someone what they said just to find out they were only talking to themselves.

It is natural and common to verbalize an internal monologue while engaging with tasks and processing thoughts and emotions. Young children use private speech to improve control over a task, with concentration, and performance. Thinking aloud is internalized into thoughts as a person becomes an adult; except reverting to private speech when a new, stressful, or complicated concept is presented.

The American Psychological Association (APA) conducted a study of private speech in adults; over 80% of study participants talked to themselves during the trail six tasks and 100% used private speech during at least one of the tasks. A second study of adolescents showed that those using private speech during an exam got the highest test scores.

There are two ways of talking to yourself: Overt talk is self-directed speech that others can hear. Covert talk is speech that occurs internally that no-one else can hear, for example, by mouthing speech rather than speaking aloud.

There are three categories of self-talk that differ depending on the tone of voice.

• Positive self-talk encourages and reinforces positive beliefs about a person that can. decrease anxiety and improve concentration and focus.
• Negative self-talk involves critical and discouraging dialog.
• Neutral self-talk is not significantly positive or negative. People may use it to give instructions to themselves rather than reinforcing or encouraging a particular belief or emotion.

Self-talk can help regulate and process emotions, i.e., if a person self-talks about feeling nervous or angry, it could help by:

• directing focus to improve their nerves or anger
• controlling their emotions
• thinking about how to respond to their feelings at that moment

Recent APA research found that people referring to themselves in the third person could distance themselves from their distressing feelings and process, regulate, and analyze these emotions to help reduce anxiety. Engaging in self-talk may also decrease anxiety after stressful events. Adolescents are often called out for self-talking in the classroom. Should self-talk interfere with a person’s life, there are ways to reduce this behavior.

• Write down self-talk in a journal. Writing is a way to transfer thoughts from their mind, organize thought processes, and manage stress and anxiety. Journaling can help identify everyday situations that cause them to self-talk and become aware of triggers.
•  Practice shifting self-talk to internal thoughts as they occur or mouthing speech instead of vocalizing.
• Seeking professional help when self-talking is constantly negative and self-criticized. In these situations, the person should speak with a mental health professional to find ways to improve self-esteem and adjust self-talk to focus on being more positive and encouraging.

Private speech and thinking aloud are a valuable idiom for processing thoughts and ideas. It is a spontaneous and natural way of exploring and organizing thoughts.

• It helps in expressing and organizing thoughts.
• It is common in informal, formal settings, and creative processes.
• It is helpful in group discussions and with brainstorming.

An advantage of talking to yourself is that you know at least somebody is listening.