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Cited by 183Social Representations and IdentityChild and Animal Learning DevelopmentPsychology of Development and Education

Still talking to ourselves after all these years: a review of current research on private speech

Winsler, Adam·2009·Private Speech, Executive Functioning, and the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation
DOI 10.1017/cbo9780511581533.003
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Abstract

Developmental relations between thought, language, and behavior have proved to be perennially interesting to psychologists, cognitive scientists, and philosophers (Nelson, 1996; Pinker, 1994; Vygotsky, 1934/1987). To what extent is language separate from thinking? How does language development influence cognitive development? To what extent is language development dependent upon cognitive growth? How is language used by children as a tool for guiding one's thinking, behavior, or problem solving? One phenomenon that falls at the intersection of many such discussions is children's private speech – children's overt and sometimes partially covert (whispered) self-talk while they are working on something or playing. Children's private speech provides an empirical window for exploring many interesting questions about mind, behavior, and language, especially those having to do with language serving a role in the development of children's executive function or self-regulation. Private speech is typically defined as overt, audible speech that is not addressed to another person (Winsler, Fernyhough, McClaren, & Way, 2004). Inner speech, on the other hand, refers to fully internal, silent verbal thought – that is, speech fully inside one's head. Research on children's private speech, largely that which originated from within the Vygotskian theoretical tradition, has been summarized and reviewed before on two occasions – first, in Zivin's (1979a) volume entitled The Development of Self-R…

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Authors
Winsler, A.
Affiliations
George Mason University (US)
Corresponding author
Winsler, Adam
ORCID
Winsler, Adam
Venue
Private Speech, Executive Functioning, and the Development of Verbal Self-Regulation
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Published
2009-04-27
Pages
3-41
DOI
10.1017/cbo9780511581533.003
OpenAlex
W2468435666
Cited by
183
References
14
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 7
FWCI
11.16
Type
book chapter
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 93 d)
Locations
Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Psychology of Development and Education
Keywords
private speech, self-talk, inner speech, self-regulation, executive function, language development, cognitive development, covert speech, sociocultural theory, children's thinking

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