When you are talking to yourself, is anybody listening? The relationship between inner speech, self-awareness, wellbeing, and multiple aspects of self-regulation
Open accessAbstract
This correlational study of 433 adults (260 college students and 173 Mechanical-Turk workers) examined how the selfreported functions and experienced phenomenology of habitual inner speech (action guidance, problem solving/search, memory/attention regulation, emotion regulation, evaluate/motivate, other voices, inner dialogue, condensed speech) relate to self-awareness (self-reflection and controlled sense-of-self in the moment), potentially influence high-level aspects of self-regulation (self-preoccupation, self-compassion, wisdom, and the moral foundations of individualizing and binding), and psychological wellbeing. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed partial and mutual mediation between inner speech variables and self-awareness variables. Self-awareness was more consistently associated with self-regulation. The only inner speech variables associated with self-regulation in a beneficial way were memory/attention regulation (for wisdom about the self and the individualizing moral foundation) and evaluate/motivate (for the binding moral foundation). These findings suggest that, with the exception just described, inner speech (with the present dependent variables, and in adults) is easiest understood as an epiphenomenon.
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Inner speech can transition flexibly between condensed and expanded forms and, under conditions of stress and cognitive challenge, be re-externalized as overt self-talk or private speech.
“One implication is that IS can transition flexibly between condensed and expanded forms and, under conditions of stress and cognitive challenge, be re-externalized as overt self-talk or private speech [77].”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [77]
The passage labeled Abstract (page unavailable) reports a proposal that condensed inner speech might expand under stress or during a particularly challenging task. The Additional information appendix includes questionnaire items about thinking aloud during difficult tasks or when upset, but neither passage says inner speech transitions into overt self-talk or private speech. The cited paper therefore supports the expansion claim, not the asserted re-externalization. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSelf-awareness is of more value than inner speech in explaining self-regulation.
“Analysis of IS phenomenology through questionnaires has shown that self-awareness is of more value than IS in explaining self-regulation, thus questioning the importance of IS in explaining this aspect of behavior [78].”
From Inner speech as language process and cognitive tool (2023) · cites this paper as [78]
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References 58 · Cited by 18
Research works printed but not linked: 20
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- Authors
- Verhaeghen, P., & Mirabito, G.
- Affiliations
- Georgia Institute of Technology (US)
- Venue
- International Journal of Personality Psychology
- Publisher
- University of Groningen Press
- Published
- 2021-08-10
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 8-24
- ISSN
- 2451-9243 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3191712444
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 1
- FWCI
- 3.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Personality Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- inner speech, self-awareness, self-regulation, psychological well-being, self-compassion, wisdom, moral foundations, emotion regulation, self-reflection
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