"Am I normal?"
That's a question many of us ask ourselves, literally. Speaking to yourself is extremely common, and many of us are doing it without even realizing. But our internal monologues aren't just empty words – they provide insight about our relationship with ourselves, according to psychology experts.
This is true now more than ever as people dialogue with AI chatbots candidly about our fears and worries, a completely new kind of self-talk that psychology researchers are only beginning to understand.
Here's why we talk to ourselves and when to know it's going too far.
Why do we talk to ourselves?
We've all been there: In the car, an empty conference room or a bathroom stall, we utter out loud or in our minds unfiltered thoughts and feelings. Maybe we're rehearsing a tough conversation or processing an interaction that just happened.
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Talking to ourselves helps regulate our emotions and clarify what we want to say to others, according to Ethan Kross, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.
"Our 'inner voice' lets us keep information active in our minds ... simulate and plan for the future, motivate and control yourself, and weave together narratives that help us understand who we are," Kross says. This could have a biological component, too, he explains.
"There does seem to be a stigma surrounding talking to ourselves (out loud in particular)," Kross says. "This is likely due to the fact that talking out loud to oneself is a feature of certain clinical disorders. The important thing to remember is that our inner voice, and the ability to harness it through self-talk is an important tool of the human mind that aids us in a variety of ways."
