Types of Inner Dialogues and Functions of Self-Talk: Comparisons and Implications

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Piotr K. Oleś¹  Thomas M. Brinthaupt²  Rachel Dier²  Dominika Polak¹ 

[1] Institute of Psychology, The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin;Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, United States

关键词: inner dialogue;    intrapersonal communication;    self-talk;    inner speech;    identity;    self-regulation;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00227

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Intrapersonal communication occurs in several modes including inner dialogue and self-talk. The Dialogical Self Theory ( Hermans, 1996 ) postulates a polyphonic self that is comprised of a multiplicity of inner voices. Internal dialogical activity implies an exchange of thoughts or ideas between at least two so-called “I-positions” representing specific points of view. Among the functions served by self-talk are self-criticism, self-reinforcement, self-management, and social assessment ( Brinthaupt et al., 2009 ). This paper explores the relationships among different types of internal dialogues and self-talk functions. Participants included college students from Poland ( n = 181) and the United States ( n = 119) who completed two multidimensional measures of inner dialogue and self-talk. Results indicated moderately strong relationships between inner dialogue types and self-talk functions, suggesting that there is a significant overlap between the two modes of communication. We discuss several implications of these findings for exploring similarities and differences among varieties of intrapersonal communication.

【 授权许可】

CC BY