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

• Published in: Frontiers in psychology 2020-03, Vol.11, p.227-227
• Main Authors: Oleś, Piotr K, Brinthaupt, Thomas M, Dier, Rachel, Polak, Dominika
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: identity; inner dialogue; inner speech; intrapersonal communication; Psychology; self-regulation; self-talk
• ISSN: 1664-1078; 1664-1078
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00227

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 ( = 181) and the United States ( = 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.