The effect of second-person self-talk on performance and motivation in Japanese individuals

Talking to oneself using the second-person pronoun ["you" has been shown to enhance performance and autonomous motivation in English speakers. However, there is a lack of evidence on whether it can be replicated for speakers of other languages, such as Japanese, in which the grammatical su...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-06, Vol.19 (6), p.e0305251
Main Authors: Magata, Yugo, Tanaka, Ayumi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Analysis
Asian People - psychology
Biology and Life Sciences
Communication
East Asian People
Emotions
Female
Health aspects
Humans
Influence
Intrinsic motivation
Japan
Language
Learning
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Methods
Motivation
People and Places
Performance assessment
Personal Autonomy
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Regulations
Self awareness
Self-determination theory (Psychology)
Self-talk
Social Sciences
Task Performance and Analysis
Young Adult
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Summary:Talking to oneself using the second-person pronoun ["you" has been shown to enhance performance and autonomous motivation in English speakers. However, there is a lack of evidence on whether it can be replicated for speakers of other languages, such as Japanese, in which the grammatical subject is usually omitted in daily conversation. Based on self-determination theory, the present study examined the effects of second-person self-talk for a sample of Japanese individuals on task performance, intrinsic motivation, and three styles of extrinsically motivated regulations: identified, introjected, and external. We randomly assigned 411 undergraduate students to either an experimental group (second-person self-talk, first-person self-talk, and non-subject self-talk) or a control group. An anagram task was used to assess performance. No significant difference was found between the four groups in intrinsic motivation or performance. For extrinsic regulations, the results showed that first-person self-talk led to higher external regulation than non-subject self-talk and the control group. The possible reason for contradictory findings with our hypothesis and implications have been discussed.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0305251