What the voice inside your head says about you

Most of us are aware of the internal dialogue – rather than a monologue - where we talk to someone inside our head. Often, that other voice is another aspect of ourselves.

There are four kinds of inner voices: the faithful friend, the ambivalent parent, the proud rival, and the helpless child. We might adopt these different roles to help ourselves get through situations.

Not everyone is convinced that people think accurately. Philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel argues that people are prone to considerable introspective error under any condition.

Further studies revealed that what people say they are thinking about does match up with what is really going on.

Our motivations for inner speech are many and varied.

Students in a study were found talking to themselves about everything from school to their emotions, other people, and themselves while they were doing everyday tasks.

Inner speech plays an important role in self-regulation behavior, problem-solving, critical thinking, and future thinking.

There's also growing evidence that inner speech is useful for self-reflection. Learning to tune in to your thoughts is a way to communicate with yourself using a meaningful structure.