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

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.

Our motivations for inner speech are many and varied.

We are so intimate with our thoughts that we never really stop to pay close attention to our wandering minds. When we do look at our thoughts, they turn out to be more interesting than we imagined.

There are five categories of inner experiences: