Ask Yahoo!
Ask Home - Yahoo! - Help

 Ask Yahoo!
Monday July 10, 2006 Previous | Next
Dear Yahoo!:
Do most people talk to themselves when they're alone?
Carl
Grafton, Wisconsin
Dear Carl:
We asked ourselves this question and our inner voice answered, "Sure they do." We're normal (almost) and if we do, everyone else must too. Do we need more proof? A voice tells us "Yes."

Movies and TV shows have led us to believe only "nut cases" talk to themselves. However, according to the Self-Therapy site, everyone talks to themselves, and positive self-talk is good. Negative self-talk is not. This site states that most critical self-talk originates from other people, and you should think of the person by name (maybe with a strong adjective) as the source of the negative self-talk.

In an article titled "Watch Your Mouth," Maggie Guseman states that your inner voice may be saying you're dumb, ugly, or worthless when, in fact, it isn't true. This is the voice of a society that wants everyone to be smart, beautiful, and rich, and it's keeping you from being you. The site offers a quiz so you can examine how your inner voice talks to you.

Like almost everything else, not everyone agrees that talking to yourself is good. There's even a course called "Stop Talking to Yourself" on four CDs or cassettes.

So what's the conclusion? Apparently some experts believe self-talk can be good, and others think we should all shut up. And yes, most of us do talk to ourselves.

 
Related Links
·Is sign language for the deaf universal?
·What's the longest word in the English language?
More Questions About
·Society & Culture > Languages
·Yahoo! Answers - Languages
Get Ask Your Way
·Most Popular
·Yahoo! Toolbar
· View RSS Feed  add to My Yahoo!
Email this page -    Save to del.icio.us    Save to My Web    Digg This

Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy

All information available through or in connection with Ask Yahoo! is informational only and provided "as is" without warranties, representations, or guarantees of any kind. Yahoo! disclaims any and all implied warranties respecting Ask Yahoo!. Use of Ask Yahoo! is entirely at your own risk and is not a substitute for conducting your own research.