3 ms·

I just watched a video a couple days ago that questioned why we have an internal voice, and why it is (outside of schizophrenia etc) always directly related to

by ksaj 5y ago

I just watched a video a couple days ago that questioned why we have an internal voice, and why it is (outside of schizophrenia etc) always directly related to how we perceive our own physical voice. ie: it never has a different accent, pitch, etc. unless intentionally thinking of someone else. The presenter mentioned that our self-talk is nearly always critical, occasionally congratulatory, and that depression and related conditions make it more invasive. They trace at least some of it back to childhood, when you are being trained and receiving corrections by the adults around you. We talk to ourselves that same way, which is why it tends to be so critical. There's more to it than that, but I'm just relating the part about your critical self-thoughts.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
Sounds legit, I know when being self critical that I sound like my father, who was like that to me when I was younger. On the other hand, being hard on one's self makes sense to me, since no one is more invested in me than me.
coolgeek 5y ago
> The presenter mentioned that our self-talk is nearly always critical I don't doubt that this is the case for (at least) some people. But my internal monologue is only occasionally critical (and only occasionally congratulatory). My internal monologue is instead almost always neutral - task-focused, observational, problem-solving... (And fwiw, my childhood wasn't anywhere close to ideal, though it was far from terrible. Average isn't the right word. But I don't know what is the right word.) Even if you restrict the subset of thinking just to self-evaluation, my focus is: - 20% on where I am - 70% on how to get where I want to be - 10% on how I got where I am (e.g. self-criticism) Again, I understand that I'm an anecdote in a sea of data. But the "nearly always critical" has my hackles up
- ksaj 5y ago
  The article spoke of exactly that - the entire study was based on anecdotal information, since there is no way to know for sure what is actually going on inside another person's head. Their only solid point was that the voice in our head reads to us and talks to us in a similar fashion to what a child receives from adults during their formative years. But they even admit to not being able to tell even how often this is the case. Interesting, but admittedly weak evidence, essentially. It seems there are a lot of studies out there on why we have an internal voice, why we have it, etc.

by ksaj 5y ago

AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago

Sounds legit, I know when being self critical that I sound like my father, who was like that to me when I was younger. On the other hand, being hard on one's self makes sense to me, since no one is more invested in me than me.

coolgeek 5y ago

> The presenter mentioned that our self-talk is nearly always critical I don't doubt that this is the case for (at least) some people. But my internal monologue is only occasionally critical (and only occasionally congratulatory). My internal monologue is instead almost always neutral - task-focused, observational, problem-solving... (And fwiw, my childhood wasn't anywhere close to ideal, though it was far from terrible. Average isn't the right word. But I don't know what is the right word.) Even if you restrict the subset of thinking just to self-evaluation, my focus is: - 20% on where I am - 70% on how to get where I want to be - 10% on how I got where I am (e.g. self-criticism) Again, I understand that I'm an anecdote in a sea of data. But the "nearly always critical" has my hackles up

ksaj 5y ago
The article spoke of exactly that - the entire study was based on anecdotal information, since there is no way to know for sure what is actually going on inside another person's head. Their only solid point was that the voice in our head reads to us and talks to us in a similar fashion to what a child receives from adults during their formative years. But they even admit to not being able to tell even how often this is the case. Interesting, but admittedly weak evidence, essentially. It seems there are a lot of studies out there on why we have an internal voice, why we have it, etc.