Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Inner voice and emotion

Inner voice and emotion:
How does the inner voice influence emotion?

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Overview

Scenario

Figure 1. Cliffside Hiking Trail, may cause increase in negative inner voice

As you cautiously shuffle across the sharp edges of the cliffside, the wind howls around you. "This is one of your biggest fears for a reason, what if you slip? You won't come back!" cries out a worried voice in your head, filled with anxiety. This stops you for a moment, making you reconsider if this is the right choice. Before another, softer, voice enters the conversation. "You can hear your friends just up ahead, cheering and waiting for you! This is about overcoming your fears, pushing past worries!" The anxiety fades as this gives you a sense of bravery for a moment, stepping across the last big gap to reach the other side.

As you arrive safely onto safe solid ground and let out a sigh of relief, you have a moment to reflect and realise how these voices played a key role in such an event. They weren't just random thoughts, but a dialogue between your mind and body to assess risks, give you motivation, and guide you safely to the other side. While your inner voice might not always get it right, this experience reminded you that it will always be present to help make decisions, manage feelings, and navigate life.

The inner voice is also known as self-talk, inner speech, or intrapersonal communication, is a constant presence for most people during waking consciousness. However, questions continue to be asked, and further research is conducted as to what may vary for each person with their inner voice, and what might cause these differences.

Inner voices develop and change over time in a variety of ways that are not still fully understood even by those that study it. Many different theories compete to define the inner voice, but as a general concept the inner voice is seen as "...a form of inner dialogue, which enables them to engage in high-level cognition, including self-control, self-attention and self-regulation” (Chella & Pipitone, 2020, as cited in Nedergaard & Lupyan, (2024).

This chapter investigates the detailed inner workings of the inner voice, exploring and explaining its various complexities and variations. This will be done by focusing on how an individual's inner voice develops through the various stages of life, what influences a voice to form and function in different ways for each person, and how these differences can cause each voice to present itself uniquely. It will also examine the different types of voices and characteristics that may describe them, and how this may also impact the dynamics of one's mind. Most importantly, this chapter will use these points to further explore and introduce concepts regarding the overall role that an innver voice can have on emotion, whether that be positive or negative, why it would have these kinds of impacts, and consider how an individual can reshape their inner voice or self-talk for better emotional regulation by using various approaches and techniques through therapy or other self help based forms of improvement.

Focus questions:

What is the inner voice and how does it develop?
What are the different kinds of inner voices, and how do they influence emotion differently?
What is the role/relationship of the inner voice in emotion?
How can people influence or change this relationship?/Can you modify inner voice to improve this relationship?

Understanding the inner voice

The inner voice is a dynamic and complex aspect of an individuals cognitive development, which begins from early in childhood and continues to evolve and adapt throughout various stages of life. It acts as the internal dialogue that will help one more easily make sense of the world around them, reflect on and process experiences, and manage their emotions. However, as stated, this development happens throughout life and as such is not immediate. With the different stages also focusing on the development of varying skills. As an individual grows older, their inner voice will increase in complexity and ability alongside them. The stages for an inner voice to become more sophisticated, influences that may impact development, and ensuring these stages can be reached are all important points in an individuals development.

Development of inner voice

Several theories address how the inner voice functions and develops with most however agreeing it originates in and starts primary development within an individual's childhood. Recent studies have highlighted the neuro-development in children’s inner voice, with them showing how the dorsal language stream supports the development of inner speech. With later reviews of the dorsal stream in adults supporting that there are parallels between neuro-anatomical and psychological development of inner-speech. It is this that suggests maturation of dorsal language is highly related to development of a child’s inner voice. (Geva & Fernyhough, 2019, as cited in Brinthaupt et al, 2020)

Lev Vygotsky's (1987) theory of cognitive development states that an inner voice developing is a result of developmental processes in co-operative activity with an adult. (Viacheslav, et al. 2023)

This fits alongside the general key stages and timeline of a usual inner voices development throughout early childhood to adolescence, as seen below in Table 1:

Table 1. Stages of inner voice development
Development Stage/Age	Main developments within stage
Early Childhood (2-3 Years Old)	2-3 Years old is the earliest that a child may start developing inner speech, around the same time that one may also begin using attempting to communicate verbally with language. However it will more often not start to fully show until the "Middle Childhood" stage.
Middle Childhood (4-7 Years old)	Between the ages of 4-7 is when a child's inner speech will likely start to take a more solid and functional structure. As it may also start to be used to the individuals benefit for problem solving, or to manage other self-issues such as behaviour or emotion. Studies have also found that the brain/voice makes large improvements with phonoligically similar items, sounds and words around this time (the phonological similarity effect), whilst those any younger struggled (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015) which helped to further prove this as being the primary time of initial development.
Later Childhood (7-12 Years old)	As a child themself matures they will gain more cognitive control and their inner voice will mature alongside them. It is during this late part of childhood, and prior to early teen year age, that the dorsal language stream continues to and has majority of its primary development. This allows for better processing of language, and more complex and increased self reflection (Geva & Fernyhough, 2019, as cited in Brinthaupt et al, 2020). It is around this time that children will use their inner voice to reflect more often on prior events or memories, and self-regulate their emotions better.
Adolescence (13-18 Years Old)	In the adolescent years of 13-18 an individuals inner voice will continue to become more complex as the rest of the brain continues to develop. Similarly to the later childhood stage, it will often play a significant role in self-reflection, decision making and emotion management, as well as the forming of one's identity and self perception.

Although many people assume that how they hear their inner monologue must be how others must hear their own, an inner speech can vary greatly from person to person in the both the ways, and degree to which it is experienced.

Types and variations of inner voices

An inner voice can differ greatly between individuals, both in function and form. For some, an inner voice can be described as a very clear, easily-understandable and verbal inner monologue, whereas for others it may be a more non-verbal, abstract based process. Other traits within these voices can also greatly vary, such as the volume or tone, with some individuals inner voices being more emotional or conversational.

There can also be smaller variations between inner voices and their role, for example in tasks such as reading books, notes and or messages, where it has been found that some may hear more than one voice whilst reading such things, whilst others may not even hear one (Villhauer, 2016).

Reflective and pre-reflective inner voices

A way in which inner voices can be characterised is as reflective or pre-reflective, with reflective inner voices being characterised by the main trait of self-awareness. With individuals consciously engaging in internal dialogue to to further explore or process thoughts, emotions and decisions (Fossa, 2022). Whilst pre-reflective inner voices found to be less conscious experiences, still influencing much of how an individual reacts, but more so instinctively.

The influence of inner voice on emotion

There have many questions regarding the relationship between inner voice and the management of an individuals emotions, starting from the basic question of if ones inner voice or self-talk has notable impact on their emotions to begin with. This was very easily found to be the case early on with research such as that of Vygotsky, and as such theories and questions moved to ask more complex questions, such as why an inner voice impacts emotion, how it does so, and to what extent this is a conscious choice of an individual.

The role of inner voice for emotion

There have been many theories that present the idea forward that although an inner voice may not be needed for simply having thoughts of one kind or another, a person does rely on their inner voice as a primary means to be able to internally reflect on and be conscious of those thoughts, (Clark, 1998, as cited in Langland‐Hassan, (2021). With this considered, the inner voice is a central component and vital in how emotions and processed and understood internally by an individual.

Positive and negative influences of the inner voice on emotion

Figure 2. LeBron James

Research has found that talking to oneself, whether that is aloud in private (private speech) or to yourself silently (inner speech) has links to multiple positive cognitive, emotional and behavioural consequences (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015, as cited in Morin, Duhnych, & Racy (2018). However, more recent research suggests that it may be less so a matter of whether or not speaking to yourself is positive or not, as that has been found to have generally positive outcomes, but it is more an issue of how one speaks to themselves. As such the question had been raised as to whether the language people use in self-talk or introspection can impact how they may feel, think or react to social stress. The studies tackling this question found that those using non-first person pronouns and one's own name in place of first-person pronouns during introspection having an easier time self-distancing. (Kross, et al., 2014). This sort of inner thought process being seen for example in 2010 with professional basketball player; LeBron James (See Figure 2), when making a decision regarding choice of future team. After ultimately choosing to move to the larger and higher-paying team, he stated "One thing I didn't want to do was make an emotional decision. I wanted to do what's best for LeBron James and to do what makes LeBron James happy." (Greenberg, 2010, as cited in Kross, et al., 2014).

While such subtle changes in speech may be seen as insignificant, their impact on the decision making process can be large. The positive benefits and impacts of self-talk, such as increased motivation and better control of emotion should not be overlooked, in the same way that the possible negative impacts, like higher amounts of anxiety, self-criticism, depression, and other similar issues, should not be ignored.

Shaping and modifying the inner voice

Even many very early perspectives on the inner voice or internal monologue have agreed that a human does not fully control themself. (Spinoza, 1667, as cited in Fossa, P., Pérez, R. M., & Marcotti, C. M. (2020). With emotions being seen as modifications to the body, either increasing or decreasing its ability to perform. When an emotion does so to the body, it was argued that it simultaneously and likewise impacts the mind. Because of this it was appropriately said that in the same way a body condition can't be controlled unless a greater bodily condition meets it, an emotion cannot be controlled unless an opposite or stronger emotion is to oppose it.

The ability to change how the inner voice is impacting emotions, and therefore other potential aspects of an individuals life such as their emotions, decision making and self reflection, is something that has been heavily sought after in research and within many different contexts. Results from various studies in past indicated clear benefits of positive, motivational and instructional based self-talk for performance (Tod, et al., 2011), however early studies from the time contrasted to what may have been expected, with negative self-talk not greatly impeding an individuals performance. As mentioned in prior sections, the way an inner voice speaks to the individual can greatly affect its outcomes, and this is something that can be utilized if handled well. This has been greatly brought to use within sports to attempt and improve possible performance. With the core concept from researchers that an inner voice, and as such the self-talk accompanying it can either be primarily positive or negative, or instructional or motivational in nature, as the characteristic suggests, a positive inner voice will aid performance whereas a negative inner voice will not (Zinsser et al., 2010 as cited in Tod, et al., 2011).

Figure 3. A woman reflecting on her own thoughts, which may be confronting when down.

In modern psychological practice and research, now that the possible benefits of a well managed and positive inner voice and consistently beneficial self-talk are known, being able to further find ways to reshape and improve possibly detremental inner-speech for those who may be struggling to establish or maintain these traits to help and create better overall mental well-being becomes a key focus. This is not to say that prior techniques, approaches and methods for psychology and counselling do not share the same goal, but that once the complexities of how such a goal can be a achieved are much more clearly understood, it can be more easily reached with identifiable steps.

This is where already well established and applicable approaches such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be utilised, CBT is considered to be one of the most effective treatments for individuals struggling with mental health such as anxiety or depression issues in current day, and its efficacy is equally well established and respected (Stewart & Chambless, 2009) helping individuals achieve this by identifying and challenging possible negative thoughts, to help and replace them with more positive thoughts. In the context of using CBT for inner voice, the technique known as cognitive restructuring is heavily used. Cognitive restructuring shares its core focuses with CBT, and focuses on the evaluation, challenging and finally, modification of a client's dysfunctional belief (Ciharova, et al., 2021). This may help and allow and individual to identify those negative thought patterns, in this context most likely negative self-talk (See Figure 3), to then realistically find ways to replace these thoughts using goals set for ones self fitting their own capabilities.

CBT is not the only effective treatment for inner-voice related problems, with many also supporting the use of other treatments such as meditation and mindfulness based strategies surrounding the use of breathing to focus on other parts of their body and separate from the mind (Fradkin, 2021), or some involving journalling and writing down the individuals thoughts to help and reflect.

Possible improvement in research

Conclusion

The inner voice is a significant part of how any and all individuals process, reflect on, and respond to their emotions. It serves the role of being a vital internal dialogue that can support one's emotional well-being and provide immense benefits to life, but in the same way can bring equally negative results and downsides, primarily based on the quality of a person's self-talk and how it is able to be managed. While is it usually an automatic process, increasing awareness of how an inner voice develops, forms, changes and functions can help lead to far better emotional regulation. In the same way that understanding the development of an inner voice can help manage emotional regulation, having an understanding of the role that it plays and the large amounts of functions it may perform can also help an individual greatly. The use of techniques such as cognitive restructuring within CBT can help people identify negative thoughts and thinking, to then more easily and effectively replace them with beneficial and positive self-talk. Hopefully with an increased amount of research in future focusing more directly on the relationship of and interaction between the inner voice and emotion, techniques and approaches to therapy for the inner voice can be improved even further to tackle possible issues with a more well informed view. Another key point to always remember is that the importance of an inner voice is shared, the differences between each persons are not. Making sure to remember that each inner voice and how it works for each person is unique, and that this will impact each person differently, is paramount.

References

Alderson-Day, B., & Fernyhough, C. (2015). Inner speech: development, cognitive functions, phenomenology, and neurobiology. Psychological Bulletin, 141(5), 931–965. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000021

Brinthaupt, T. M., Morin, A., Brinthaupt, T. M., Morin, A., & Puchalska-Wasyl, M. M. (2020). Exploring the nature, content, and frequency of intrapersonal communication. Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88966-271-5

Ciharova, M., Furukawa, T. A., Efthimiou, O., Karyotaki, E., Miguel, C., Noma, H., Cipriani, A., Riper, H., & Cuijpers, P. (2021). Cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation and cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of adult depression: a network meta-analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89(6), 563–574. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000654

Fossa, P., Pérez, R. M., & Marcotti, C. M. (2020). The relationship between the inner speech and emotions: revisiting the study of passions in psychology. Human Arenas: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Psychology, Culture, and Meaning, 3(2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42087-019-00079-5

Fossa, P. (Ed.). (2022). New perspectives on inner speech. Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Fradkin, C. (2021). Karen Bluth: The self-compassionate teen: mindfulness and compassion skills to conquer your critical inner voice: Instant Help Books, Oakland, CA, 2020, 192 pp, ISBN 9781684035274. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(3), 593–596. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01368-x

Kross, E., Bruehlman-Senecal, E., Park, J., Burson, A., Dougherty, A., Shablack, H., Bremner, R., Moser, J., & Ayduk, O. (2014). Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(2), 304–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035173

Langland‐Hassan, P. (2021). Inner speech. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science, 12(2), e1544-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1544

Morin, A., Duhnych, C., & Racy, F. (2018). Self‐reported inner speech use in university students. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 32(3), 376–382. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3404

Nedergaard, J. S. K., & Lupyan, G. (2024). Not everybody has an inner voice: behavioral consequences of anendophasia. Psychological Science, 35(7), 780–797. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976241243004

Stewart, R. E., & Chambless, D. L. (2009). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult anxiety disorders in clinical practice: A meta-analysis of effectiveness studies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77(4), 595–606. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016032

Tod, D., Hardy, J., & Oliver, E. (2011). Effects of self-talk: A systematic review. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 33(5), 666–687. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.33.5.666

Viacheslav, I., Vartanov, A., Bueva, A., & Bronov, O. (2023). The emotional component of inner speech: A pilot exploratory fMRI study. Brain and Cognition, 165, 105939–105939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2022.105939

Vilhauer, R. P. (2016). Inner reading voices: An overlooked form of inner speech. Psychosis, 8(1), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/17522439.2015.1028972

External links

A deaf and blind mind: What it's like to have no visual imagination and no inner voice? (ABC News)
Finding Your Inner Voice: Karol Ward at TEDxTimesSquare (YouTube)
Not everyone has an inner voice streaming through their head (Scientific American, 2024)
What the voice inside your head says about you (BBC)
Why your most important relationship is with your inner voice (The Guardian)