The relationship of self-talk frequency to communication apprehension and public speaking anxiety

Individual Differences in Frequency of Inner Speech: Differential Relations with Cognitive and Non-cognitive Factors

“…With respect to anxiety, higher levels of anxiety were associated with higher frequency of self-critical but with lower frequency of self-reinforcing inner speech in the current study. These results replicate previous studies conducted using the STS (Brinthaupt et al, 2009, 2015; Khodayarifard et al, 2014) and are also consistent with research within the applied psychology area indicating that self-talk frequency may reflect worries and anxieties in competitive sports (Conroy and Metzler, 2004; Hatzigeorgiadis et al, 2009) or in communication apprehension and public speaking (Shi et al, 2015). The results with respect to impulsivity are in line with previous findings that high frequency of self-talk is associated with obsessive-compulsive tendencies (Brinthaupt et al, 2009), and provide additional evidence that inner speech frequency is associated with various behavioral problems (Alderson-Day and Fernyhough, 2015a).…”

“…The results regarding the relation between anxiety and inner speech frequency based on the Chinese sample echo those reported in Western samples (e.g., Calvete et al, 2005; Brinthaupt et al, 2009, 2015; Shi et al, 2015), indicating cross-culture generalizability of the relationship. The result that impulsive action and impulsive thinking related differently to distinct types of inner speech may provide valuable guidance for implementing psychological interventions aimed at diminishing maladaptive behaviors.…”

“…Various theoretical accounts of inner speech and a large body of empirical research have focused on the roles or functions of inner speech in cognitive development and self-regulations (Vygotsky, 1987; Al-Namlah et al, 2006), in working memory capacity (Baddeley et al, 1984, 2001) and also in self-awareness and the acquisition of self-information (Morin, 2005, 2009). There are also a number of studies conducted within the applied and clinical settings where inner speech shows the potential to be an integral component of psychological interventions (e.g., Hardy, 2006; Williams et al, 2012; Shi et al, 2015). Despite these theoretical and empirical advances, relatively less is known about individual differences in the frequency of inner speech use during daily situations, and about the covarying factors that may explain why people exhibit individual differences in the frequency of inner speech use.…”

“…Previous studies that have searched for factors associated with the frequency of inner speech use have mostly focused on psychopathological factors such as mood, depression, and anxiety (Calvete et al, 2005; Hatzigeorgiadis et al, 2009; McCarthy-Jones and Fernyhough, 2011; Reichl et al, 2013; Khodayarifard et al, 2014; Shi et al, 2015). For example, Calvete et al (2005) found that depression and anxiety scores were strongly related to the negative contents of self-talk such as anxious and depressive self-talk.…”

The Efficacy of Hypnotherapy for Ego Strengthening and Negative Self-Talk in Female Heads of Households

“…Studies have indicated that using positive self-talk and reducing negative self-talk will lead to beneficial outcomes such as increased self-esteem (Clore & Gaynor, 2006), decreased negative emotions (Calvete et al, 2005), decreased anxiety (Shi, Brinthaupt, & McCree, 2015), increased self-awareness (Morin, 1993), and improved cognitive functions (Alderson-Day & Fernyhough, 2015).…”