Varieties of Inner Speech and Creative Potential

Abstract

Inner speaking, the covert talking that goes on inside a person's mind, can shape creative thought. How the phenomenological properties and quality of inner speaking correlate with a person's creative potential, however, is an open scientific problem. To explore this, participants ( n = 267) filled in the revised Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire and the revised Launay Slade Hallucination Scale (auditory subscale), and performed three tests of creative potential: one divergent (Alternative Uses Test) and two convergent thinking tests (Compound Remote Associates Test, short Hagen Matrices Test). The results showed that a tendency to engage in condensed and evaluative/ critical inner speaking negatively correlated with convergent thinking ability; and the results pointed toward a potential negative correlation of auditory hallucination proneness with divergent and convergent thinking ability. No evidence was found for a correlation of the dialogicality, imagining of others’ voices, or positive/regulatory aspect of the participants day-to-day inner speech, with creative potential. Herewith, the presented study contributes novel insight into the relationship between the varieties of inner speech and creative potential.

Inner Speaking and Uncertainty during Idea Generation

“…If we want to make public transport more attractive, for example, information about roller coaster rides is more likely affords generating creative ideas than merely relying on information about known public transport services; and when the roller coaster theme is exhausted, or information with more potential for creativity comes into view, the cycle repeats. Inner speaking, here, can be seen as a form of action that both characterizes and influences this process of idea generation (de Rooij, 2022b; Hellerstein, 2009).…”

“…While many aspects of inner speaking can characterize and affect idea generation, such as the role of dialogue or how condensed inner speaking is (de Rooij, 2022b), the role of inner speaking in self‐regulation might be particularly impactful. Self‐regulation broadly entails the strategies that people use to adaptively influence their thinking, emotional, and motivational states (Ivcevic & Nusbaum, 2017), and explains a large portion of the variance in creative activity and achievement (Zielińska, Forthmann, Lebuda, & Karwowski, 2023).…”

“…During idea generation, increased certainty might therefore influence the frequency of different types of self‐regulatory inner speech, including self‐reinforcing, self‐critical, self‐managing, and socially assessing inner speech (Brinthaupt et al., 2009). These types of inner speech can subsequently influence how creative a person's ideas are (evaluated; Daugherty, 1993; de Rooij, 2022b; Hellerstein, 2009).…”

“…Indeed, self‐critical and self‐reinforcing private and inner speaking correlates negatively and positively with performance during divergent thinking (Daugherty, 1993; cf. de Rooij, 2022b) and convergent thinking tests (de Rooij, 2022b). Assuming that idea generation is driven by predictions about the certainty that information provides for generating original and useful ideas (Christensen & Ball, 2017; Schwartenbeck et al., 2013), it is likely that idea generation tends to be characterized by an increased frequency of self‐reinforcing rather than self‐critical inner speaking (cf.…”

The psychometric properties of the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire-Revised in Hebrew

“…More recently, Racy et al (2022) found positive correlations between the VISQ-R and self-talk frequency, inner experiences such as inner speaking and seeing, use of private speech for self-regulatory and self-reflection purposes, and with subjective perceived frequency of inner speech content and function. In a study that examined the relationship between inner speech and creativity ( de Rooij, 2022 ), the Condensed and Evaluative/Critical subscales of the VISQ-R were found to be negatively correlated with some aspects of creativity, while other subscales did not show any correlations with creative potential. Taken together, these findings show the convergent and divergent validity of the VISQ-R.…”