Question Do you have an inner dialogue?

[ZedClampet]

I'm proof-reading a player-made English translation of a game, but the player who translated it isn't a native speaker, and I'm very confused about a few things at the moment. According to what Google is telling me, 30 to 50 percent of people do a lot of their thinking via inner dialogue, and the rest use other means like visualization. Basically everything I think I'm reading in this broken English seems to incorrect, but being incorrect is apparently essential to moving the story forward. Overall, I'm a little baffled and wishing I hadn't volunteered to do this.

Anyway, the poll isn't critical, but maybe the conversation surrounding the poll will enlighten me to a few things.

 

[Frindis]

For the most part inner dialogue, but...sometimes I talk to the mirror: https://forums.pcgamer.com/threads/coconut-monkey-cornerclub.5741/post-405153.

 

[Colif]

what, I can't hear you over myself...

I do tend to talk to myself as well. So does mum, which can make it hard for both of us to know who they talking to. I will have to ask her sometimes, others I assume she is talking to self and then find she on phone.

its frightening to know some people don't.

Its funny how you assume everyone else is like you, until you find they not.

 

[Johnway]

yes i talk to myself a lot. it helps me think and process things. It annoys people around me sometimes. But i work alone most of the time so it works out. I would argue "do you want someone who listens or someone who doesn't answer back?"

that said , i do wonder whether talking to myself actually is because i'm starved for attention as there is no one to talk to. So i talk to myself.

 

[Colif]

Most of the time I am talking to something else, like my PC is doing something dumb. I am glad it can't answer back.

 

[BeardyHat]

I am in my own head most of the time, very rarely vocalizing unless I'm singing a dumb song to myself.

I'm pretty sure the rest of my family, wife, kids are external dialogues, which is why I don't often hang out with my friends on Discord; I've been listening to people talk all day and I just need some quiet for awhile so I can hear my own interior voice.

 

[January's Ghost]

Um, both. I will definitely have inner dialog when thinking about interactions with someone else, be it real or imaginary, but when completing tasks like washing the dishes or solving a puzzle it's through imagery.

An example of an imaginary conversation was one day while relaxing in a hot bath after a stressful day of work I, in my head, got into an argument with Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. I don't remember what the topic was about(most likely something stupid) but I'm pretty sure I lost.

Specifically though, I don't believe I think words while doing stuff normally.

Of course our brains do a lot of things unconsciously and who knows...maybe my brain talks to itself like in the movie Inside Out and I just don't know it.

 

[ZedClampet]

Um, both. I will definitely have inner dialog when thinking about interactions with someone else, be it real or imaginary, but when completing tasks like washing the dishes or solving a puzzle it's through imagery.

An example of an imaginary conversation was one day while relaxing in a hot bath after a stressful day of work I, in my head, got into an argument with Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. I don't remember what the topic was about(most likely something stupid) but I'm pretty sure I lost.

Specifically though, I don't believe I think words while doing stuff normally.

Of course our brains do a lot of things unconsciously and who knows...maybe my brain talks to itself like in the movie Inside Out and I just don't know it.

Well anyone can concentrate on, or lose themselves in, a task or whatever and stop talking to themselves. It doesn't have to be non-stop chatter. The inner dialogue thing is hard to pin down, but if you only do it while imagining a conversation with someone else, then you are probably right about not being an inner dialogue person.

Different studies seem to have defined it differently.

 

[Pifanjr]

I don't think in words or images as much as just concepts. For example, if I want to know what time it is, I'm not internally asking myself "what time is it?" or "what is the current time?", but I think the general concept behind those sentences, along with a general idea of what a clock looks like and where I might find one.

 

[Colif]

I tend not to think about how I think as well, it just happens 🤔
Most of the time its asking questions.
Brain goes blank as it is in the spotlight
It doesn't want to admit anything 😀

 

[ZedClampet]

I've read a few more things on this this morning, and I didn't realize this was a contentious issue. To me it's just two different ways to do the same thing. But that doesn't seem to be the predominant feeling. I've only read one or two objective articles, the rest are taking sides.

The people who don't have a running inner dialogue think the people who do are mentally unbalanced, and the people who do have an inner dialogue think those who don't are stupid and probably staring off into the middle distance and drooling.

Even professionals are taking sides. One psychologist's blog that I read was the worst and made not having an inner dialogue sound like having a mental disability and suggested that they couldn't think critically, were more susceptible to conspiracy theories, etc. How does that even make sense? All people with an inner dialogue are doing is converting the information coming from their subconscious into verbal form, and the people who don't have an inner dialogue just convert their subconscious thoughts into other things. It's basically the same exact thing.

The one negative that I read and initially agreed with was from another psychologist who stated that having an inner dialogue could lead to depression and anxiety if there was a lot a negative dialogue. But then I realized this was just more nonsense. It makes it sound like people who don't have an inner dialogue don't have negative thoughts, which I'm pretty certain is untrue.

 

[Colif]

inner vs images, introvert vs extravert.... so many differences, no wonder we need so many different forms of entertainment.

Its possible that the two sides can never understand each other.. as if you used to thinking one way, accepting that others don't can be a struggle... it happens in LOTS of things

 

[Zloth]

Seems like a mix to me. Taking the clock example, I don't really think "hmm, what time is it" most of the time. I'll just wonder what time it is. Then I look at the clock and... it gets tricky. Is there still a long time left until whatever-I'm-waiting-for? I might think "plenty" at most. If it's getting closer, though, then it gets into an inner dialog, figuring out just how much time I have left. If it's past time, then I'll jump to some explicative, and then start doing a dialog figuring out just how badly I screwed up.

So, I guess it depends on how much complex thought is needed.

P.S. When doing math, I find it's a big help to actually say the inner dialog out loud. Sometimes things that sound good in my head are obviously wrong when it comes in through the ears.