basic system of the human mind lets us keep verbal information active for short periods of time. Your inner voice is part of what we call our verbal working memory system. If you go to the grocery store, you walk down the aisle and you think to yourself, “Hey, what am I supposed to buy?” and you go down the list-”eggs, cheese, milk”-that’s your inner voice. If I were to present you with a number, like a phone number, and I’d ask you, “Hey, just repeat this in your head,” say, 2090501, you do that silently. So when scientists use the term inner voice, what we’re talking about is our ability to silently use words, to reflect on different features of our daily experience. So let’s start with this concept of the inner voice, which is where I like to start things. Kross: Well, before I give you the definition, I just want to normalize your experience for you, and to let you know that if you have a very active inner voice-you’re not alone, many people do. And so it was so awesome to get your book, Chatter, to help break it down. I had never read about this concept, though, in any formality.

I have a very loud inner monologue, my subvocal self-talk sometimes sounds very, very vocal. Thompson: So one part of my daily life that is sometimes an annoyance and sometimes an extraordinary help is the fact that I talk to myself constantly. And so sometimes takes us to studying the brain, we focus on people’s behavior a lot, and we also do big intervention studies to see whether the insights we glean from the science that we do can actually be translated to help people manage their emotions effectively in their daily lives.

And what I mean by nuts and bolts is I try to understand the mechanics that underlie our ability or, in many cases, inability to manage our emotional lives. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at You can find us on TikTok at Kross summarizes some of the different ways and reasons people use their “inner voice.”ĭerek Thompson: So to start, why don’t you say a bit about what it is that you study at the University of Michigan?Įthan Kross: So in a nutshell, I study the nuts and bolts that explain how people can manage their emotions when they want to manage their emotions. Psychologist Ethan Kross joins the show to explain his work on emotion regulation, his book Chatter on the science of negative self-talk, why the ability to have an inner monologue can be a kind of superpower, and how to harness it. Today’s episode is about the science of self-talk-and how our relationship to our own inner monologue can become toxic.

Ethan kross the voice in your head