Do you have an inner monologue

[Huntn]

Indeed, my friend. You are tastefully well read. One of my all time favorites is by Coleridge.

I went though a period of classical reading about 3-4 decades ago and quite enjoyed it. I have categorized classical as anything from the 19th century back, but if I include the first half of the 20th Century that expands my library substantially.

Today I can remember several authors I enjoyed Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Alexandre Dumas. I could be reminded of others.
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I bet their inner voice told them that so the loony mobile would not show up to take them to the happy place
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I talk to myself every time I need and expert opinion in the matter. ..........

That would be you developing an opinion.

Which reminds me of a Tom Cruise movie I just watched, War of the Worlds where Tom Cruise’s character makes a joke. Something to the effect of: My brother and I are geniuses, between us there is nothing we don’t know. When he is asked what is the capital of Argentina (I think) by his daughter, he says (paraphrased) my brother knows that one.

 

[jkcerda]

I went though a period of classical reading about 3-4 decades ago and quite enjoyed it. I have categorized classical as anything from the 19th century back, but if I include the first half of the 20th Century that expands my library substantially.

Today I can remember several authors I enjoyed Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Alexandre Dumas. I could be reminded of others.
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That would be you developing an opinion.

since I am married an opinion in my head is the only one I am allowed to have

 

[zachlegomaniac]

I do for sure! Whenever I sit down to meditate I hear it almost immediately. Then I focus on my breath and the sensations of the body. Then the monologue begins again. Then I redirect my attention to the breath. Then the monologue begins again and it goes on like that for a long time!

When I reach enlightenment in a few months I hope for it to pass for good.
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I'd love to get a bettter understanding of the construction processes behind interior monologues of multilingual people who grow up equally at ease in two or more languages. It has seemed to me as though their choice of not only words but the timing of shifts in languages may shed a little light on who they are or may become besides just "multilingual".

An example from my own childhood: two boys I knew well then, who were fluent in English and Spanish from birth, tended when speaking to each other to respond in whichever language one or the other had launched the conversation. They were brothers. One grew up to become a social worker, the other a small business owner. At work or at home, they both always spoke in the language in which they were first being addressed by their particular family member, client or customer.

But their little sister as a child had often paused for just a nano-beat in mid sentence --almost impatiently, the way a kid might when conversing with someone and in the distance suddenly hearing "Sara, time for dinner!"-- and her next word or next phrase might be in the other language. Sometimes then though she'd immediately shift back to the original language -- and all this in the presence of her brothers or other bilingual Spanish-English speakers in her hearing. She ended up as a poet and translator. If there were ever occupations meant for careful choosers of words, those are two of them.

I always found that contrast in how the kids spoke and their choices of careers just fascinating. So I've wondered sometimes what the interior monologue of a polyglot is really like, i.e. whether not just a "conversation" but also a debate over how to conduct it, even in privacy of one's own mind.

In this vein: I studied a foreign language at university and I asked my professor when I would know I was finally fluent. She told me once I dreamed in that language. I took this to mean that at the point I dreamt in the foreign language it would have integrated itself into my subconscious. I always found that an interesting reply on her part.

 

[Huntn]

I do for sure! Whenever I sit down to meditate I hear it almost immediately. Then I focus on my breath and the sensations of the body. Then the monologue begins again. Then I redirect my attention to the breath. Then the monologue begins again and it goes on like that for a long time!

When I reach enlightenment in a few months I hope for it to pass for good.

When I went though my dedicated no-**** meditating period, a time span of about 6 months, this was a time during those sessions when besides possibly a mantra, zero words went through my head, just the sound of my breathing and focused on the light show behind my eyelids.

 

[Gregg2]

Word for word what I was thinking.

Same here, but I had another comma in there.
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Really annoying when you're trying to fall asleep. I read a tip to slowly start counting backwards from 100 to force yourself to only think about that. It actually does make my inner monologue shut up!

Yes, but it doesn't need to be that. Focusing on any one thing has the same effect for me.

 

[TheJollyHatter]

It is your brain basically turning thoughts into words as you work through your life. As I said in my previous post, it does not happen for every thought, just some applications.

Question, when you read a book or any type written word, are you saying that there is no voice, even the most barely perceptible voice reading the words in your head? For myself this is especially important when I am composing a reply like this one to make sure it is composed the way I intend it to be.

In some long involved writing, I will read what I’ve written out loud, because sometimes when I read it in my head, I skip over or miss important punctuation errors.

And for books that I read, the really good ones, the words are accompanied by a visualization as if I am watching a movie...in my head.

For those of you with inner monologues, try reading and tell me if you can read a sentence without hearing it being pronounced in your head. I’m trying to do this as I type and so far no luck.

When I read, the words are thoughts not a voice. The only time I have to make a voice is when it is either really complicated or if I am really tired. I then have to consciously think in words but even that doesn't work sonetimes and I have to say the words for them to sink in.

It's not that I can't think in words, it is that I have to make a concious effort to do so. As I type this...the words come from my mind straight to my fingers typing them in...and I read them at the same time that I type them, which is how I know what I'm writing is correct etc. How do you guys read? Do you have to sound out each sentence in your head, and then turn that into thoughts? I just bypass the reading in my head bit it seems.
I'm actually an author myself and my girlfriend struggles to get her thoughts down on paper. I wonder if this has something to do with my ability to write fluidly. When I write a chapter, I see a scenario (almost a movie playing in my head) and then I write that scenario. I don't think words, they just write themselves. Only in complicated parts do I have to stop and conciously think about things.
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Really annoying when you're trying to fall asleep. I read a tip to slowly start counting backwards from 100 to force yourself to only think about that. It actually does make my inner monologue shut up!

This is fascinating. My girlfriend has always asked how I can fall asleep so soon when she lies awake for ages.
Now I've discovered that she (and a lot of people it seems) has voices in her head wittering on, then it is no surprise she can't sleep.
Once I've decided to go to sleep, I switch my mind off, close my eyes and I'm asleep in seconds.
How do you guys live like you do? It must be a nightmare...I'm so glad I don't have your problem.
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Sometimes, that inner voice can deliver the exact same message - at different times - in a number of strikingly different tones:

1. That wasn't especially clever, now, was it? (Somewhat sarcastic but rather resigned).

2. Now, that was pretty stupid. (A statement of fact).

3. 10 out of 10 for sheer, surpassing, intelligence. (Seriously sarcastic).

Whaaaaaaaaaat? That is what you hear in your head? That's bizarre.
If I have done something daft then I just know that I have done something daft...I don't have voices telling me that I have...I'm so freaked out people hear them. I thought it was only schizophrenics or Family Guy characters that heard them.

 

[TheJollyHatter]

Something I'm wondering is if you guys write things down whilst reading what you have previously written? When I write I am re-reading the previous few words or lines so that I know what I'm writing is correct and flowing. If you have to say the words you are writing in your head then can you not read at the same time?

 

[Scepticalscribe]

When I read, the words are thoughts not a voice. The only time I have to make a voice is when it is either really complicated or if I am really tired. I then have to consciously think in words but even that doesn't work sonetimes and I have to say the words for them to sink in.

It's not that I can't think in words, it is that I have to make a concious effort to do so. As I type this...the words come from my mind straight to my fingers typing them in...and I read them at the same time that I type them, which is how I know what I'm writing is correct etc. How do you guys read? Do you have to sound out each sentence in your head, and then turn that into thoughts? I just bypass the reading in my head bit it seems.
I'm actually an author myself and my girlfriend struggles to get her thoughts down on paper. I wonder if this has something to do with my ability to write fluidly. When I write a chapter, I see a scenario (almost a movie playing in my head) and then I write that scenario. I don't think words, they just write themselves. Only in complicated parts do I have to stop and conciously think about things.

You can be a writer - even a published author (I've written history books) and have an inner monologue.

And written words can flow, effortlessly, with or without, an inner monologue.

And writing fluidly, (or fluently) with or without an inner monologue has (in my experience) little to do with whether you can visualise what you are writing.

When reading, you simply immerse yourself, or lose yourself, in whatever you are reading; you don't sound out each sentence, although you might comment, stepping back, that that was an excellent point, or this argument is missing the point, as you read.

This is fascinating. My girlfriend has always asked how I can fall asleep so soon when she lies awake for ages.
Now I've discovered that she (and a lot of people it seems) has voices in her head wittering on, then it is no surprise she can't sleep.
Once I've decided to go to sleep, I switch my mind off, close my eyes and I'm asleep in seconds.
How do you guys live like you do? It must be a nightmare...I'm so glad I don't have your problem.

The inner monologue, or voice, does not prevent immediate - or instant - sleep on nights when you are exhausted or excessively tired.

I have an 'inner monologue", and yet, I can sleep at a minute's notice, at times.

Whaaaaaaaaaat? That is what you hear in your head? That's bizarre.
If I have done something daft then I just know that I have done something daft...I don't have voices telling me that I have...I'm so freaked out people hear them. I thought it was only schizophrenics or Family Guy characters that heard them.

But, that voice with those three messages doesn't actually arrive in your (my) head on the same day; these were three different (stupid) acts, or actions.

And, as with everything, context and mood matter.

Suffice to say, something stupid - or three different somethings stupid, may have given rise to these three different reactions.

 

[Septembersrain]

I think if I had to point out the worst part of having such a chatty inner monologue, it would be the moments when a song gets stuck.

It's never the whole song. Merely a single chorus, or two if I'm lucky.

Then I'll be having regular annoying thoughts with background music that I start to hate. It's quite chaotic in there. It gets so absurd, I find myself laughing at it. To the curious or slightly wary looks from others.

 

[MisterSavage]

This is fascinating. My girlfriend has always asked how I can fall asleep so soon when she lies awake for ages.
Now I've discovered that she (and a lot of people it seems) has voices in her head wittering on, then it is no surprise she can't sleep.
Once I've decided to go to sleep, I switch my mind off, close my eyes and I'm asleep in seconds.
How do you guys live like you do? It must be a nightmare...I'm so glad I don't have your problem.

I've gotten a lot better with the falling asleep. I have white noise playing and I force myself not to think about anything. During the day though it's constant chatter in my head.
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I think if I had to point out the worst part of having such a chatty inner monologue, it would be the moments when a song gets stuck.

It's never the whole song. Merely a single chorus, or two if I'm lucky.

Then I'll be having regular annoying thoughts with background music that I start to hate. It's quite chaotic in there. It gets so absurd, I find myself laughing at it. To the curious or slightly wary looks from others.

OMG it's the worst when it's a song you don't even like. The term "earworm" was meant for people like us!

 

[Huntn]

When I read, the words are thoughts not a voice. The only time I have to make a voice is when it is either really complicated or if I am really tired. I then have to consciously think in words but even that doesn't work sonetimes and I have to say the words for them to sink in.

It's not that I can't think in words, it is that I have to make a concious effort to do so. As I type this...the words come from my mind straight to my fingers typing them in...and I read them at the same time that I type them, which is how I know what I'm writing is correct etc. How do you guys read? Do you have to sound out each sentence in your head, and then turn that into thoughts? I just bypass the reading in my head bit it seems.
I'm actually an author myself and my girlfriend struggles to get her thoughts down on paper. I wonder if this has something to do with my ability to write fluidly. When I write a chapter, I see a scenario (almost a movie playing in my head) and then I write that scenario. I don't think words, they just write themselves. Only in complicated parts do I have to stop and conciously think about things.
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This is fascinating. My girlfriend has always asked how I can fall asleep so soon when she lies awake for ages.
Now I've discovered that she (and a lot of people it seems) has voices in her head wittering on, then it is no surprise she can't sleep.
Once I've decided to go to sleep, I switch my mind off, close my eyes and I'm asleep in seconds.
How do you guys live like you do? It must be a nightmare...I'm so glad I don't have your problem.
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Whaaaaaaaaaat? That is what you hear in your head? That's bizarre.
If I have done something daft then I just know that I have done something daft...I don't have voices telling me that I have...I'm so freaked out people hear them. I thought it was only schizophrenics or Family Guy characters that heard them.

So when you are writing a sentence there is no sounding of the word, it goes from thought to page without hearing it at all?

No, we don’t sound out sentences first, at least I don’t. I think you have a mis-impression about inner voice. When I’m writing, I think a word and the sound of it is simply there, because my brain recognizes the sound that word makes. It is not like someone talking to me, more like a reflection.

Because words represent sounds, and they only make sense if you know the sounds they make, otherwise they are just a meaningless grouping of letters. I think at some level the words you see are pronounced in your head, even if it does not sound like an external voice. It would be an inner voice.

And for myself there are different levels of the inner voice, one subtle for my benefit and louder when directed at others.

Today, I worked on silencing my mind and recognized how much my inner voice illustrates my thoughts. I worked at it, I could picture where I was going to go, and a visual image of what I would do at different locations. At the grocery store my list was a series if images, but I much prefer the words. It’s actually easier to produce the word “egg” than make a visual image of a carton of eggs.

 

[LizKat]

It is as if it would be something that could easily be voiced out loud, for your own benefit, but instead you keep it to yourself. I would not be surprised that the more one is alone, the more one verbalizes their thoughts out loud as an illusion of not being so alone.

Maybe.... but my stepmother used to verbalize whatever came into her head whenever it arrived, regardless of where she was or with whom (if with anyone at all!) and until I realized that --not knowing her very well at first-- I always assumed she was speaking to me if she had started talking while she and I were alone in a room, even if she was not facing me, and even if she then left the room, say the kitchen, and still talking.

As a matter of courtesy and respect for elders drilled into me by grandparents, I'd stand up then and follow her into our living or dining area, so I could be seen to be paying proper attention. But one day she turned around in the living room, saw me sort of hovering in the background and said "You know if you want something you should just speak up since I can't see out the back of my head." Not in an angry way, just offering advice.

Startled, I apologized and said I had only followed her from the kitchen because otherwise I couldn't hear what she was saying to me. She laughed then and said "Believe me, if I'm talking to any of you kids, you'll know it. Ask your stepbrothers. If there's doubt in your mind then just ignore the noise, it's not meant to be conversation."

My stepsister, when consulted, later suggested it was "usually" sort of like her mom just had a portable radio in pocket as she went about her day. We were welcome to be entertained too as she passed by, but no need to become a fan and follow her around.

OK then. New rules! Ample room for confusion, too, but hey it was never boring.

 

[kazmac]

Trying to keep negative side of my inner self quiet and not actually spill out of my mouth, or on a board is a challenge, but one I will rise up to.

I'd like mine to completely shut up as it can be Sgt. Uniblab at times.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And, you know, the Inner Monologue is not at all the same as one's Inner Child, should one play host to such a creature.

 

[LizKat]

And, you know, the Inner Monologue is not at all the same as one's Inner Child, should one play host to such a creature.

One could be excused for occasionally thinking they're one and the same out in the weeds of Twitter.

 

[kazmac]

And, you know, the Inner Monologue is not at all the same as one's Inner Child, should one play host to such a creature.

It's when the Inner Monologue becomes the inner critic that I want to flush it down the toilet.

Inner Child can be great or not-so-great...

 

[TheJollyHatter]

So when you are writing a sentence there is no sounding of the word, it goes from thought to page without hearing it at all?

No, we don’t sound out sentences first, at least I don’t. I think you have a mis-impression about inner voice. When I’m writing, I think a word and the sound of it is simply there, because my brain recognizes the sound that word makes. It is not like someone talking to me, more like a reflection.

Because words represent sounds, and they only make sense if you know the sounds they make, otherwise they are just a meaningless grouping of letters. I think at some level the words you see are pronounced in your head, even if it does not sound like an external voice. It would be an inner voice.

And for myself there are different levels of the inner voice, one subtle for my benefit and louder when directed at others.

Today, I worked on silencing my mind and recognized how much my inner voice illustrates my thoughts. I worked at it, I could picture where I was going to go, and a visual image of what I would do at different locations. At the grocery store my list was a series if images, but I much prefer the words. It’s actually easier to produce the word “egg” than make a visual image of a carton of eggs.

When writing a sentence I don't hear the words no...not unless I conciously make an effort to do so...but that makes it more difficult to write so I don't do that unless what I am writing is complicated or needing deep thought. In which case I will switch on the words to get a better understanding (but I normally have to verbalise the words in that case).
See, it's not that I can't make voices in my head....it's that it doesn't happen naturally but should I need to then I can switch it on. Generally though, it is a hindrance to hear the words in my head so it happens rarely.
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Trying to keep negative side of my inner self quiet and not actually spill out of my mouth, or on a board is a challenge, but one I will rise up to.

I'd like mine to completely shut up as it can be Sgt. Uniblab at times.

I'm starting to think I'm blessed I don't have it haha!!

 

[MisterSavage]

When writing a sentence I don't hear the words no...not unless I conciously make an effort to do so...but that makes it more difficult to write so I don't do that unless what I am writing is complicated or needing deep thought. In which case I will switch on the words to get a better understanding (but I normally have to verbalise the words in that case).

Usually when I write something I've already "written" it several times in my head and I feel like I'm just transcribing the finished product to my screen.

 

[TheJollyHatter]

Tgats

Usually when I write something I've already "written" it several times in my head and I feel like I'm just transcribing the finished product to my screen.

That's so interesting...it is like you are conciously making decisions that don't really need making. That's how I'm seeing it from the other side. For me, my mind has already done all the discussions and sorting out behind the scenes...I don't need to know how it has come up with that decision...it just does. If i access that part of my brain thought pattern then I have to speak it for it to make sense. So bizarre. I just imagined everyone thought like me...now it seems I AM the freak haha

 

[MisterSavage]

That's so interesting...it is like you are conciously making decisions that don't really need making. That's how I'm seeing it from the other side. For me, my mind has already done all the discussions and sorting out behind the scenes...I don't need to know how it has come up with that decision...it just does. If i access that part of my brain thought pattern then I have to speak it for it to make sense. So bizarre. I just imagined everyone thought like me...now it seems I AM the freak haha

It's been really interesting to see what makes other people tick!

 

[LizKat]

Usually when I write something I've already "written" it several times in my head and I feel like I'm just transcribing the finished product to my screen.

That's probably how most of us might describe the process if we think consciously about it. I have to say though that in the age of Twitter and other "one-liner" forms of communication, e.g. texting, or comment accompanying a meme or photo, there's probably less and less inclination of the autonomous parts of the brain to figure it should weigh in at higher levels to help formulate external messaging.

The brain on its own behalf is focused on ability to respond adequately to life-threatening emergencies, so if more and more of our written communication becomes one-liners, brain probably to save energy sorta shrugs and figures "hey if the house is on fire I'll feel it or she'll start struggling for words, so meanwhile let it rip, whatever that was just floated by."

So we may not edit "short forms of the serenity prayer" for instance, before letting them fly, simply because our more primally focused parts of the brain have shrugged off any need to suggest that editing might be a good idea for time and place of utterance -- on social media or otherwise. That's how I ended up grounded for a week once, simply for telling a younger sibling to **** off: my father happened to be in the room and his parental brain happened to be in editorial mode.

 

[Huntn]

When writing a sentence I don't hear the words no...not unless I conciously make an effort to do so...but that makes it more difficult to write so I don't do that unless what I am writing is complicated or needing deep thought. In which case I will switch on the words to get a better understanding (but I normally have to verbalise the words in that case).
See, it's not that I can't make voices in my head....it's that it doesn't happen naturally but should I need to then I can switch it on. Generally though, it is a hindrance to hear the words in my head so it happens rarely.
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I'm starting to think I'm blessed I don't have it haha!!

I’ll say that if you can read without sounding words, this would be faster and more efficient. To distinguish, there are reflections or soundings as the brain recognizes words and then there are inner monologues. I assume when you project a future interaction with another person, such as a conversation you know will happen, it‘s as if a conversation takes place in your head, yes?

As far as words being sounded or not sounded as you read a book, for myself there is not more concentration required or it slows me down, it just happens simultaneously without effort, although I acknowledge that it occurs at a rate that would be equivalent to normal speech patterns, and that if you could read without sounding words it might be at a much higher speed.

Also when I read a good book, I intentionally tend to slow down as to savor and not rush the experience. And because we communicate with others, especially when practicing something like a presentation, we would practise it had the cadence of the actual presentation. I’ll assume most of us if not verbally sounding out a speech would be sounding the words in our head.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Visual representation of who's in charge of my inner monologue

 

[LizKat]

... Also when I read a good book, I intentionally tend to slow down as to savor and not rush the experience. And because we communicate with others, especially when practicing something like a presentation, we would practise it had the cadence of the actual presentation. I’ll assume most of us if not verbally sounding out a speech would be sounding the words in our head.

I don't sound out words as I read unless I bump into a writer who has used words unusual enough to make me launch or reach for a dictionary.

Poetry's an exception, I always consider "how it sounds" even if not reading it aloud.

Certainly I read at different rates depending on form, content and level of my own interest in the matter at hand. But I do slow down to consider nuance, whether via punctuation or shift in POV or something else that strikes me: not necessarily a plot twist but some aspect of character that might make me wonder if I skipped past something that should have made more of an impression earlier.

On occasion I have abruptly stopped reading around the middle of some ill formed sentence and wondered where the hell the book's editor was "on that one." So much easier to be an armchair quarterback than to be the person charged with making a writer's work into something that doesn't jolt other readers over the mechanics of presentation. But today we've all run into written work that regardless of form or venue can seem to reflect cost-cutting taken too far. I'd love to be privy to CEOs' interior monologues on that stuff, just to know how much of the quality of goods they let into the picture and whether quality of labor and its price are viewed simply as cost or as a capital investment.

 

[jdiamond]

I don't think I always have one, although it's a challenging thing to observe. The only time I actually notice an internal verbalization of my thoughts is if I'm thinking about a conversation - either thinking of how I plan to say something, or reflecting on how a presentation went. Else I feel that most of my thoughts are non verbal.