Does Everyone Have an Internal Monologue? What if You Don't?

Internal monologue, inner speech and intrapersonal communication are all terms for a simple phenomenon experienced by a huge number of people—talking to yourself in your head.

"If you ask someone what communication is, almost everyone will say two people talking face to face," Lenny Shedletsky, professor of communication at the University of Southern Maine, told Newsweek. "[But] we are each walking laboratories. All of us have this experience of sort of talking to ourselves silently, sometimes out loud.

"I challenge my students to spend a few minutes not having anything going on, and the average human being cannot do it. They tried to not have words in their mind and they can't, it's so part of our functioning."

What Is an Internal Monologue?

A person's internal monologue, or intrapersonal communication, is a conversation a person has with the self, linked to their sense of self. Intrapersonal communication can take place in the same way that a discussion with another person would take place—just internally.

For example, solving a problem, such as finding a lost item, will come in the form of an internal monologue.

"Some people will argue that what's going on in your head is called thinking, not communicating," Shedletsky said. "And I would argue with them on that one. There is a realm of communicating within ourselves. The stimuli for it can come from the outside. It could be what you see or hear or whatever. It's just that you don't respond necessarily to any other living person.

"I think everybody will recognize it themselves. One is going back over a communication event. We will often replay it in our minds and think about it and talk to ourselves about it. For example, I wish I had remembered to tell [this person] about this or that, or the other possibility is preparation for talking to somebody and kind of rehearsing."

But not everything that goes on in the mind can be counted as intrapersonal communication. The mind can still note sensations, without communication taking place.

"I would think of intrapersonal as starting where meaning starts in one's mind. So I can feel the weight of my body on a chair or you can feel cold. Those are sensations. Not until I think 'Jesus it's cold,' have I moved over into intrapersonal communication."

One of the main questions in researching the phenomenon remains: how do you know when intrapersonal communication starts?

"What do you exclude that goes on in the mind or where do you start? The answer I came to, and I would still think applies, is that the borderline is when you are dealing with assessing or assigning the meaning to something."

How Many People Have an Inner Monologue?

Scientists have not yet been able to agree on whether or not everyone experiences an inner monologue.

Communication expert Russell Hulburt at the University of Nevada—who dedicated his life to researching this topic—is still not sure.

He told Newsweek: "I don't know [how many people have an internal monologue]. To answer that question, one would have to do large-scale random sampling and cross-cultural studies, which no one has done with the level or sophistication necessary. I do think it is safe to say that if by 'internal monologue' you mean a fairly constant inner narration, lots of people *think* they experience internal monologue; far fewer people actually experience internal monologue."

Those that do not have an internal monologue may instead visualize their thoughts. This is called "sensory awareness."

Hulburt has carried out multiple studies to examine this. In one, he assessed a group of 30 university students that had a "beeper" fitted to their ears. The beeper went off at random intervals of the day. During these intervals, the participants were asked to record their thoughts.

Hurlburt then met with participants to discuss their records in order to understand the individual's way of thinking. Findings showed that inner speech only occurred in 26 percent of all samples.

From studies like this, Hurlbert estimated that only one in four people actually experience an internal monologue.

Is It a Sign of Intelligence?

Intrapersonal communication starts developing at different points. Children aged between 5 and 7 have been found to have an internal monologue, 2015 research published in the journal Psychological Bulletin found. Some people may start developing it from as early as 18 to 21 months, another study published in Cognition showed.

So while everyone appears to have some form of inner voice, some utilize it more than others—but this is not necessarily linked to intelligence.

Shedletsky said that in his 40 years of studying the topic, he has seen no difference in a young person's internal monologue and an older person's. He said the frequency in every age group appears to be identical.

"They both show the same patterns, except older people took a couple of seconds longer to do any of this, which is not really news. It's well known that with age cognition slows down, but people are still quite able to solve problems. They just do it a little slower."

Is It a Good or a Bad Thing?

Intrapersonal communication can come in many forms and Hulburt said that, generally, it is neither a good thing or a bad thing.

But some may experience negative self talk through their internal monologue. While some people do not pay much attention to their internal monologue, others do.

Some may be more prone to positive intrapersonal communication, while others may experience it more negatively. Research from the National Science Foundation estimates that a person has 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Approximately 80 percent of these will be negative. This can feed into mental health issues such as depression or anxiety. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy is a form of treatment for anxiety that focuses on limiting the negative self talk that enters the mind.

Your Internal Monologue Could Be Controlling You

Intrapersonal communication is also not always conscious. It can include the unconscious, Shedletsky said, "and that's a very tricky area to go into."

Intrapersonal communication, and our own sense of self, can unconsciously feed into day-to-day judgments we make. For example, a group of people can be sitting having a debate. An internal monologue may have already happened in the unconscious of someone wanting to join in, meaning that person can open their mouth and have a response ready to go.

A 2015 study published in the journal Judgment and Decision Making found that people having a conversation were able to come up with an opinion on the topic being discussed without appearing to think it through first. This suggests that internal monologue may happen in the subconscious.

The study also found that these opinions were always consistent with their own personal views and beliefs.

"Communicating is done in the form of intuition. It's something we're able to respond to automatically without really consciously thinking about it," said Shedletsky. "So [for example] you know the meanings of the words I'm saying now, automatically."

Scientists have also argued that a person's internal monologue can contribute to biased points of view and decisions. This suggests that the internal monologue is working in the background, unconsciously.

"I think [intrapersonal communication] applies wherever people have to make decisions," Shedletsky said. "For example, you have to wonder how come in things like the vaccination for COVID, how come in climate change, scientists present evidence, and so many people say no, I don't believe that. That's a puzzle.

"What's going on there is they're operating on this intuitive basis of what they already believe."

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References

Ben Alderson-Day at al, Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology, National Library of Medicine, 2015, 10.1037/bul0000021

Gordon Pennycook at al, On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bulls*** , Judgment and Decision Making, 2015,