We also explore how people without an inner monologue think.

What Is an Inner Monologue?

Many peoples internal experience includes a verbal quality that comes across as a monologue.

woman sitting at a table with a laptop but looking out the window as if listening to her inner monologue

MoMo Productions / DigitalVision / Getty

This private speech is addressed only to ourselves and is something we feel like we can hear.

One’s inner monologue is complete with tone and inflection, even though its not audible.

This is a question without a concrete answer.

The reason is because inner monologues are extremely difficult to study.

After all, no one can peer into another persons mind and see exactly what and how theyre thinking.

An experience sampling method called Descriptive Experience Sampling is often used in studies of inner speech.

In short, these different ways of investigating inner monologues have led to inconsistent results.

On the other hand, researchers using differentresearch methodshave concluded that the frequency of inner speech is much higher.

One study suggests that people experience it 75% of the time.

How Do People Without an Inner Monologue Think?

Why Do Some People Lack an Inner Monologue?

On the other hand, for some people, self-criticism is a regular feature of their inner monologue.

However, more research is necessary to understand what they may be.

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