The Power of the Inner Voice: Examining Self-Talk’s Relationship with Academic Outcomes

Abstract

Purpose: People use self-talk (verbalized cognitions) to monitor and evaluate their performance, making it a vital construct in the self-regulation process. Research Methods/Approach: We coded 1,092 self-talk responses from 177 undergraduates for two types of self-talks, constructive and dysfunctional. Findings: We found constructive self-talk positively related to satisfaction, self-efficacy, and academic performance, whereas dysfunctional self-talk negatively related to satisfaction and self-efficacy but was not significantly related to performance. Constructive self-talk explained incremental variance in self-efficacy and performance beyond that explained by related psychological constructs: self-regulation skills, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. Dysfunctional self-talk only explained incremental variance in self-efficacy. Implications: This study shows that self-talk is a unique and influential construct that should be of interest to academics and practitioners across the disciplines of psychology and education.