"On one end, we have this remarkable tool, this ability to use language to solve problems, innovate, create, but this tool often gets us in deep trouble… Why is that and when it gets us in trouble, what can we do to right the ship?"
Dr. Ethan Kross, PhD
EFR 609: Dr. Ethan Kross on Harnessing the Voice in Your Head, Mental Time Travel, and Navigating Mental Chatter
You talk to yourself every single day. When you’re processing information and experiences, making decisions, and preparing for the unknown ahead, you always talk yourself through it in your mind, right?
The interesting part of this phenomenon that we all experience is that the conversations we have with ourselves impact our health, performance, decisions, and relationships. In fact, they might just be the most important conversations we can have in our lifetime… and this week’s special guest studies just that.
Ethan Kross is a scientist, award-winning professor, best-selling author of Chatter, and one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind.
In this discussion, Ethan and Chase talk about how to harness, understand, and apply the voice in your head to your real life. Ethan speaks on the power of mental chatter and rumination, practical ways to navigate your thoughts and solve problems, and the research he’s done on internal conversation, introspection, and language.
Follow Ethan Kross @ethankross
Follow Chase on Instagram @chase_chewning
Follow him on Twitter @chasechewning
Key Highlights
Ethan shares the inspiration behind his research on internal conversations, highlighting the value of introspection and working through problems with language.
He speaks on the human ability to mentally time travel, the problems that can arise from mental time travel, and why it might benefit us to not “be in the moment” all the time. These insights drove Ethan to write the book, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.
Do we choose to ruminate on the past or is it part of our biology? Ethan shares his thoughts and advice as well as the science behind rumination, worry, and mental chatter.
We all experience mental chatter and rumination, but the trick is to shorten the amount of time we spend in that space and there are many ways to do that!
Does talking about your problems actually make you feel better? Ethan highlights the role that other people play in regulating our emotions, scientific research on the consequences of venting, and the ultimate solution for overwhelming mental chatter.
Once you know about the tools that enable you to navigate mental chatter, you then have the opportunity to be deliberate in solving problems. Ethan explains how to use his primary personal strategy for navigating mental chatter, called distanced self-talk, as an efficient tool for gaining some distance on your problems.
Do we all have an inner voice? Yes! Though, there’s great variability in how each individual experiences their inner voice. Listen in to learn how second or third languages impact our learning, perception, and understanding of emotions.
Powerful Quotes by Ethan Kross
On one end, we have this remarkable tool, this ability to use language to solve problems, innovate, create, but this tool often gets us in deep trouble… Why is that and when it gets us in trouble, what can we do to right the ship? I ended up going to graduate school to figure out how to use science to answer those questions.
One of the reasons why other people can be so incredibly helpful when it comes to our chatter is they have some distance and objectivity when it comes to the situation… They’re not involved, they can weigh in soundly, and to be clear, that doesn’t mean that they’re always providing you with lovey dovey support.
I think we’re living through the chatter event of the last hundred years. The hits just keep coming.
I don’t get down on myself when I experience a blip of negativity because I know that that’s part of life and actually, the small blips of negativity are usually doing something good for us. Negative emotions in small doses are really helpful, but I don’t try to bathe in them, either.
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