When a voice rises from a nearby cubicle, a better question than 'You talking to me?' may be 'You talking to you?'
Susan Shapiro, a business-technology consultant, talks to herself constantly in what amounts to auditory to-do lists and step-by-step instructions. She calls herself an 'idiot' at times, 'brilliant' at others and occasionally says things out loud such as, 'I can't believe I'm talking to myself out loud.' She once discovered a colleague hovering behind her, waiting for her and her cubemate to finish their conversation. 'We weren't talking to each other,' she says. 'We were each talking to ourselves.'
Self-talking starts early, beginning as crib speech for the fun of it and becoming toddlers' repetition of rules they're learning to live by, researchers say. Late in life, you might say to yourself, 'Why am I looking for my eyeglasses in the refrigerator?' only to discover -- holy cow! -- that's where you left them.
In between, in your cubicle-bound life, researchers say as many as 96% of people talk to themselves aloud, and deaf people have been observed signing to themselves while answering test questions. It's believed that people primarily blather to themselves when alone so as not to appear nuts. But those of us in the cube farm know better.
The irony is that self-chatter, like sharp objects, is both most suited and least suited to the workplace. 'At work where we would most benefit from talking out loud is also the place we are least likely to do so for social reasons,' says Alain Morin, a professor of psychology at the Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta.
Among the things it's useful for is what's called self-regulation: goal-setting, problem-solving, decision-making and planning ('When she says, 'You already got a raise,' I'll say, 'Which didn't keep pace with inflation''). These conversations with one's self tend to increase, research shows, with the complexity of tasks and when someone's having a bad day.
'There's not a lot you can say when things are going really well: 'I want to keep things as they are,'' notes Tom Brinthaupt, professor of psychology at Middle Tennessee State University. Self-talk is 'not that different from a thermostat. It's one of the ways we monitor ourselves, control impulses and guide actions.'
The downside: 'It can very much be disruptive.'
Self-talk, unscientifically, also seems to be the stuff in the noisy maelstrom of the mind that slips out. It's also ensures that at least one person is listening to you.
When the pressure's on before, say, a big presentation, there's a lot of anticipatory conversation -- a stress rehearsal. Evan Steingart, former head of sales at a consumer-products company, worked with a salesman who rehearsed his entire pitch the day before he met with clients, including their objections in a different voice.
'It was an extreme distraction to the rest of the group,' says Mr. Steingart. 'People were so mesmerized by it.'
They couldn't stop themselves from secretly dialing into the conference-room phone and listening in whenever he went there to practice. 'Fortunately, he would always make the sale, and he never got into an argument with himself,' adds Mr. Steingart.
For some, talking to oneself is a way to reach group consensus, sans group. Chris Weyers, who works for a financial-services company, talks himself up all day, he says, 'as if someone is helping you get the day organized, urging you on to get things done faster, telling you not to check email when you hear the ping.'
He's more efficient, he adds, because 'two heads are better than one.' The problem is his assistant, whose hearing isn't what it once was, rushes in throughout the day, asking, 'Are you talking to me?'
Many of us are as used to someone's self-chatter as we are to people with invisible cellphone headsets seemingly blathering on to themselves. J.P. Tristani, a former commercial-airline pilot, flew with a DC-8 captain who, whenever faced with bad weather on radar, would 'consult' aloud with an Indian chief he pretended sat in the jump seat behind him.
'I didn't care who he was talking to back there,' he says, 'as long as I didn't hear a voice coming out of that black void.'
Self-talk can be both a cause of distraction in the office and its cure. After a while, you listen to yourself think aloud so you don't have to listen to the soliloquy next to you.
'Talking to yourself eliminates some other distractions,' says J.J. Stives, who sat next to an incessant self-talker. His partner, Christine Ascherman, a commercial photographer, talks to herself about exposure and aperture before and during her shoots. 'It wards off conversation,' she says.
Carli Entin, an associate magazine editor, loves talking to herself whether it's 'appearing' as a panelist on 'Meet the Press,' narrating her imaginary cooking show ('replace some of the water with coffee for a tastier cupcake'), or blogging.
At work, even when a colleague told her she stopped listening, that didn't stop Ms. Entin's side of the conversation or the fun she had engaging in it. Besides, her self-chatter can be efficient. 'By acting out the conversation,' she says, 'I no longer need to have it.'
当相邻的隔间传来说话声时，有一个问题可能比"你在跟我说话吗"更合适，那就是"你在跟自己说话吗？"。
商业技术顾问苏珊•夏皮罗(Susan Shapiro)经常以能让人听见的音量自言自语，谈论待办的事和具体实施步骤。有时她管自己叫"白痴"，有时又说自己"太英明了"，偶尔也会大声说一些话，诸如："真难以置信我竟然自言自语地出了声"。有一次，她发现一位同事在她身后转来转去，等着她跟同一隔间里的那位同事结束谈话。她说："其实我们没有交谈，我们俩都在自言自语。"
研究人员说，自言自语从人们很小的时候就开始了，最初是好玩的牙牙学语，而后又成了蹒跚学步时口中重复的"操作要领"。到了晚年，你可能会对自己说："我为什么要在冰箱里找眼镜呢？"结果发现──天哪，你正是把眼镜放那儿了。
研究人员说，在幼年和老年中间的那大段职场生涯中，多达96%的人会大声地自言自语，而且人们发现，聋人在回答测试问题时也会给自己做手势。据信，人们大多是在独处时才会随口自言自语，因为当着人这样自己会觉得很傻。但身处办公间的我们更能把握自言自语的时机。
具有讽刺意味的是，像高声说话一样，自言自语也是最适合及最不适合办公场所的东西。加拿大艾伯塔省卡尔加里蒙特皇家学院(Mount Royal College)的心理学教授阿莱恩•莫林(Alain Morin)说："在工作中，能从高声说话中得到最多好处的地方也是我们出于社会因素最不愿意这样做的地方。"
自言自语的用处之一就是所谓的自我调节：设定目标、解决问题、作出决策和进行规划（我们会告诉自己，"当她说：'你已经获得了加薪'时，我会说：'为什么不与通胀同步'"）。研究表明，当工作任务的复杂性加大，或是某一天过得很不顺时，这类自言自语往往会增多。
中田纳西州立大学(Middle Tennessee State University)心理学教授汤姆•布林斯沃特(Tom Brinthaupt)说："当事情进展很顺利的时候，你也没什么可说的，最多就是'我想保持现状'。"自言自语跟自动调节器差不多。它只是我们对自己进行调节、控制冲动和引导自己行为的一种方式。
不好的一面是："它可能会极具破坏性。"
从科学以外的角度来说，自言自语似乎也是思绪奔涌的反映之一。它还保证了至少有一个人（即你自己）在听你说话。
比如说，在一场大规模的演示会之前觉得有压力时，就会有许多预想中的谈话，相当于一场实地预演。曾任一家消费品公司销售部主管的埃文•斯坦加特(Evan Steingart)曾经与一位销售人员共事，那个人在拜访客户的前一天会排练整个场景，包括用不同的声音演出客户的拒绝。
斯坦加特说："组里的其他人都被深深吸引住了，这打动了他们。"
当那位销售人员去会议室排练的时候，他们忍不住会悄悄拨打会议室的电话偷听。斯坦加特补充说："幸运的是，他总能做成生意，而且从来没跟自己吵起来过。"
对一些人来说，自言自语是一种在没有团队的情况下取得一致意见的方式。供职于一家金融服务公司的克里斯•韦尔斯(Chris Weyers)整天都自言自语，他说："这就好像有人在帮你安排一天的时间，敦促你快点做完事情，告诉你不要一听到提示音就去查看邮件。"
他觉得自己效率更高了，因为两个人想问题总比一个人强。问题是他那位听力大不如前的助手会成天冲进来问："你在跟我说话吗？"
我们许多人都习惯了别人的自言自语，就像我们习惯了戴着隐形耳机的人像是在自言自语一样。曾为民航飞行员的J.P. 特里斯塔尼(J.P. Tristani)与一位DC-8机长一起飞行过，后者在雷达上看到天气不好时，就会假装他身后的弹跳座椅上坐了一个印第安酋长，总会大声"征询"那人的意见。
特里斯塔尼说："我不介意他跟后面的谁说话，只要那片黑色的虚空里不传出声音就可以。"
在办公室里自言自语可能让人分心，也可能是应对分心的好办法。过段时间，你就会听到自己自言自语的声音，这样就不必听邻座的独白了。
J.J.斯蒂夫斯(J.J. Stives)说："自言自语能消除其他一些让你分心的因素。"他的邻座就老是自言自语。他的搭档克里斯汀•阿瑟曼(Christine Ascherman)是一位商业摄影师，在拍摄前和拍摄期间都会自己念叨曝光和光圈的问题。她说："这样就不用跟别人说话了。"
杂志副编辑卡莉•恩汀(Carli Entin)总喜欢自言自语，说着自己想象中的烹饪表演（"把一部分水换成咖啡，让纸托蛋糕味道更好"），或是说一些琐事。
在工作时，就算有同事提醒恩汀她走神了，也不能阻止恩汀自己将谈话进行下去，或是打断她自言自语的乐趣。另外，她的自言自语也很有效。她说："将对话表演出来，我就不用老想着了。"
关键字:好文共赏
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Susan Shapiro, a business-technology consultant, talks to herself constantly in what amounts to auditory to-do lists and step-by-step instructions. She calls herself an 'idiot' at times, 'brilliant' at others and occasionally says things out loud such as, 'I can't believe I'm talking to myself out loud.' She once discovered a colleague hovering behind her, waiting for her and her cubemate to finish their conversation. 'We weren't talking to each other,' she says. 'We were each talking to ourselves.'
Self-talking starts early, beginning as crib speech for the fun of it and becoming toddlers' repetition of rules they're learning to live by, researchers say. Late in life, you might say to yourself, 'Why am I looking for my eyeglasses in the refrigerator?' only to discover -- holy cow! -- that's where you left them.
In between, in your cubicle-bound life, researchers say as many as 96% of people talk to themselves aloud, and deaf people have been observed signing to themselves while answering test questions. It's believed that people primarily blather to themselves when alone so as not to appear nuts. But those of us in the cube farm know better.
The irony is that self-chatter, like sharp objects, is both most suited and least suited to the workplace. 'At work where we would most benefit from talking out loud is also the place we are least likely to do so for social reasons,' says Alain Morin, a professor of psychology at the Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta.
Among the things it's useful for is what's called self-regulation: goal-setting, problem-solving, decision-making and planning ('When she says, 'You already got a raise,' I'll say, 'Which didn't keep pace with inflation''). These conversations with one's self tend to increase, research shows, with the complexity of tasks and when someone's having a bad day.
'There's not a lot you can say when things are going really well: 'I want to keep things as they are,'' notes Tom Brinthaupt, professor of psychology at Middle Tennessee State University. Self-talk is 'not that different from a thermostat. It's one of the ways we monitor ourselves, control impulses and guide actions.'
The downside: 'It can very much be disruptive.'
Self-talk, unscientifically, also seems to be the stuff in the noisy maelstrom of the mind that slips out. It's also ensures that at least one person is listening to you.
When the pressure's on before, say, a big presentation, there's a lot of anticipatory conversation -- a stress rehearsal. Evan Steingart, former head of sales at a consumer-products company, worked with a salesman who rehearsed his entire pitch the day before he met with clients, including their objections in a different voice.
'It was an extreme distraction to the rest of the group,' says Mr. Steingart. 'People were so mesmerized by it.'
They couldn't stop themselves from secretly dialing into the conference-room phone and listening in whenever he went there to practice. 'Fortunately, he would always make the sale, and he never got into an argument with himself,' adds Mr. Steingart.
For some, talking to oneself is a way to reach group consensus, sans group. Chris Weyers, who works for a financial-services company, talks himself up all day, he says, 'as if someone is helping you get the day organized, urging you on to get things done faster, telling you not to check email when you hear the ping.'
He's more efficient, he adds, because 'two heads are better than one.' The problem is his assistant, whose hearing isn't what it once was, rushes in throughout the day, asking, 'Are you talking to me?'
Many of us are as used to someone's self-chatter as we are to people with invisible cellphone headsets seemingly blathering on to themselves. J.P. Tristani, a former commercial-airline pilot, flew with a DC-8 captain who, whenever faced with bad weather on radar, would 'consult' aloud with an Indian chief he pretended sat in the jump seat behind him.
'I didn't care who he was talking to back there,' he says, 'as long as I didn't hear a voice coming out of that black void.'
Self-talk can be both a cause of distraction in the office and its cure. After a while, you listen to yourself think aloud so you don't have to listen to the soliloquy next to you.
'Talking to yourself eliminates some other distractions,' says J.J. Stives, who sat next to an incessant self-talker. His partner, Christine Ascherman, a commercial photographer, talks to herself about exposure and aperture before and during her shoots. 'It wards off conversation,' she says.
Carli Entin, an associate magazine editor, loves talking to herself whether it's 'appearing' as a panelist on 'Meet the Press,' narrating her imaginary cooking show ('replace some of the water with coffee for a tastier cupcake'), or blogging.
At work, even when a colleague told her she stopped listening, that didn't stop Ms. Entin's side of the conversation or the fun she had engaging in it. Besides, her self-chatter can be efficient. 'By acting out the conversation,' she says, 'I no longer need to have it.'
当相邻的隔间传来说话声时，有一个问题可能比"你在跟我说话吗"更合适，那就是"你在跟自己说话吗？"。
商业技术顾问苏珊•夏皮罗(Susan Shapiro)经常以能让人听见的音量自言自语，谈论待办的事和具体实施步骤。有时她管自己叫"白痴"，有时又说自己"太英明了"，偶尔也会大声说一些话，诸如："真难以置信我竟然自言自语地出了声"。有一次，她发现一位同事在她身后转来转去，等着她跟同一隔间里的那位同事结束谈话。她说："其实我们没有交谈，我们俩都在自言自语。"
研究人员说，自言自语从人们很小的时候就开始了，最初是好玩的牙牙学语，而后又成了蹒跚学步时口中重复的"操作要领"。到了晚年，你可能会对自己说："我为什么要在冰箱里找眼镜呢？"结果发现──天哪，你正是把眼镜放那儿了。
研究人员说，在幼年和老年中间的那大段职场生涯中，多达96%的人会大声地自言自语，而且人们发现，聋人在回答测试问题时也会给自己做手势。据信，人们大多是在独处时才会随口自言自语，因为当着人这样自己会觉得很傻。但身处办公间的我们更能把握自言自语的时机。
具有讽刺意味的是，像高声说话一样，自言自语也是最适合及最不适合办公场所的东西。加拿大艾伯塔省卡尔加里蒙特皇家学院(Mount Royal College)的心理学教授阿莱恩•莫林(Alain Morin)说："在工作中，能从高声说话中得到最多好处的地方也是我们出于社会因素最不愿意这样做的地方。"
自言自语的用处之一就是所谓的自我调节：设定目标、解决问题、作出决策和进行规划（我们会告诉自己，"当她说：'你已经获得了加薪'时，我会说：'为什么不与通胀同步'"）。研究表明，当工作任务的复杂性加大，或是某一天过得很不顺时，这类自言自语往往会增多。
中田纳西州立大学(Middle Tennessee State University)心理学教授汤姆•布林斯沃特(Tom Brinthaupt)说："当事情进展很顺利的时候，你也没什么可说的，最多就是'我想保持现状'。"自言自语跟自动调节器差不多。它只是我们对自己进行调节、控制冲动和引导自己行为的一种方式。
不好的一面是："它可能会极具破坏性。"
从科学以外的角度来说，自言自语似乎也是思绪奔涌的反映之一。它还保证了至少有一个人（即你自己）在听你说话。
比如说，在一场大规模的演示会之前觉得有压力时，就会有许多预想中的谈话，相当于一场实地预演。曾任一家消费品公司销售部主管的埃文•斯坦加特(Evan Steingart)曾经与一位销售人员共事，那个人在拜访客户的前一天会排练整个场景，包括用不同的声音演出客户的拒绝。
斯坦加特说："组里的其他人都被深深吸引住了，这打动了他们。"
当那位销售人员去会议室排练的时候，他们忍不住会悄悄拨打会议室的电话偷听。斯坦加特补充说："幸运的是，他总能做成生意，而且从来没跟自己吵起来过。"
对一些人来说，自言自语是一种在没有团队的情况下取得一致意见的方式。供职于一家金融服务公司的克里斯•韦尔斯(Chris Weyers)整天都自言自语，他说："这就好像有人在帮你安排一天的时间，敦促你快点做完事情，告诉你不要一听到提示音就去查看邮件。"
他觉得自己效率更高了，因为两个人想问题总比一个人强。问题是他那位听力大不如前的助手会成天冲进来问："你在跟我说话吗？"
我们许多人都习惯了别人的自言自语，就像我们习惯了戴着隐形耳机的人像是在自言自语一样。曾为民航飞行员的J.P. 特里斯塔尼(J.P. Tristani)与一位DC-8机长一起飞行过，后者在雷达上看到天气不好时，就会假装他身后的弹跳座椅上坐了一个印第安酋长，总会大声"征询"那人的意见。
特里斯塔尼说："我不介意他跟后面的谁说话，只要那片黑色的虚空里不传出声音就可以。"
在办公室里自言自语可能让人分心，也可能是应对分心的好办法。过段时间，你就会听到自己自言自语的声音，这样就不必听邻座的独白了。
J.J.斯蒂夫斯(J.J. Stives)说："自言自语能消除其他一些让你分心的因素。"他的邻座就老是自言自语。他的搭档克里斯汀•阿瑟曼(Christine Ascherman)是一位商业摄影师，在拍摄前和拍摄期间都会自己念叨曝光和光圈的问题。她说："这样就不用跟别人说话了。"
杂志副编辑卡莉•恩汀(Carli Entin)总喜欢自言自语，说着自己想象中的烹饪表演（"把一部分水换成咖啡，让纸托蛋糕味道更好"），或是说一些琐事。
在工作时，就算有同事提醒恩汀她走神了，也不能阻止恩汀自己将谈话进行下去，或是打断她自言自语的乐趣。另外，她的自言自语也很有效。她说："将对话表演出来，我就不用老想着了。"
关键字:好文共赏
生词表:
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