Research article The inner speech of behavioral regulation: Intentions and task performance strengthen when you talk to yourself as a You SANDA DOLCOS 1 * AND DOLORES ALBARRACIN 2 1 Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, USA; 2 Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Champaign, USA Abstract People often talk to themselves using the first-person pronoun (I), but they also talk to themselves as if they are speaking to some- one else, using the second-person pronoun (You). Yet, the relative behavioral control achieved by I and You self-talk remains unknown. The current research was designed to examine the potential behavioral advantage of using You in self-talk and the role of attitudes in this process. Three experiments compared the effects of I and You self-talk on problem solving performance and behavioral intentions. Experiment 1 revealed that giving self-advice about a hypothetical social situation using You yielded better anagram task performance than using I. Experiment 2 showed that using You self-talk in preparation for an anagram task enhanced anagram performance and intentions to work on anagrams more than I self-talk, and that these effects were mediated by participants’ attitudes toward the task. Experiment 3 extended these findings to exercise intentions and highlighted the role of attitudes in this effect. Altogether, the current research showed that second-person self-talk strengthens both actual behavior performance and prospective behavioral intentions more than first-person self-talk. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. One of the fascinating phenomena in the study of the self is that, in the course of their daily lives, human beings talk not only with other people but also with themselves. Ninety-six percent of adults report engaging in an ongoing internal dialogue, and self-talk, particularly covert, is reported in over a quarter of sampled experiences (Heavey & Hurlburt, 2008; Winsler, 2009). Despite its omnipresence, knowledge about the form and effects of this internal discourse remains elusive. Students preparing for exams, speakers approaching lecterns, depressed and anxious individuals, and exercisers all com- monly talk to themselves. They often repeat sentences such as You/I can do it! or Stay focused!, which are widely believed to help people “psych” themselves up, stay focused, maintain motivation, and ultimately perform better. People can talk to themselves using either the first- or second-person pronoun (I vs. You), but they appear to favor You in situations that require explicit self-regulation (Zell, Warriner, & Albarracín, 2012). Yet the performance effects of self-talk using the second-person pronoun have surprisingly never been demonstrated. When people covertly discuss their thoughts, goals, plans, and moves, does self-addressing using the second-person, You, strengthen performance, attitudes, and behavioral intentions? As psychologists move forward in their understanding of conscious life and self-regulation, a precise explication of these cognitive and linguistic processes seems essential. These phenomena are likely to be important to researchers in social, cognitive, clinical, health, and sports psychology, as well as practitioners in clinical, educational, and work settings. Fragmented You/I Self-Talk Previous evidence suggests that people prefer second-person self-talk when engaging in action and in difficult situations re- quiring self-regulation (Gammage, Hardy, & Hall, 2001; Zell et al., 2012), but select first-person self-talk when talking about their feelings (e.g., “I don’t like doing this”) (Oliver, Markland, Hardy, & Petherick, 2008). For example, in self-talk related to their fitness activities, exercisers tend to address themselves as You more frequently than as I (Gammage et al., 2001). Further, people address themselves as You when making autonomous rather than externally constrained choices, and in situations that challenge self-control and require self- regulation (Zell et al., 2012). The use of the second-person pronoun seems closely tied to the more imperative statements invoked when people engage in action (Zell et al., 2012) and when they are confronted with a difficult task requiring their full attention (Hermans & Hermans-Konopka, 2010). This point is illustrated in actress Anne Hathaway’s description of filming “I Dreamed a Dream” in one take for “Les Misérables”: “I closed my eyes and I remember thinking, ‘Hathaway, if you do not do this in this moment, you have no right to call yourself an actor. […] just do your job.’ I opened my eyes and I’m like (snaps fingers): ‘Let’s go.’ And I did it.” Given that situations *Correspondence to: Sanda Dolcos, Department of Psychology 603 E Daniel Street, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. E-mail: sdolcos@uiuc.edu European Journal of Social Psychology, Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 44, 636–642 (2014) Published online 23 June 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2048 Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 21 November 2013, Accepted 26 May 2014