WEBVTT - Can Talking About Yourself in the Third Person Make You Feel Better?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren bog obam Here. In pop culture parlance, it's known

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<v Speaker 1>as the Jimmy, the odd conversational quirk of referring to

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<v Speaker 1>yourself in the third person, named after the Seinfeld character

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<v Speaker 1>who bragged about his basketball skills as if he was

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<v Speaker 1>his own biggest fan. Jimmy's ready dud check. Oh yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>Jimmy played pretty good. Professional sports and politics are full

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<v Speaker 1>of real life Jimmy's outsized personalities with the off putting

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<v Speaker 1>habit of talking about themselves by name. Senator Bob Dole

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<v Speaker 1>was mocked relentlessly on Saturday Night Live for his Bob

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<v Speaker 1>doll Is ums. Lebron James, defending his controversial move from

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<v Speaker 1>his hometown of Cleveland to the Miami Heat, famously said

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<v Speaker 1>I wanted to do what was best for Lebron James

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<v Speaker 1>to make him happy. And now the United States has

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<v Speaker 1>a Jimmy in chief. President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred

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<v Speaker 1>to himself as Trump or Donald Trump in debates, interviews,

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<v Speaker 1>and tweets. For example, dismissing the allegations of collusion with

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<v Speaker 1>Russia in the presidential elections, Trump tweeted in perhaps Trump

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<v Speaker 1>just ran a great campaign which prompted this reaction from

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<v Speaker 1>author J. K. Rowling. I wonder whether Trump talks to

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<v Speaker 1>Trump's self in the third Trump person when Trump's alone.

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<v Speaker 1>The real term for talking about yourself the third person

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<v Speaker 1>is ilioism, and every armchair psychologist has a theory for

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<v Speaker 1>why certain celebrities are rabbid iliasts. The easiest explanation is ego. Essentially,

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<v Speaker 1>their ego gets so big and inflated that it takes

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<v Speaker 1>on a life of its own. Same for narcissism. These

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<v Speaker 1>folks love themselves so much that they need to address

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<v Speaker 1>the object of their affection by name. But the truth

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<v Speaker 1>is that no substantial research has been done on the

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<v Speaker 1>question of why some A list athletes, actors, and politicians

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<v Speaker 1>can't keep their own name out of their mouth. Interestingly, though,

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<v Speaker 1>there is convincing evidence that regular folks like you and

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<v Speaker 1>me can actually boost ourself confidence through the simple trick

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<v Speaker 1>of thinking of ourselves in the third person. Ethan Cross

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<v Speaker 1>is a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, where

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<v Speaker 1>he runs the Motion and Self Control Laboratory. Cross studies

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<v Speaker 1>the ways in which people regulate their emotions, including the

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<v Speaker 1>handy trick of psychological distancing, taking a step back from

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<v Speaker 1>intense anger or pain to think about the situation as

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<v Speaker 1>an objective outsider. Cross said, what we've learned is that

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<v Speaker 1>language provides people with a tool to distance themselves psychologically,

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<v Speaker 1>including language that many people use spontaneously without even thinking

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<v Speaker 1>about it. It turns out that all of us, not

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<v Speaker 1>just celebrities, engage in what Cross calls third person self

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<v Speaker 1>talk when we need a little emotional or psychological boost.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe it happens at the gym when we feel like

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<v Speaker 1>quitting with five minutes left on the elliptical, Come on, Lauren,

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<v Speaker 1>pushed through, or when we're trying to work up the

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<v Speaker 1>nerve to ask our boss for a raise. You deserve this, Lauren,

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<v Speaker 1>And as weird as that just felt it works. In

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<v Speaker 1>his lab, Cross ran experiments comparing the performance of two

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<v Speaker 1>groups in a stressful situation. One group that was prompted

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<v Speaker 1>to psych itself up with eye statements and a second

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<v Speaker 1>group that used use statements and their own name. When

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<v Speaker 1>the participants were asked to give an extemporaneous speech in public,

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<v Speaker 1>a true stress bomb. The Jimmy group came in with

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<v Speaker 1>a healthier attitude performed better and was less critical of

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<v Speaker 1>itself afterward. In a later study, Cross took fm R

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<v Speaker 1>I brain scans of people engaged in first person versus

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<v Speaker 1>third persons self talk. The scans revealed that I centered

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<v Speaker 1>thinking it triggers the areas of the brain associated with

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<v Speaker 1>negative self referential processes, while Jimmy style thinking does not.

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<v Speaker 1>In addition, the third persons self talk appears to bypass

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<v Speaker 1>the cognitive or effortful parts of the brain. In other words,

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<v Speaker 1>the positive effect is automatic. Cross recommends that everyone give

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<v Speaker 1>it a try the next time they're stressed or emotionally wrought.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, compared to other emotional regulation strategies, third person

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<v Speaker 1>self talk might be a little bit easier for people

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<v Speaker 1>to implement, the costs are minimal, and the potential upshot

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<v Speaker 1>is valuable. Does this mean that all the Lebrons, Jimmy's

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<v Speaker 1>and Trumps of the world are talking about themselves in

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<v Speaker 1>the third person because they're trying to establish psychological distance

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<v Speaker 1>from stressful situations, maybe, says Cross, But it's not something

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<v Speaker 1>that he or anyone else has study. Interestingly, in the

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<v Speaker 1>famous clip of Lebron James defending Lebron James, he also

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<v Speaker 1>tells the interviewer, What I didn't want to do was

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<v Speaker 1>make an emotional decision. Maybe for James, the best way

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<v Speaker 1>to distance himself emotionally and make an objective decision was too,

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<v Speaker 1>As he put it, do what's best for Lebron James,

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<v Speaker 1>not necessarily himself. One important difference between the lab experiments

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<v Speaker 1>and examples of celebrity self name dropping is that the

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<v Speaker 1>participants in Crosses study never spoke out loud. All of

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<v Speaker 1>the self talk was internal or written out on paper.

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<v Speaker 1>So there's still a possibility that when it comes to

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<v Speaker 1>celebrity self talkers, that first theory we mentioned still applies. However,

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<v Speaker 1>we'll leave you with an interesting case study soccer legend

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<v Speaker 1>Pel was a world class Jimmy, but for an interesting reason,

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<v Speaker 1>Born Edson arounts Pile, the person didn't identify with the

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<v Speaker 1>global superstar that had crowds chanting his name. He told

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<v Speaker 1>the Guardian, Edson is the person who has the feelings,

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<v Speaker 1>who has the family, who works hard, and Pile is

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<v Speaker 1>the idol. Pile doesn't die, Pele will never die. Pile

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<v Speaker 1>is going to go on forever. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Clang for more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and lots of other topics, but none of

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<v Speaker 1>which make me feel so weird about starting out every

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<v Speaker 1>episode by stating my name. Visit our home planet, how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff Works dot com