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

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hi

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our archives. You know, I never thought that much

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<v Speaker 1>about that intro line that I just said that I

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<v Speaker 1>say something to the extent of at the beginning of

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<v Speaker 1>every episode. I inherited the line from one of our

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<v Speaker 1>former hosts, and I just sort of went with it.

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<v Speaker 1>But this episode made me feel a number of ways

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<v Speaker 1>about it. The question of the day is, how can

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<v Speaker 1>talking about yourself in the third person make you feel better? Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. In pop culture parlance,

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<v Speaker 1>it's known as the Jimmy, the odd conversational quirk of

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<v Speaker 1>referring to yourself in the third person, named after the

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<v Speaker 1>Seinfeld character who bragged about his basketball skills as if

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<v Speaker 1>he was his own biggest fans jim He's ready, dude check.

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<v Speaker 1>Professional sports and politics are full of real life Jimmy's

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<v Speaker 1>outsized personalities with the off putting habit of talking about

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<v Speaker 1>themselves by name. Senator Bob Dole was mocked relentlessly on

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<v Speaker 1>Saturday Night Live for his Bob Dole is ums Lebron James,

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<v Speaker 1>defending his controversial move from his hometown of Cleveland to

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<v Speaker 1>the Miami Heat famously said I wanted to do what

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<v Speaker 1>was best for Lebron James to make him happy. The

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<v Speaker 1>real term for talking about yourself of 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 Emotion 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 particip 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 itself. Afterward.

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<v Speaker 1>In a later study, Cross took f M R I

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

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

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>the third person self talk appears to bypass the cognitive

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>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 studied. 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 arounds 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. Pele doesn't die, Pele will never die. Pile

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

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<v Speaker 1>on the article the Benefits of talking about yourself in

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<v Speaker 1>the third person on House to Forks Dot com written

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<v Speaker 1>by Dave Roose. Brainstuff is production by Heart Radio in

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<v Speaker 1>partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Klang.

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<v Speaker 1>Four more podcasts to my heart Radio, visit the I

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.