Show we do plaat we do by AL K T THOMSON ph D 0 ao WHY WE TALK TO OURSELVES PEOPLE who live alone for a long time begin to talk to themselves I 1 recall an experience some years ago while en route to california in passing through arizona a man boarded the train at one of the flag stops ile he looked like a hermit in talking with him I 1 found that he had lived by him h tin self for years ills lips were moving most moat of the time as he sat tn in the seat ahead of rne me every now and then he be would talk aloud to himself A lonely person talks to himself for the same game reason that a boy whistles sties in the dark it Is an unconscious effort to provide themselves with company which shows allows how strongly we are dominated by the herding tail pulse any of us are likely to talk to our selves when rehearsing some past experience per peri fence ence in n which we are thinking up arguments in defense or justification we become so stirred up and earnest that we talk out loud before we realize what we are doing the same may happen it if we get too deeply ab sorted in our day dreams and reveries children often carry on conversations with imaginary playmates this Is more likely to happen tn in a child who Is alone a good deal all children talk to their toys perhaps in some cases this childish habit carries over into adult life and a person pemon keeps on talking to himself we talk to ouri ourselves elves in childhood to provide imaginary playmates in adult life to provide company when we have to be alone a good deal and in vivid day dreams and soliloquies in which the situation amounts to that tha of having other people present E by newpher New syndicate meats |