People devote 30 to 40 percent of their total speaking time to describing their own opinions or experiences, according to much research. A new study suggests that self-expression is intrinsically rewarding, in the same way that sex or eating is. In fact, we find talking about ourselves so pleasurable that we will give up money to do so, as reported in the May 22 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.

Diana Tamir and Jason Mitchell of Harvard University used functional MRI to study 195 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 27. They found that when the subjects talked about their opinions or their own personality, the pathways of the brain that register reward—known as the mesolimbic dopamine system—were far more active than when they judged the opinions or personalities of others.

In another experiment, participants were asked to choose several questions to answer from three categories: an inquiry about their own likes and dislikes, an invitation to guess about President Barack Obama's likes and dislikes, or a factual trivia question. The subjects earned between a penny and four cents a question, depending on the category. Although the subjects could have consistently chosen questions to maximize their profit, they preferred to answer the personal queries, forfeiting 54 to 63 cents per trial to talk about themselves.

The findings do not mean we are self-absorbed egotists, the researchers say. Telling others about ourselves helps to bring us together. “One of the ultimate functions of this behavior is social cohesion,” Tamir says.

This article was originally published with the title Enchanted by Our Own Words.

5 Comments

1. 1. vapur 12:57 PM 9/25/12

   Some people may feel rewarded when judging others and receiving feedback reinforcing their judgment. Are you saying that the Westboro members feel better when they talk about how righteous they are instead of condemning others? Now it's starting to make sense; forget that Rev 14:4 says a man is defiled by laying with a woman, or even that Jesus advocated loving your enemies and sharing it with them by washing their feet with any tool you can find, like your hair ... the Bible doesn't leave room for logic, especially when it disagrees with preconceived notions. We call that turning a blind eye so the message becomes a validation of hatred.
   
   As per the article, expect people to remain silent on knowledge when it doesn't involve them personally or their dogma.

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2. 2. Laroquod in reply to vapur 05:50 PM 9/25/12

   What the devil are you on about? Are you aware that you make no sense?

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3. 3. vapur in reply to Laroquod 07:10 PM 9/25/12

   I apologize if my sarcasm was too advanced, in that you could not make sense of its deliberate wordage. Mirroring the article, people love talking about themselves, being reinforced by dopamine. Groups like the Westboro Baptist Church, known for their mockery of sinners, gain the greatest levels of dopamine when they talk about their activities with each other instead of when they stand in protest against their enemies. Giving examples of the hate group's flaws of logic (and many Christians who like quoting the Bible to accuse others of sin, for that matter), I repeat the findings of the article that a shared faith in dogma becomes an interest that people are willing to talk about to exploit their natural dopamine addictions.

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4. 4. Raghuvanshi1 01:19 AM 9/27/12

   Simple truth about speaking about ourself enhance our self esteem,our self-confidence.It is natural process,no one like erases himself.Am I there otherwise there no value to world.How can man live without self?

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5. 5. lepperk 12:49 PM 9/28/12

   I don't think the second study shows that people were willing to pay (or forfeit) money in order to talk about themselves. It seems more likely that it shows that people are willing to pay (or forfeit) money -- and a very small amount of money at that -- in order to avoid taking the 'harder' questionnaire. It is harder to take a trivia test or even to speculate on someone else's preferences (the other two options) than to share your own preferences.

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