Thinking and Talking

What's the relationship between thinking and talking? Most people would say it's simple: you think something, then you say it. But this can't be right. If you pay attention to your own mind, you'll notice something strange: you often don't know what you think until you try to explain it to someone.

This observation leads to a more interesting question: what if thinking and talking aren't separate processes at all? What if they're actually the same thing in different forms?

To answer this, we need to first understand what thinking actually is. When you're thinking hard about something, what's actually happening in your mind? Pay attention next time you're solving a difficult problem. You'll notice you're having a conversation with yourself. This isn't just a metaphor—it's literally what thinking is.

But why would thinking take the form of internal dialogue? The answer becomes clear when you look at how humans evolved. We developed language as a tool for communication, but then something remarkable happened: we repurposed this machinery for internal processing. It was a brilliant evolutionary hack. Instead of developing a separate system for complex thought, we adapted our communication system to talk to ourselves.

This explains several puzzling phenomena. Watch young children between ages 3-7, and you'll notice something interesting: they often engage in what psychologists call "private speech"—talking to themselves while solving problems or playing imaginatively. Piaget initially dismissed this as mere egocentric behavior, but Vygotsky's research revealed something deeper: this self-directed speech is actually them learning to think. As they develop, this external monologue gradually becomes internalized into silent thought. Why does explaining something help you understand it better? Because explanation isn't just about conveying thoughts—it's about creating them.

A harder question: if thinking is internalized talking, how do we think about things we can't easily verbalize, like spatial relationships or emotions? This gets at something fundamental about different types of thought. Some thoughts are naturally verbal, others visual or spatial. But when we need to reason about complex ideas, we almost always resort to words.

This leads to an important truth: the quality of your thinking is directly related to the quality of your internal dialogue. When people say someone is "articulate," they're usually also implying they're intelligent. This isn't a coincidence. Clear expression and clear thinking are fundamentally the same thing.

But this raises another question: if thinking is just internalized talking, why do we find it so hard to express some of our thoughts? The answer is that we're translating between different levels of verbalization. Your internal dialogue can be fragmentary and incomplete because you understand your own context. Making it intelligible to others requires filling in these gaps.

This explains why writing is such a powerful tool for thinking. Writing forces you to convert your semi-formed internal dialogue into something complete and coherent. When you can't write something clearly, it's often because you haven't finished thinking it through.

The most practical question is: how can we use this understanding to think better? The answer is surprisingly simple: if you want to improve your thinking, improve your dialogue—both internal and external. Explain things to others. Write down your thoughts. When you're stuck on a problem, don't just contemplate it silently—try to explain it to someone.

This also explains why certain modern communication patterns might be making us worse thinkers. Text messages and tweets optimize for quick transmission, not careful articulation. When we communicate primarily through these channels, we might be training ourselves to think in fragments rather than complete thoughts.

The final question is whether this relationship between thinking and talking is just an interesting observation or something more fundamental. I'd argue it's one of the most important things to understand about how our minds work. It suggests that the quality of our thinking isn't just about raw intelligence—it's about how well we've developed our capacity for dialogue, both with others and with ourselves.

This leads us to a surprising conclusion: the best thinkers aren't necessarily those with the highest IQ, but those who have cultivated the best internal conversation. And since conversation is a skill that can be improved, this means that better thinking is something we can actively develop.

The ultimate truth here is both practical and profound: thinking and talking aren't two separate activities—they're two aspects of the same fundamental human capacity. When we improve one, we necessarily improve the other. This isn't just an interesting insight; it's a powerful tool for becoming both a better thinker and a better communicator.