Author Name: – Kajal Verma, Nandini Rawat Date:- 18 May 2026
Abstract
Inner speech refers to an individual’s internal talk that is a significant part of cognitive processes and emotional self-regulation. Still, there is a lack of studies that have explored the link between certain types of inner speech and emotion regulation strategies in India. The present study aims to examines the relationships between varieties of inner speech namely, dialogic and motivational inner speech and two emotion regulation strategies, namely, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, were examined among young adults in India. Using the cross-sectional correlational design, the data was collected using the Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ) and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) among 384 university students aged 18-25 years. Significant positive correlations were found between both types of inner speech and cognitive reappraisal but a better correlation coefficient was demonstrated by motivational inner speech predicting cognitive reappraisal. The results of the study showed low levels of relationships between both inner speech types and expressive suppression.
Keywords: inner speech, cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, emotion regulation, young adults.
