Reconsidering intrapersonal communication through an interdisciplinary lens.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Communication Studies
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Intrapersonal communication, encompassing self-talk and imagined interactions, involves internal messages within an individual.
• Historically, it faced criticism for being conflated with social cognition, despite some self-communicative behaviors lacking clear social cognitive links.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish intrapersonal communication as a distinct and valuable interdisciplinary classification.
• To propose a unified theoretical framework for empirical examination of intrapersonal phenomena.
• To clarify the boundaries of intrapersonal communication by defining sender and receiver roles.

Main Methods:

• Review of historical research, functional and developmental approaches.
• Analysis of current methodologies and their limitations.
• Development of a theoretical model based on active and inactive sender/receiver roles.

Main Results:

• Intrapersonal communication is a valid construct separable from social cognition.
• Existing methodologies for studying intrapersonal communication have limitations.
• A novel theoretical model is proposed to define intrapersonal interaction dynamics.

Conclusions:

• Intrapersonal communication is a crucial area for interdisciplinary study.
• A unified framework is needed to guide empirical research.
• The proposed model offers a way to understand the sender-receiver roles in internal communication.