Special Topic: Me, Myself, and I (Talking about yourself)

1) Vocabulary
1. Estimate A. a strong feeling of excitement and pleasure
2. Speech B. ordinary and not interesting or exciting
3. Self-disclosure C. short for website, a place on the Internet
4. Rewarding D. a strong desire to do or have something regularly
5. Wonder E. spoken language rather than written language
6. Mundane F. facts that show clearly that something exists or is true
7. Thrill G. What actually happens or is the case
8. Addiction H. a probable guess about the size, value, amount, etc of something
9. Primarily I. to think about something and to try to guess what is true about it
10. Evidence J. Happening every day, without rest or a break
11. Site K. mainly, the main reason for something
9. It turns out L. Revealing information about oneself to other people
10. Day in and day out M. Something that makes you feel happy and satisfied because you
think you are doing something useful or important
Harvard Research Finds Talking About Yourself Is Rewarding

Do you like talking about yourself? Answer truthfully, because it's estimated that 30-40% of all of your
speech has to do with you. But why do we like to talk about ourselves? As it turns out, our brains find
self-disclosure to be very rewarding.

“Self-disclosure is a behavior that we do all of the time, day in and day out,” says Diana Tamir, a
Harvard researcher. She wondered why everyone talks about their lives. So, she studied people’s brain
activity. What would happen when people answered questions about their favorite subject: themselves?

Tamir asked really mundane questions like “do you prefer coffee over tea?” or “do you like to
snowboard?” Harvard researchers watched the brain while people answered those questions. Research
found that certain parts of the brain were more active when people talked about themselves. And that
those parts are also responsible for the thrills of good food, money and drug addiction.

So does Tamir think this explains the popularity of Facebook and Twitter? "On Twitter and Facebook,
people are primarily posting about what they're thinking and feeling at the moment. This research is
one piece of evidence about why we may use those sites,” she says.

2) Questions – Answer these questions with your partner.

1. What is this article about? – talking about yourself
2. Who is Diana Tamir? What did her research find? - Harvard researcher
3. Why do people enjoy talking about themselves? Do you enjoy talking about yourself?
4. Why might Tamis's research explain the popularity of Facebook and Twitter?
5. Do you use any social networking websites? Which do you use? Do you post about yourself often?