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ChristianKl comments on Open thread for January 1-7, 2014 - Less Wrong Discussion

2 Post author: NancyLebovitz 01 January 2014 03:54PM

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Comment author: ChristianKl 05 January 2014 03:20:14PM 0 points [-]

I probably sound like a self absorbed jerk writing this, but if I want the attention to focus on myself, and not my interlocutor I often use "me" language.

While we are at that topic many people use "you" when talking about themselves. They say sentence like: "Yesterday I thought: You should go to gym."

I once even listened to someone who used "he" to when speaking about himself a few years ago. The language was German and he was an Austrian, but it still signified how little he identified with his self in the past.

After a bit of prodding he changed to "I". That also changed subtle things about his body language did change. It was interesting to watch the effect. Identifying with oneself helps to be more charismatic.

It's one of those nontrivial aspects of: "Just be yourself."