How Does Writing In Third Person Help You Learn About Yourself Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

Oscar wilde on me, you, them, us, and himself the tendency to refer to oneself in the third person is often viewed by psychologists as a symptom of narcissism. In order to learn how to effectively refer to yourself in the third person, it is often desirable to understand the narcissist mentality, and develop an ability to role play as an actual narcissist. Needless to say, the comedic potential of having this ability cannot be overestimated, but there is also danger, in that you may inadvertently develop strong narcissistic tendencies in yourself without realizing it.

Children who fail to grow out of the monarchic phase of intellectual development and into the dualistic phase may become narcissistic throughout their lives. They may effectively intellectualize and rationalize their behavior, but their inability to view situations from perspectives other than their own causes them to also become abusive or coldly detached when challenged, and to react with rage and indignance when denied or thwarted in some way. Paradoxically, the tendency of narcissists to refer to themselves in the third person stems from precisely this inability. when asked to explain their ill conceived actions or describe their negative emotions, narcissists usually refuse to take responsibility for them. Instead, they blame others, often by composing narratives featuring a suspiciously autobiographical fictitious character who understands everything, is a world renowned expert in whatever subject is germane to the issue at hand, and whose authority is therefore unquestioned. This is also why narcissists may be inextricably drawn to the act of making up quotes.

Rhoid , author of narcissism: why i'm right and you're just really gay, narcissism can be a very useful tool for quote fabrication. In fact, i happen to personally know a world famous behavioral theorist who's studied the made up quoting phenomenon for many years, and he says precisely the same thing. This guy made up this quote all by himself! in order to refer to yourself in the third person, you must first think of yourself in the first person, and then imagine someone else. Expressing that same thought about you. however, it is also important to differentiate between the third person and the second person plural. for example: first person: i have always believed that fat people should not be allowed on airplanes. Note, however, that this particular writer has tripped himself up: by excessively embellishing the statement to remove the first person usage, he has contradicted himself. If fat people shouldn't be allowed on planes at all , why would they be punished with dog food strangulation for refusing to board? this makes no sense.

It is often desirable to impose the third person perspective on a celebrity figure. Many also consider microsoft ceo steve ballmer to be a person, though this is the subject of some controversy. While anonymous is technically not a person per se, he is still somewhat famous, and therefore heavily quoted. In this case, it is advisable to understand something about the people being quoted, beyond simply their sexual preferences or tendency to express homicidal rage toward business rivals. However, that may require research an antiquated concept heretofore unknown on uncyclopedia.

Nevertheless, research can improve quote quality by as much as 80 percent, according to a world famous literary theorist who has studied the made up quoting phenomenon for many years. For instance, you perform better after a good night's sleep uses the second person point of view, even though the idea may not apply to each reader. Students perform better after a good night's sleep creates more specific information, where the word students is an example or third person usage. Academic writing relies on support for credibility, and third person language presents evidence in the most straightforward way, lending integrity to the entire paper. Shifts in point of view can also be confusing for readers, making your ideas more difficult to follow. When writing a personal narrative a story about an event that happened to you you can write in third person by using your first name or inventing a name rather than using first person pronouns like i, me, we and us.

Although most instructors allow students to use first person in such essays, the use of a name like charles which is a third person usage lets you present your story without using first person write as if someone else experienced the situation. This replacement also works when you want to use a personal experience within a research or other formal essay as an introductory hook or for support. When writing a paper presenting your own research, the american psychological association, 6th edition allows for first person, but you may find instructors or publications requiring the use of third person. Writing about the process and results rather than your preparation or reaction creates more natural third person language.

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For instance, instead of writing, i selected 50 surveys at random and determined most students agreed with the policy, write, fifty randomly pulled surveys revealed that most students agreed with the policy. Revise so that you eliminate the need for pronouns entirely in your sentences, creating the succinct language more appropriate for formal writing. The sentence, the researcher's method required that students explain their survey answers if they choose 'unsatisfied', could be more effectively written in the third person as, respondents needed to explain survey answers if selecting 'unsatisfied.' phrases like this writer create awkward language. Writing in third person perspective is hard much harder than first person. Why? because we see and experience the world through our own perspective our patterns of beliefs, experiences, hopes, fears.

For example: bp did not take immediate responsibility for the horizon drilling rig accident. I found research to show that they thought they could place the blame on others and therefore avoid much of the cost of the disaster. While responsibility may have been shared with their business partners, i think that if they had taken immediate responsibility, it would have resulted in a much smaller public relations disaster. At first glance it may appear that this is a perfectly acceptable paragraph from a research report. In the above paragraph, what are the facts presented? there is only one probable fact: bp did not take immediate responsibility for the horizon drilling rig accident. The rest of the paragraph is a mix of unsubstantiated findings i found research to show that they thought they could place the blame on others.

, unsubstantiated conjecture while responsibility may have been shared with their business partners , and personal opinion . I think that if they had taken immediate responsibility, it would have resulted in a much smaller public relations disaster. What do all these fancy terms mean? in simple terms, they mean that you have only said one thing that is easily provable the first sentence. In research terms, you haven't said much in your paragraph that is trustworthy because each sentence does not follow from a proven path of previous facts that are logically connected.

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Third person writing is useful because it forces a separation of the writer's personal perspective from provable facts and a logical chain of thinking. You are forcing yourself to step back from what you are researching and writing about and try to see it without filtering information through your beliefs, experiences, hopes, fears, values, etc. By writing in third person you are therefore writing something that is closer to a truth that is observable by another person the reader.

And you are now seeing the situation you are writing about from a neutral, uninvolved perspective. Example of the paragraph used earlier, now written in third person: bp did not take immediate responsibility for the horizon drilling rig accident reference. There is evidence that bp thought they could place the blame on others and therefore avoid much of the cost of the disaster reference 1, reference 2, reference 3. While it follows logically that some responsibility should have been shared with their business partners, research from other disaster responses shows that a fast public announcement taking immediate responsibility results in lower public relations costs example reference 1, example reference 2, research source 1.