
There Are No Such Things as Introversion or Extroversion - spodek
http://www.inc.com/joshua-spodek/there-are-no-such-things-as-introversion-or-extroversion.html
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tkxxx7
Title should be "common myths about introversion vs extroversion". There is
nothing here, besides author's opinion, to support that the two things
actually don't exist. Article caters more toward debunking a bunch of other
false dichotomies.

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tdb7893
I think people are much more complicated than the simple introverted /
extroverted. I’ve personally come to the conclusion that very few people
really fall exactly into either category and most people just seem to be a
semi-random assortment of traits associated with one or the other. It’s really
difficult to disprove things that don’t exist but I feel like the two
categories aren’t an accurate descriptor for most people.

~~~
tkxxx7
I think the problem here is the traits associated with one or the other, not
the two categories themselves. Perhaps if you read different definitions of
the two, you'd think differently as well. The traits addressed in the article
specifically seem particularly fluff.

I believe that while any person can easily use introverted or extroverted
capacities, all people have a baseline or more natural/habitual behavior.

~~~
tdb7893
I think that’s true. I’ve met a lot of girls who tell me they are introverted
or extroverted but the only difference between them is whether they are
anxious or not around people they don’t know well so I’ve come to think that
the other traits people seem to associate them are just kinda arbitrarily
clumped together but I could totally see how you could define them differently
and have the categories actually make sense.

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cSoze
It seems to me that the false dichotomy here is equating (fit or problem
solver) and (gregarious or reserved). Gregarious/reserved are opposites by
definition.

"If you've believed the Or model of introversion and extroversion your whole
life and resist the And model, try this challenge: try believing the And model
for a week or a month."

I believed in the And model until I was ~23, it made me exhausted from all the
pressure to be more extraverted. I've believed a soft Or model for 5 years now
and I'm a hell of a lot happier having accepted my introverted lean.

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skmurphy
Extraversion is one of the Big 5 personality traits
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits)
There is considerable evidence for its existence as a factor of personality.

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woodandsteel
There is a lot of scientific evidence that what has been labeled introversion
should instead be called highly sensitive personality

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_processing_sensitivity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_processing_sensitivity)

~~~
taurath
I've frequently thought about it in terms of whether people consider the
"average" stimuli to be potentially harmful or harmless - something that would
take seed early in someone's childhood (with potential genetic factors as
well). An "introvert" or "extrovert" would just be a heuristic to define
someone's general state of mind - I know many introverts who have extroverted
personalities in certain situations, and many extroverts who act like
introverts in other situations.

~~~
woodandsteel
Not exactly. It has more to do with how deeply you process the stimuli, at
least in a lot of situations. For instance, I enjoy parties, but then I think
off and on for a few days about what happened, like what I learned I could
make use of, what I would like to say to each person if I met them again, and
so on.

If I have too much novel social stimuli, then I get a backlog and don't want
to deal with people until I have time to process it. Extroverts, on the other
hand, seem to get all done right in the encounter and are eager to go right on
to the next one.

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carsongross
_> Science doesn't justify introversion v extroversion_

 _> No studies cited_

 _> Obvious logical fallacy comparing fitness v intelligence and liking
talking a lot v not liking talking a lot_

OK

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deanCommie
I thought it's been understood for a while that the question isn't what you
desire or how you behave in groups/alone, but rather "How do you recharge your
emotional batteries?"

When I'm in a social setting - with friends or strangers alike, I am
gregarious and outgoing. People are shocked when I claim to be an introvert
due to my social skills. But the reality is that while I love them and make
the most of them, social situations exhaust me. Too many in a row and I dream
of a weekend when I can do nothing but play video games, read, or watch
TV/Movies.

On the other hand I know people with roughly the same intelligence and social
skills as myself who are the opposite. They get antsy on their own, and crave
socialization and are clearly the most relaxed in a crowd.

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upvotingfriend
Would you post the article content here? It's behind a paywall.

~~~
gumby
Hmm, read fine for me -- perhaps its because of all the trackers and js I
block?

I tried to paste the text but HN says the comment is too long. The TL;DR is:
"As Einstein says, what you see is determined by your model. And most people
have polar, either/or models that are worse than useless. Introvert/extrovert
is a particularly bad one"

