the difference between introverts and extroverts

so i read this article that described the difference between how an introverts mind works and how an extroverts mind works...after reading it i found it to be spot on...the information isn't new to me, it's stuff i've been saying for years...i figured i'll put it here so it doesn't disappear too soon allowing others to read it for themselves and discuss their thoughts on it...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/6-illustrations-that-show-what-its-like-in-an-introverts-head_us_56c62d04e4b0ec6725e1fac8

As I said on your wall version of this, I don't think putting labels on people really does anything productive, it just creates an us vs. them mentality. I don't understand why we insist people have to have all one set of traits or the other. People just aren't binary like that.

The same straight-line mental process in the first point can be had by people who are living in the moment, for example. I don't access long term memories or plan stuff before thinking, I just do. It doesn't mean I'm an introvert or extrovert at all, I've just divorced myself from the past in order to think more clearly where I am now.

I'd also be interested in seeing her peer-reviewed research on this. Isn't having a PhD in medicine necessary to make psychological claims of this kind? I see nowhere on her website where it is listed that she has one. I could certainly be wrong and just overlooked it or just wrong in general. There's always that possibility with me xD

People making a profit off of pop-psychology is a shame. I hate to see it continue. It can mess people up even worse than where they started. Writing books and giving TED talks doesn't qualify one as a doctor, but everyone seems to respect her opinion as if she's earned the title.

I agree with you Snowy, labels tend to foster that us vs them mentality. I want to love my so-called enemies, not draw the line even deeper.

Snowy Aftermath wrote: I don't think putting labels on people really does anything productive, it just creates an us vs. them mentality. I don't understand why we insist people have to have all one set of traits or the other. People just aren't binary like that.

I like the Briggs Meyers method of determining intro/extroversion. It's a percentage in one direction or the other. The higher the percentage, the more you fit that type. I tend to be more introverted, but just barely (only 16%).

Snowy Aftermath wrote: I'd also be interested in seeing her peer-reviewed research on this. Isn't having a PhD in medicine necessary to make psychological claims of this kind?

I don't want to assume I know who you're referring to, Snowy. But the article RyuJin linked to actually has a number of links to journals, including J.Neurosci., or perhaps better said links to other places that have links to journals. There has been quite a lot of research in the last fifty years, but the really deep physiological and neuro-chemical stuff since 2000 or so.

I don't disagree with an aversion to labels in general, but in some cases they can be useful to gain a basic understanding of how we are wired, and I think this is one of those cases. Especially since the science seems to indicate there are actual chemical and structural differences in our grey matter.

I guess they work as superficial labels, unless the neuroscience says otherwise. It would seem some people are probably capable of exhibiting both introverted and extroverted behaviour, and that the measure of it is some criteria around social engagement, perhaps? And some people are more likely to exhibit one then the other. If it is a wiring issue, in the brain, then even that can be adjusted over time with practises to exercise Long Term Potentiation (LTP) in certain behaviours or ways of thinking, IMO. Be who you want to be, not who you have been.

Adder wrote: practises to exercise Long Term Potentiation (LTP) in certain behaviours or ways of thinking

Virtually all of those words are English, and yet je ne comprends pas. That one's going on my Big Damn List of Things I Should Research Sooner Rather Than Later So I Don't Seem Ignorant^TM.

Mostly a reply to Snowy.
Damn this just made me angry. Following my usual line of ‘if it hurts there is a sore spot’ I do understand that this is on me. I’ve been buggered all too often to be more open, more outgoing and to stop my ‘phase’ of not liking assemblies of any kind. Clinging on to the Introvert/Extrovert thing helped me not to feel like the freak some of my peers wanted to brand me as. So thanks Snowy, I did not have that spot rubbed in a long time and I needed that reminder to keep working on it.

You asked for peer-reviewed research on this. A valid point.
http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-science-behind-extroversion-and-introversion-1282059791
This article is not this research, but it links to a whole lot of research on the topic, most of it on diverse PubMed sides. I googled some of the names (for example Hakan Fischer, Ph.D, Head of Department of Psychology of the Stockholm University) and think it is rather credible. I would argue that this is not a feel-good-specialsnowflake kind of thing but actual biological difference in wiring.

Another thing to point out: Introverts are not better than Extroverts for thinking more or whatever special attributes are claimed. All of these come at a price, balancing out all those things.

And I can forge a us vs them mentality based on differing preferences regarding ice-cream. Just because some people do doesn’t make the discussion pointless, it just makes them less helpful to advancing it.

As a foot note: Introvert/Extrovert research started 1920, it’s by no means a recent/pop-psychology thing. Also I agree that these pictures on the HuffPost link are oversimplified.

Atticus509 wrote: I don't want to assume I know who you're referring to, Snowy. But the article RyuJin linked to actually has a number of links to journals, including J.Neurosci., or perhaps better said links to other places that have links to journals. There has been quite a lot of research in the last fifty years, but the really deep physiological and neuro-chemical stuff since 2000 or so.

The article states at the very beginning (and end, now that I've noticed it) that it first appeared on http://www.quietrev.com which is not a scientific site, it is put together by a woman named Susan Cain, a former lawyer.

Ok, thank you for clarifying that. I didn't go there, just explored the links from the HuffPost.

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