What’s The Difference Between Introverts And Extroverts?

What’s The Difference Between Introverts And Extroverts?

Are introverts and extroverts really all that different and what’s the science behind this?

Society has some pretty typical stereotypes for introverts and extroverts.

One is cuddled up with a book in bed and the other is out being the life of the party. But there’s actually a big misunderstanding about what truly makes someone one or the other.

Being introverted or extroverted isn’t dictated by how you spend your free time. It all depends on how you recharge when you’re feeling low.

Introverts do it alone, Extroverts with others.

How someone recharges may not seem like a huge deal, but it has some interesting impacts.

One’s social life, career, even internet usage can be affected and these differences aren’t just external. The brains of introverts and extroverts are actually surprisingly different.

Let’s start by looking at dopamine, a chemical in the brain that causes an influx of good feelings.

Extroverts receive more of it during high-energy, exciting activities than introverts do. It’s been found that introverts have less blood flow in certain regions with a lot of dopamine terminals, indicating dopamine presence plays a big role in whether someone is more extroverted or introverted.

The extrovert and introvert brains look different too. Introverts have thicker prefrontal cortices, which makes sense since this is the area associated with deep thinking and decision making.

And they have more neuronal activity in brain areas associated with learning and vigilance control, which dictates how alert someone is. The brain's of extroverts have larger right-hemisphere amygdalas than their introverted counterparts. The amygdala aids in emotional processing and researchers believe that this increased size reduces an extrovert’s likelihood of developing conditions like depression or anxiety.

Unsurprisingly, introvert and extrovert personality differences affect many aspects of their personal and professional lives. For example, caffeine has been found to have positive effects on extroverts working memory, but not on introverts.

And extroverts are able to perform better than introverts when presented with distractions like music and background noise. Basically, they work more effectively when there’s a lot going on.

But, introverts also have their own leg up in the world. It’s been found that introverts are better fits for leadership positions in industries and offices that rely heavily on collaboration. This is because they are more receptive to input from others.

When it comes to socializing, researchers found that extroverts display a less genuine form of themselves on social media. At the same time, it suggested that introverts, who are more of their “real selves” online, may find it easier to open up to people behind a computer screen than peers in face to face interactions.

But what if you wanted to switch personality types? Is that doable? Personality isn’t completely understood but it’s thought to be pretty stable after it’s formed in childhood. Genes and dopamine function come into play in its formation so it’s fairly deeply rooted, but if there are certain traits of your personality that you don’t like, you can work on changing those.

Now, all this comes with some very important fine print. Most people aren’t introverts or extroverts! It’s been found that about two-thirds of the population are ambiverts, meaning they’re a bit of both. So if you feel like you don’t fit into one box or the other, you’re actually not alone.



Source: Life Noggin