Introversion vs. Extroversion - Activities, Education, and Professions

In his book “Two Essays on Analytical Psychology,” Carl Jung describes the extrovert and the introvert: Let us imagine two young men who, while traveling, came upon a castle tower. Both wanted to see it from the inside. The introvert said: “I wonder what the inside of this castle is like.” The extrovert replied: “Come on, let’s go in,” and went to the gate. When he imagined guards, policemen, fines, and vicious dogs, the introvert recoiled: “Maybe we can’t go in here?” The extrovert, on the other hand, imagined the kind old man who owned the castle tower and decided that everything would be fine. Encouraged by the extrovert’s optimism, they entered the tower. It turned out that a collection of ancient manuscripts was kept there. The introvert was delighted. First, he asked the guard a lot of questions about them, then he asked to meet with the curator to get more information from him. His shyness has disappeared. Meanwhile, the extrovert's spirits are dropping, his face lengthens, and he begins to yawn.

In this example, Jung describes the nature of types well. Despite desire and interest, an introvert is more pessimistic, has anxiety about punishment, and may, despite curiosity, withdraw. An extrovert is optimistic, risky, and direct. If an introvert becomes interested in something, his interest grows more and more, he gradually becomes more excited, he searches more, finds out, and goes deeper. Shyness disappears. While the initially easily excited extrovert's curiosity wanes, he easily gets bored with a specific event and gives up, approaching the matter more superficially and superficially.

The psychoanalyst considered introversion to be an enlightener and preacher of culture. However, he acknowledged that restraint and unreasonable shyness naturally aroused distrust towards them.

We will explain the characteristics of the types in more detail below.

Extroverts are types oriented toward the outside, objective world and are characterized by the following traits: fast, agile, loud, expressive, restless, aggressive, impulsive, optimistic, easily excited and easily calmed, risk-taking, active, open-minded, cheerful, talkative, caring, leadership-loving, and more.

Introverts are at the opposite pole of extroverts. They are types directed inward, towards their own spiritual world, and are characterized by such qualities as: calmness, tranquility, calmness, pessimism, restraint, passivity, talkativeness, boredom, verbosity, etc. People of this type prefer to stay in the shadows rather than show themselves. This is due to the fact that they have a fear of possible failure and therefore prefer to wait for active action. They are distinguished by higher intelligence and quickly internalize the requirements of their environment. Since modern life leads people to achieve high results, introverts are distinguished by a high level of pretentiousness. They often achieve great success in the field of science and art, but give a low assessment of their own achievements.

Extroverts have a lower level of cerebral cortex excitability than introverts, so they actively participate in exciting activities. They need increased stimulation of the cerebral cortex, so they enjoy extremes and risks. For example, when jumping with a parachute, they love fast driving, active and noisy parties, and entertainment. It is not difficult for extroverts to enliven society. They seem self-confident, are more dominant, and always need company. Extroverts think out loud, prefer talking to listening, and often say things that make no sense. They cope better with conflicts, but they cannot cope with loneliness. They always happily interact with their environment, meet new people, go skiing, or dance to energetic music. Extroverts are more patient with pain than introverts. Also, precisely because of the low level of excitability of the cerebral cortex, extroverts are less and less responsive to the same stimulus (whether it is an activity or communication with people). Extroverts are not characterized by bias towards any particular brand or manufacturer, their interests and tastes change easily. In this regard, introverts are more stable and conservative. They are more likely to change jobs and seek new things than extroverts, and introverts show greater loyalty.

Introverts, whose arousal threshold is high from birth, automatically avoid situations that can cause strong overstimulation. They do not enjoy it and therefore try not to get involved in noisy social events, do not like to participate in risky activities, etc. Introverts prefer to drink wine quietly alone or with close friends, read a book or complete a crossword puzzle. Introverts spend their social energy mainly on close friends, colleagues and relatives. They listen more than they speak; they think first before they open their mouths and often express their thoughts better in writing than out loud. Conflicts are not their nature. Many of them do not like meaningless conversations, gossip, although they are happy to discuss deep, difficult topics. Introverts are also less likely to get bored or lose interest, and they can do one thing and interact with one person for a long time.

Introverts prefer theoretical and scientific activities (e.g. engineering and chemistry). They are more successful in work that requires concentration, observation, and intellectual readiness, and they are characterized by strategic thinking. Extroverts, on the other hand, choose activities that are related to human relations (e.g., sales, social work). They prefer jobs that are more risky and full of novelty. Extroverts take more breaks in the process of work to talk and drink coffee than introverts.

Extroverts quickly get to work. They make decisions quickly, dividing their attention between many tasks. Introverts work much more slowly, but thoroughly. It is better for them to concentrate on one task.

Arousal increases the effectiveness of extroverts' actions, while arousal hinders introverts' activities.

Introverts also tend to express themselves through creative ways, such as art, writing, and music.

Introverts don't miss deadlines. They like to plan and prepare everything in advance. Accordingly, they strictly adhere to the deadlines for completing a project or completing a task. Introverts don't say anything thoughtlessly. Introverts don't like meaningless and superficial talk.

Introverts are more successful in their studies than extroverts. However, introverts are more likely to drop out of school for psychiatric reasons, while extroverts are more likely to drop out for academic reasons.

It turned out that introverts are also interested in social events, although, unlike extroverts, they do not gossip. Their social charm is manifested in the fact that they are good listeners and people can confide in introverts about their secrets. An introvert is a good psychotherapist.

Perceiving the environment and thinking about it, processing it, leads to the creation of great works of art and science, instead of quickly moving on to action. This means precisely strategic thinking, which is more characteristic of introverts. Susan Cain lists the important masterpieces that were created by the hands of introverts. “Let's say, the theory of evolution, Van Gogh's “Sunflowers” and personal computers were created by calm, silent, thoughtful people who follow their inner rhythm. Without introverts, the world would not have: Isaac Newton's “Theory of Gravity”, Albert Einstein's “Theory of Relativity”, Chopin's music, Steven Spielberg's films, Sergey Brin and Larry Page's “Google”, Joan Rowling's “Harry Potter”, etc. Introverts include Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Ivane Javakhishvili, Dimitri Uznadze, etc.

Typological studies and parameters are important to be used in the teaching process, where teachers and lecturers will take into account the individual characteristics of extroverted and introverted pupils and students. We hope that only extroverted pupils will no longer be the teachers' favorite students, as was seen in the above-mentioned study by S. Kane. As we know, extroverts are characterized by speed, agility, situational thinking, quick response, optimism, a more positive attitude towards social issues and high self-esteem. Such characteristics may make the teaching process easier for teachers, although the high self-esteem of extroverts may not always mean a high level of knowledge of students. They often achieve little, but they give this achievement a high rating. Also, their speed and agility do not always mean accuracy in the process of concentration. As for introverts, they are characterized by calmness, often shyness, pessimism, a relatively negative attitude towards social issues, self-criticism, and lower self-esteem. We have often heard from teachers about them: “How slow and silent they are!.. Until they speak up and give us an answer!..” However, when an introvert speaks up (if allowed and encouraged), their answer can often be precise, clear, profound, and strategic. Therefore, different qualities are characteristic of both types. These characteristics require consideration and an individual approach to the types.

The results of typological studies are important for employers to consider when deciding on organizational and professional selection issues. The high self-esteem, self-confidence, expressiveness, constructive heteroaggression, risk-taking, and positive social disposition of extroverts can be effectively used in the field of trade (purchases and sales), marketing, brand presentation, mass media, and TV and radio communication, etc. While the criticality, pretentiousness, calmness, detail-orientedness, in-depth search, and strategic thinking of introverts can be effectively used in various fields of science, research, IT technologies, engineering, various fields of technology, psychology (especially in the scientific research field, analytical psychotherapy), philosophy, etc. By the way, Jung believed that depth psychology (analytical, psychodynamic) is introverted, while behaviorism is extroverted.

Therefore, introverts and extroverts have their own abilities and qualities, both have their strengths and weaknesses. As Eysenck himself explains: we have no right to claim that an extrovert is better or worse than an introvert, they are simply people of completely different styles, each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. Another important thing is that both should understand their own characteristics well, use their advantages and work on overcoming their weaknesses. Therefore, society should not idealize and fetishize only one type, but the abilities and characteristics of both should be accepted, assimilated and used in their essence. The strength of society lies in the different abilities of different people. As A. Einstein would say: “Everyone is smart, but if you judge a fish by whether it can climb a tree or not, it will believe that it is stupid.”

Tamar Merabishvili - Psychologist, Psychotherapist, MSc, PhD, Director of the Psychophysiological Rehabilitation Center "Arsi"