E *he trait of extraversionintroversion is a central dimension of human personality theories, *he terms introversion and extraversion -ere first populari&ed by Carl .ung, /01 although both the popular understanding and psychological usage differ from his original intent, Extraversion tends to be manifested in outgoing, talkative, energetic behavior, -hereas introversion is manifested in more reserved, 2uiet, shy behavior, /31 +irtually all comprehensive models of personality include these concepts in various forms, Examples include the Big Five model, .ung4s analytical psychology, $ans Eysenck4s three5factor model, )aymond Cattell4s 06 personality factors, the innesota ultiphasic !ersonality %nventory, and the yers Briggs *ype %ndicator, Extraversion and introversion are typically vie-ed as a single continuum, *hus, to be high on one it is necessary to be lo- on the other, Carl .ung and the authors of the yers7Briggs provide a different perspective and suggest that everyone has both an extraverted side and an introverted side, -ith one being more dominant than the other, )ather than focusing on interpersonal behavior, ho-ever, .ung defined introversion as an 8attitude5type characterised by orientation in life through sub9ective psychic contents8 :focus on one4s inner psychic activity;< and extraversion as 8an attitude type characterised by concentration of interest on the external ob9ect8, :the outside -orld;, /=1 %n any case, people fluctuate in their behavior all the time, and even extreme introverts and extraverts do not al-ays act according to their type, Contents /hide1 0 +arieties o 0,0 Extraversion o 0,3 %ntroversion o 0,= Ambiversion 3 easurement o 3,0 Eysenck4s theory o 3,3 Biological factors = Behavior > %mplications ? )egional variation 6 Extraversion, introversion, and happiness o 6,0 !ossible reasons 6,0,0 %nstrumental vie- o 6,3 *emperamental vie- @ #ee also A )eferences B External links /edit1+arieties /edit1Extraversion Extraversion is 8the act, state, or habit of being predominantly concerned -ith and obtaining gratification from -hat is outside the self8, />1 Extraverts tend to en9oy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious, *hey take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups, !olitics, teaching, sales, managing and brokering are fields that favor extraversion, An extraverted person is likely to en9oy time spent -ith people and find less re-ard in time spent alone, *hey tend to be energi&ed -hen around other people, and they are more prone to boredom -hen they are by themselves, /edit1Introversion Introversion is 8the state of or tendency to-ard being -holly or predominantly concerned -ith and interested in one4s o-n mental life8, />1 #ome popular -riters have characteri&ed introverts as people -hose energy tends to expand through reflection and d-indle during interaction, /?1 *his is similar to .ung4s vie-, although he focused on psychic energy rather than physical energy, Fe- modern conceptions make this distinction, *he common modern perception is that introverts tend to be more reserved and less outspoken in groups, *hey often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, -riting, using computers, hiking and fishing, *he archetypal artist, -riter, sculptor, engineer, composer and inventor are all highly introverted, An introvert is likely to en9oy time spent alone and find less re-ard in time spent -ith large groups of people, though he or she may en9oy interactions -ith close friends, *rust is usually an issue of significanceC a virtue of utmost importance to an introvert is choosing a -orthy companion, *hey prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate, especially observed in developing children and adolescents, /61 *hey are more analytical before speaking, /@1 %ntroverts are easily over-helmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement, introversion having even been defined by some in terms of a preference for a 2uiet, more minimally stimulating environment, /A1 %ntroversion is not seen as being identical to shy or to being a social outcast, %ntroverts prefer solitary activities over social ones, -hereas shy people :-ho may be extroverts at heart; avoid social encounters out of fear, /B1 /edit1Abiversion Although many people vie- being introverted or extroverted as a 2uestion -ith only t-o possible ans-ers, most contemporary trait theories measure levels of extraversion5introversion as part of a single, continuous dimension of personality, -ith some scores near one end, and others near the half5-ay mark, /0D1 Ambiversion is falling more or less directly in the middle, />1/001 An ambivert is moderately comfortable -ith groups and social interaction, but also can en9oy time alone, a-ay from a cro-d, /edit1easurement Extent of extraversion and introversion is most commonly assessed through self5 report measures, although peer5reports and third5party observation can also be used, #elf5report measures are either lexical /31 or based on stateents, /031 Which measure of either type is used is determined by an assessment of psychometric properties and the time and space constraints of the research being undertaken, Lexical easures use individual ad9ectives that reflect extravert and introvert traits, such as outgoing, talkative, reserved and 2uiet, Words representing introversion are reverse coded to create composite measures of extraversionEintroversion running on a continuum, Foldberg :0BB3; /0=1 developed a 3D5-ord measure as part of his 0DD5-ord Big Five markers, #aucier :0BB>; /0>1 developed a briefer A5-ord measure as part of his >D5-ord mini5markers, $o-ever, the psychometric properties of #aucierGs original mini5markers have been found suboptimal -ith samples outside of Horth America, /31 As a result, a systematically revised measure -as developed to have superior psychometric properties, the %nternational English ini5arkers, /31 *he %nternational English ini5arkers has good internal consistency reliabilities and other validity for assessing extraversionEintroversion and other five factor personality dimensions, both -ithin and, especially, -ithout American populations, %nternal consistency reliability of the Extraversion measure for native English5speakers is reported as , B3, that for non5native English5speakers is ,A?, Stateent easures tend to comprise more -ords, and hence consume more research instrument space, than lexical measures, )espondents are asked the extent to -hich they, for example, Talk to a lot of different people at parties or Often feel uncomfortale around others, /031 While some statement5based measures of extraversionEintroversion have similarly acceptable psychometric properties in Horth American populations to lexical measures, their generally emic development makes them less suited to use in other populations, /0?1 For example, statements asking about talkativeness in parties are hard to ans-er meaningfully by those -ho do not attend parties, as Americans are assumed to do, oreover, the sometimes collo2uial Horth American language of statements makes them less suited to use outside America, For instance, statements like !eep in the ackground and !now how to captivate people are sometimes hard for non5native English5speakers to understand except in a literal sense, /edit1Eysenc!"s theory $ans Eysenck described extraversion5introversion as the degree to -hich a person is outgoing and interactive -ith other people, *hese behavioral differences are presumed to be the result of underlying differences in brain physiology, /061 Extroverts seek excitement and social activity in an effort to heighten their arousal level, -hereas introverts tend to avoid social situations in an effort to keep such arousal to a minimum, Eysenck designated extraversion as one of three ma9or traits in his !5E5H model of personality, -hich also includes psychoticism and neuroticism, Eysenck originally suggested that extraversion -as a combination of t-o ma9or tendencies, impulsiveness and sociability, $e later added several other more specific traits, namely liveliness, activity level, and excitability, *hese traits are further linked in his personality hierarchy to even more specific habitual responses, such as partying on the -eekend, Eysenck compared this trait to the four temperaments of ancient medicine, -ith choleric and sanguine temperaments e2uating to extraversion, and melancholic and phlegmatic temperaments e2uating to introversion, /0@1 *-in studies find that extraversionEintroversion has a geneticcomponent, /edit1Biological factors *he relative importance of nature versus environment in determining the level of extraversion is controversial and the focus of many studies, *-in studies find a genetic component of =BI to ?AI, %n terms of the environmental component, the shared family environment appears to be far less important than individual environmental factors that are not shared bet-een siblings, /0A1 Eysenck proposed that extraversion -as caused by variability in cortical arousal, $e hypothesi&ed that introverts are characteri&ed by higher levels of activity than extraverts and so are chronically more cortically aroused than extraverts, *he fact that extraverts re2uire more external stimulation than introverts has been interpreted as evidence for this hypothesis, (ther evidence of the 8stimulation8 hypothesis is that introverts salivate more than extraverts in response to a drop of lemon 9uice, /0B1 Extraversion has been linked to higher sensitivity of the mesolimbic dopamine system to potentially re-arding stimuli, /3D1 *his in part explains the high levels of positive affect found in extraverts, since they -ill more intensely feel the excitement of a potential re-ard, (ne conse2uence of this is that extraverts can more easily learn the contingencies for positive reinforcement, since the re-ard itself is experienced as greater, (ne study found that introverts have more blood flo- in the frontal lobes of their brain and the anterior or frontal thalamus, -hich are areas dealing -ith internal processing, such as planning and problem solving, Extraverts have more blood flo- in the anterior cingulate gyrus, temporal lobes, and posterior thalamus, -hich are involved in sensory and emotional experience, /301 *his study and other research indicates that introversion5extraversion is related to individual differences in brain function, Extraversion has also been linked to physiological factors such as respiration, through its association -ith surgency, /331 /edit1Behavior Extraverts and introverts have a variety of behavioral differences, According to one study, extraverts tend to -ear more decorative clothing, -hereas introverts prefer practical, comfortable clothes, /3=1 Extraverts are likely to prefer more upbeat, conventional, and energetic music than introverts, /3>1 !ersonality also influences ho- people arrange their -ork areas, %n general, extraverts decorate their offices more, keep their doors open, keep extra chairs nearby, and are more likely to put dishes of candy on their desks, *hese are attempts to invite co5-orkers and encourage interaction, %ntroverts, in contrast, decorate less and tend to arrange their -orkspace to discourage social interaction, /3?1 $umans are complex and uni2ue, and because introversion5extraversion varies along a continuum, individuals may have a mixture of both orientations, A person -ho acts introverted in one scenario may act extraverted in another, and people can learn to act 8against type8 in certain situations, .ung4s theory states that -hen someone4s primary function is extraverted, his secondary function is al-ays introverted :and vice versa;, /01 /edit1%mplications Ackno-ledging that introversion and extraversion are normal variants of behavior can help in self5acceptance and understanding of others, For example, an extravert can accept her introverted partner4s need for space, -hile an introvert can ackno-ledge his extraverted partner4s need for social interaction, )esearchers have found a correlation bet-een extraversion and happiness, *hat is, more extraverted people tend to report higher levels of happiness than introverts, /361 /3@1 (ther research has sho-n that being instructed to act in an extraverted manner leads to increases in positive affect, even for people -ho are trait5level introverts, /3A1 *his does not mean that introverts are unhappy, Extraverts simply report experiencing more positive emotions, -hereas introverts tend to be closer to neutral, *his may be due to the fact that extraversion is socially preferable in Western culture and thus introverts feel less desirable, %n addition to the research on happiness, other studies have found that extraverts tend to report higher levels of self5esteem than introverts, /3B1/=D1 (thers suggest that such results reflect socio5 cultural bias in the survey itself, /@1/=01/dead link1 Dr, David eyers has claimed that happiness is a matter of possessing three traitsC self5esteem, optimism, and extraversion, eyers bases his conclusions on studies that report extraverts to be happier< these findings have been 2uestioned in light of the fact that the 8happiness8 prompts given to the studies4 sub9ects, such as 8% like to be -ith others8 and 8%4m fun to be -ith,8 only measure happiness among extraverts, /@1 Also, according to Carl .ung, introverts ackno-ledge more readily their psychological needs and problems, -hereas extraverts tend to be oblivious to them because they focus more on the outer -orld, /01 Extraversion is perceived as socially desirable in Western culture, but it is not al-ays an advantage, For example, extraverted youths are more likely to engage in delin2uentbehavior, /=31 Conversely, -hile introversion is perceived as less socially desirable, it is strongly associated -ith positive traits such as intelligence /==1 and 8giftedness,8 /=>1/=?1 For many years, researchers have found that introverts tend to be more successful in academic environments, -hich extraverts may find boring, /=61 Career counselors often use personality traits, along -ith other factors such as skill and interest, to advise their clients, /=@1 #ome careers such as computer programming may be more satisfying for an introverted temperament, -hile other areas such as sales may be more agreeable to the extraverted type, Although neither introversion nor extraversion is pathological, psychotherapists can take temperament into account -hen treating clients, Clients may respond better to different types of treatment depending on -here they fall on the introversionEextraversion spectrum, *eachers can also consider temperament -hen dealing -ith their pupils, for example ackno-ledging that introverted children need more encouragement to speak in class -hile extraverted children may gro- restless during long periods of 2uiet study, /edit1)egional variation *he examples and perspective in this section deal priarily #ith the $%S and do not represent a #orld#ide vie# of the sub&ect, !lease improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page, "#anuar$ %&'%( #ome claim that Americans live in an 8extraverted society8 /=A1 that re-ards extravert behavior and re9ects introversion, /=B1 *his is because the J# is currently a culture of personality, -hereas other cultures are cultures of character -here people are valued for their 8inner selves and their moral rectitude8, />D1 (ther cultures, such as Central Europe, .apan or regions -here Buddhism, #ufism etc, prevail, pri&e introversion, /@1 *hese cultural differences predict individuals4 happiness such that people -ho score higher in extraversion are happier, on average, in particularly extroverted cultures and vice versa, />01 )esearchers have found that people -ho live on islands tend to be less extroverted :more introverted; than those living on the mainland, and that people -hose ancestors had inhabited the island for t-enty generations tend to be less extroverted than more recent arrivals, Furthermore, people -ho emigrate from islands to the mainland tend to be more extroverted than people that stay on islands, and those that immigrate to islands, />31 %n the Jnited #tates, researchers have found that people living in the mid-estern states of Horth Dakota, #outh Dakota, Hebraska, innesota, Wisconsin, and %llinois score higher than the J,#, average on extraversion, Jtah and the southeastern states of Florida and Feorgia also score high on this personality trait, *he most introverted states in the Jnited #tates are aryland, He- $ampshire, Alaska, Washington, (regon and +ermont, !eople -ho live in the north-estern states of %daho, ontana, and Wyoming are also relatively introverted, />=1 /edit1Extraversion, introversion, and happiness %t has been suggested that )ersonalit$* Extraversion and happiness be merged into this article or section, :Discuss; )roposed since +ecemer %&'%. Extraverts are found to have higher levels of happiness and positive affect than introverts, />>1/>?1/>61 An influential revie- article concluded that personality, specifically extraversion and emotional stability, -as the best predictor of sub9ective -ell5being, />@1 As examples, Argyle and 'u :0BBD; />A1 found that the trait of extraversion, as measured by Extraversion #cale of the Eysenck !ersonality "uestionnaire :E!";, -as positively and significantly correlated -ith happiness, as measured by the (xford $appiness %nventory, Jsing the same happiness and extraversion scales, $ills and Argyle :3DD0; />B1 found that happiness -as again significantly correlated -ith extraversion, Also, the study by Emmons and Diener:0BA6; /?D1 sho-ed that extraversion correlates positively and significantly -ith positive affect but not -ith negative affect, #imilar results -ere found in a large longitudinal study byDiener, #andvik, !avot, and Fu9ita :0BB3;, /?01 -hich assessed 0>,>D@ participants from 0DD areas of continental Jnited #tates, Jsing the abbreviated Feneral Well5Being #chedule, -hich tapped positive and negative affects, and Costa and cCrae4s :0BA6; /?31 short version of the HED4s Extraversion scale, the authors reported that extraverts experienced greater-ell5 being at t-o points in time, during -hich data -ere collectedC first bet-een 0B@0 and 0B@?, and later bet-een 0BA0 and 0BA>, Furthermore, 'arsen and Ketelaar :0BB0; /?=1 sho-ed that extraverts respond more to positive affect than to negative affect, since they exhibit more positive5affect reactivity to the positive5affect induction, yet they do not react more negatively to the negative5affect induction, /?>1 /edit1Possible reasons /edit1Instruental vie# *he instrumental vie- proposes that personality traits give rise to conditions and actions, -hich have affective conse2uences, and thus generate individual differences in emotionality, /?>1/??1 )ersonalit$ trait as a cause of higher sociailit$ According to the instrumental vie-, one explanation for greater sub9ective -ell5 being among extraverts could be the fact that extraversion helps in the creation of life circumstances, -hich promote high levels of positive affect, #pecifically, the personality trait of extraversion is seen as a facilitator of more social interactions, />>1/?>1/?61 since the lo- cortical arousal among extraverts results in them seeking more social situations in order to increase their arousal, /?@1 The social participation theor$ According to the social participation theory, more fre2uent participation in social situations creates more fre2uent, and higher levels, of positive affect, *herefore, it is believed that since extraverts are characteri&ed as more sociable than introverts, they also possess higher levels of positive affect brought on by social interactions, /?A1/?B1/6D1 #pecifically, the results of Furnham and Bre-in4s study :0BBD; />61 suggest that extraverts en9oy and participate more in social activities than introverts, and as a result extraverts report higher level of happiness, Also, in the study of Argyle and 'u :0BBD; />A1 extraverts -ere found to be less likely to avoid participation in noisy social activities, and to be more likely to participate in social activities such asC party games, 9okes, or going to the cinema, #imilar results -ere reported by Diener, 'arsen, and Emmons :0BA>; /601 -ho found that extraverts seek social situations more often than introverts, especially -hen engaging in recreational activities, $o-ever, a variety of findings contradict the claims of the social participation theory, Firstly, it -as found that extraverts -ere happier than introverts even -hen alone, #pecifically, extraverts tend to be happier regardless of -hether they live alone or -ith others, or -hether they live in a vibrant city or 2uiet rural environment, />?1 #imilarly, a study by Diener, #andvik, !avot, and Fu9ita :0BB3; /?01 sho-ed that although extraverts chose social 9obs relatively more fre2uently :?0I; than nonsocial 9obs compared to introverts :=AI;, they -ere happier than introverts regardless of -hether their occupations had social or nonsocial character, #econdly, it -as found that extraverts only sometimes reported greater amounts of social activity than introverts, /601 but in general extraverts and introverts do not differ in the 2uantity of their sociali&ation, />?1 #imilar finding -as reported by #rivastava, Angelo, and +allereux :3DDA;, /631 -ho found that extraverts and introverts both en9oy participating in social interactions, but extraverts participate socially more, *hirdly, studies have sho-n that both extraverts and introverts participate in social relations, but that the 2uality of this participation differs, *he more fre2uent social participation among extraverts could be explained by the fact that extraverts kno- more people, but those people are not necessarily their close friends, -hile introverts, -hen participating in social interactions, are more selective and have only fe- close friends -ith -hom they have special relationships, />B1 The social attention theor$ Let another explanation of the high correlation bet-een extraversion and happiness comes from the study by Ashton, 'ee, and !aunonen :3DD3;, /6=1 *hey suggested that the core element of extraversion is a tendency to behave in -ays that attract, hold, and en9oy social attention, and not re-ard sensitivity, *hey claimed that one of the fundamental 2ualities of social attention is its potential of being re-arding, *herefore, if a person sho-s positive emotions of enthusiasm, energy, and excitement, that person is seen favorably by others and he or she gains others4 attention, *his favorable reaction from others likely encourages extraverts to engage in further extraverted behavior, /6=1 Ashton, 'ee, and !aunonen4s :3DD3; /6=1 study sho-ed that their measure of social attention, the #ocial Attention #cale, -as much more highly correlated -ith extraversion than -ere measures of re-ard sensitivity, /edit1'eperaental vie# *emperamental vie- is based on the notion that there is a direct link bet-een people4s personality traits and their sensitivity to positive and negative affects, />>1/?=1 /?>1 The affective reactivit$ model *he affective reactivity model states that the strength of a person4s reactions to affect5relevant events are caused by people4s differences in affect, /?=1/6>1 *his model is based on thereinforcement sensitivity theory by .effrey Alan Fray, -hich states that people -ith stronger behavioral activation system :BA#; are high in re-ard responsiveness and are predisposed to the personality trait of extraversion, -hile people -ith a stronger behavioral inhibition system :B%#; are lo-er in re-ard responsiveness and are more predisposed to personality trait of neuroticism and introversion, /6?1 *herefore, extraverts are seen as having a temperamental predisposition to positive affect since positive mood induction has a greater effect on them than on introverts, thus extraverts are more prone to react to pleasant effects, /?=1/6>1/661/3D1/6@1 For example, Fable, )eis, and Elliot :3DDD;, /6A1 found in t-o consecutive studies that people -ith more sensitive B%# reported higher levels of average negative affect, -hile people -ith more sensitive BA# reported higher levels of positive affect, Also Melenski and 'arsen :0BBB; /?>1 found that people -ith more sensitive BA# reported more positive emotions during the positive mood induction, -hile people -ith more sensitive B%# reported more negative emotions during the negative mood induction, The social reactivit$ theor$ *he social reactivity theory alleges that all humans, -hether they like it or not, are re2uired to participate in social situations, #ince extraverts prefer engaging in social interactions more than introverts, they also derive more positive affect from such situations than introverts do, />?1/>A1/601 *he support for this theory comes from -ork of Brian ), 'ittle, -ho populari&ed concept of 8restorative niches8, 'ittle claimed that life often re2uires people to participate in social situations, and since acting social is out of character for introverts, it -as sho-n to harm their -ell5 being, *herefore, one -ay to preserve introverts4 -ell5being is for them to recharge as often as possible in places -here they can return to their true selves 5 places 'ittle calls 8restorative niches8, /6B1 $o-ever, it -as also found that extraverts did not respond stronger to social situations than introverts, nor did they report bigger boosts of positive affect during such interactions, /?61/631 ,ffective regulation Another possible explanation for more happiness among extraverts comes from the fact that extraverts are able to better regulate their affective states, *his means that in ambiguous situations :situations -here positive and negative moods are introduced and mixed in similar proportions; extraverts sho- a slo-er decrease of positive affect, and, as a result, they maintained a more positive affect balance than introverts, /@D1 Extraverts may also choose activities that facilitate happiness :e,g,, recalling pleasant vs, unpleasant memories; more than introverts -hen anticipating difficult tasks, /@01 The set-point model aka affect-level model According to the set5point model, levels of positive and negative affects are more or less fixed -ithin each individual, hence, after a positive or negative event, people4s moods tend to go back to the pre5set level, According to the set5point model, extraverts4 experience more happiness because their pre5set level of positive affect is set higher than the pre5set point of positive affect in introverts, therefore extraverts re2uire less positive reinforcement in order to feel happy, /6@1 )leasure-arousal relation A study by Kuppens :3DDA; /@31 sho-ed that extraverts and introverts engage in different behaviors -hen feeling pleasant, -hich could be a potential explanation for underestimating the fre2uency and intensity of happiness exhibited by introverts, #pecifically, Kuppens :3DDA; /@31 found that arousal and pleasantness are positively correlated for extraverts, -hich means that pleasant feelings are more likely to be accompanied by high arousal for extraverts, (n the other hand, arousal and pleasantness are negativelycorrelated for introverts, resulting in introverts exhibiting lo- arousal -hen feeling pleasant, %n other -ords, if everything is going -ell in an extravert4s life, -hich is a source of pleasant feelings, extraverts see such situation as an opportunity to engage in active behavior and goal pursuit, -hich brings about an active, aroused pleasant state, Let, -hen everything is going good for introverts, they see it as an opportunity to let do-n their guard, resulting in them feeling relaxed and content, /@31