Post Published on June 22, 2013.
Last Updated on March 30, 2016 by davemackey.
Fascinating infographic courtesy of Leadership Journal and Out of Ur that demonstrates the ways in which brains function differently depending on whether one is an introvert or extrovert.
This reads like you are trying to jutify the value of introverts whereas extroverts are “born naturals” or somehow “superior.” Extroverts have short comings, too try shallow conversationslists and insensitivity towards others feelings as examples. The writer is obviously a biased extrovert.
Hi Renee,
I’m sorry to hear you felt the infographic was biased against introverts. I’m an introvert and didn’t come away with the same interpretation.
Dave
Especially number 4, which seems to say introverts are not grateful at all, do not react positively to accolades or thank yous, don’t need or cannot accept or process validation . What utter friggin nonsense… not to mention, hello… motor skills???!! such nonsense.
As an introvert I can easily relate and understand to #4, and I don’t take it as saying introverts are ungrateful at all, but rather that we feel the need for those gestures to have a deeper meaning.
I can see Carrie’s point, but I also took it in the same manner you have.
Read 6 and 7 again….
Hi Pam,
Thanks for highlighting points 6 and 7. I read the infographic through once again and I can see where you and Renee are coming from…and I actually agree, it does seem to be biased in favor of the extroverted personality.
If I were to rewrite the infographic I might emphasize a few points differently to balance things out, for example:
– (Extroverts, Point 1) The downside of needing more stimulation to be roused sometimes results in important but boring details being overlooked and can also make people feel uncared for if their big problems aren’t “big enough.”
– (Extroverts, Point 3) This can make extroverts difficult to work with as they don’t always provide the lead time to implement an idea.
– (Introverts, Point 6) I’d emphasize more heavily the positive side of deep relationships.
– (Introverts, Point 7) One could emphasize (positively) that this sort of reflectiveness while sometimes resulting in less than optimal action can also be a boon in avoiding the repetition of past mistakes.
I think introverts and extroverts both have their strengths and weaknesses, and I, an introvert, strive to embrace the best of my personality while also stretching myself to be more extroverted in areas where it is better for me to be so (e.g., still being a deep thinker, but avoiding paralytic thinking).
Thanks again for commenting!
Dave
This is crap. Utter crap.
Remember to begin your uninvited rebuttal with “Thank you” or ” I’m sorry you feel that way…”.
Does this suggest we are ‘at the mercy’ of our chemistry. Would this suggest if we altered our chemistry that we could become more or less introvert / extrovert. So for example ACh influences gastrin production which ultimately produces, (or tries to produce) more gastric acid. If one takes a ppi drug (omeprazole) to reduce acid production and this causes an increase in gastrin, (and if it caused an increase in ACh) would one become MORE introverted as the body tries to overcome low stomach acid production ?
Stv – Interesting questions. I would not say we are “‘at the mercy’ of our chemistry.” imho, my understanding of this infographic is that individuals with introversion/extroversion have more differences in brain structure than in brain chemistry…or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, differences in brain structure which may result in changes in brain chemistry.
I’d also say we aren’t ‘at the mercy’ of any one factor – e.g. chemistry, biology, socio-economic status, etc. – but that there is a very strong correlation between the choices we are freely able to make and how these and an unknown number of other variables (e.g. family structure, education, friends, employment) all combine.
There is a part of me that is very deterministic. Jonathan Edwards, an early American pastor and philosopher, wrote a book called Freedom of the Will in which he makes some pretty convincing (imho) arguments against our freedom of the will. So on one hand it seems that everything is determined…on the other hand our understanding of reality is so abysmally incomplete there is every possibility that we simply cannot begin to fathom the actual nature of *reality* (see for example Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions which is a powerful allegory of the limits of our knowledge).
Again, there is a significant part of me that believes in freedom of the will, a nondeterministic universe, because this is my experience of the world – that we do have choice.
In the end, I guess I’ve said in a wordy manner, “I don’t know” 🙂