Extraversion and introversion

Behavioral and psychological characteristics distinguishing introversion and extraversion, which are generally conceived as lying along a continuum.

Introversion and extraversion is a personality dimension. It was promoted by Carl Jung in the 1920s. Individual people differ on this scale. According to the theory, introverts get energy from inside themselves (ideas and concepts in their own minds), while extroverts get energy from outside of themselves (interacting with other people). There are many ideas about introversion and extroversion which are false, such as the idea(s) that all introverts are shy, antisocial and non-emotional.

The idea of introversion and extroversion has been used in many different personality tests and is a key determining factor for many things. Those who follow this way of looking at the world say that everyone has some parts of both traits in them, although one will usually dominate over the other.

At one time, extroverts were thought to make up almost three quarters of American society. In more modern times, however, researchers have been able to ascertain that the number of introverts almost equals the number of extroverts in the country. Interestingly, also, the prevalence of both types varies from country to country, with certain nations (Scandinavian countries, Japan) favouring introversion and others (most notably America) favouring extroversion.