People who prefer to live in their closed inner world are traditionally called introverts, and those who “have their souls wide open” are called extroverts. Despite such an obvious difference, not everything is so simple. There is another type that psychologists consider flexible and survivable in society - this is an ambivert or a person who equally loves solitude and noisy society. What is the difference between psychotypes and how to determine yours will be discussed further (see Accentuation of personality).
The relationship between the internal and external worlds is studied by the science of socionics. It helps a person to quickly navigate society, establish relationships with other people, and at the same time not come into conflict with his own self. In total, psychologists distinguish three sociotypes: introvert, extrovert and ambivert.
A little history
According to Carl Jung, the first psychotherapist who introduced the concepts of introversion and extroversion, an introvert directs all his energy inward. His life is based on internal sensations and reactions to external events. An extrovert is the direct opposite of an introvert. All his energy is directed to the outside world. From these two terms comes a third personality type that combines both introvert and extrovert traits: the ambivert. Have you already figured out what type of personality you are? Maybe you are an introvert, or an extrovert, or perhaps an ambivert?
Who are ambiverts?
As a rule, such people can manifest themselves as both introverts and extroverts. How does this happen in life? Extroverts tend to be assertive, active, outgoing, social, and energized by being with other people. Introverts behave completely opposite: they are quiet, unconstructive, and keep to themselves. As a rule, in social situations, when they have to communicate or be in a group, they quickly waste their energy.
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Accordingly, it is quite easy in theory to identify what type people belong to: if most of the behavior coincides with the traits of an extrovert, then that means the person is an extrovert. And, accordingly, with an introvert. However, ambiverts tend to behave very differently in different situations. It has both characteristics. This makes it difficult to determine whether a person can be called an ambivert. For example, he can be very sociable, talkative, but not as much as extroverts. In addition, such a person loves to communicate, but does not attach much importance to it. People who fall in between the characteristics are a bit passionate about something, do not communicate very well with others, and show moderate emotions.
How a person behaves in an extreme situation can, in principle, be a decisive factor in what type of personality he can be classified as.
Traits of Introverts
Let's plunge into the inner world of an introvert and highlight his characteristics, so that next time his aloofness and detachment will not be mistaken for arrogance and a bad attitude towards you.
- Introverts are in no hurry to make new acquaintances. Communication with new, unfamiliar people threatens them with a loss of energy. They have a very limited circle of people with whom they communicate.
- They avoid noisy companies and crowds of people.
- Introverts can be truly friends; they are devoted and faithful to their, albeit few, friends.
- Introverts need solitude to recharge wasted energy. Suddenly they disappear from sight. After the necessary recovery, they can continue their activities.
- A stranger will not be able to gain trust from an introvert. This will take time and patience.
- An introvert's politeness and humble demeanor earns people respect.
- Guests feel cozy and comfortable with an introvert, they can relax and feel at home.
- Introverts plan and try to find a balance between being social and being alone.
Behavior of introverts in society
As already written above, many may misinterpret the aloofness of introverts and mistake their behavior for arrogance, coldness and unfriendliness. These people just need time to get used to a new person.
A superficial explanation of any question will not be enough for an introvert; the deep meaning and reason are important to him, and he will get to the bottom of the truth.
Close people enjoy communicating with an introvert because he knows how to listen and empathize. Thanks to his deep inner world and desire to study every situation from all sides, he will be able to objectively assess the current situation and express a truthful opinion. Just be prepared for the fact that it may not match yours.
Introverts are creative people, their essence is manifested in creation. At the same time, the products of their creative activity can be both intangible results: ideas, texts, poems, and material objects: paintings, handicrafts and others.
No matter how strange it may sound, introverts love solitude. It is vital for them, since in society they spend a lot of energy, and in solitude they restore lost strength, comprehend what happened and draw conclusions. Introverts avoid noisy companies and, once at a party, they will disappear from view and retire to chat with one or two people.
Traits of extroverts
Extroverts bring smiles to the people around them because they are sociable, cheerful and active conversationalists. People with pronounced features of extraversion cannot imagine their life without society and suffer alone, because they need to give their energy to the outside world.
- They are open to new acquaintances, easily enter into communication with strangers, and constantly expand their social circle.
- Extroverts are characterized by ambition and a desire to win and be first.
- They easily carry on a conversation and often talk more than they listen.
- These individuals openly express their emotions and feelings in public, be it laughter, sadness or tears. And these emotions will be sincere and truthful.
- Extroverts show sympathy for the difficulties and problems of loved ones, provide support and do not stand aside.
- They willingly spend money and do not like to deny themselves pleasures. In this case, it is advisable to do nothing, but only enjoy the gifts of fate.
- Extroverts express themselves only in the outside world; communication is the source of their inspiration.
Differences between extroverts and introverts
The terms extrovert, introvert, and ambivert were introduced into widespread use by the famous Western psychologist Eysenck. According to Eysenck's research, the majority of the world's inhabitants are introverts and extroverts. They are radically different, being polar. At the same time, the behavior, thoughts and feelings of psychotypes are so different that they will never be able to understand each other, even if they are close relatives.
What is the difference between an introvert and an extrovert:
- Extroverts are people oriented to the outside world. They strive to bring him maximum benefit. Extroverts are sociable, open to change, new knowledge, and always ready for dialogue. The advantages of extroverts include their readiness for self-sacrifice (although often these people are not able to deeply empathize, perceiving the world superficially).
- Extroverts can literally move mountains, charging everyone with their energy, but they quickly burn out, lose interest in the matter, and immediately choose something new. Such people never lose heart, it is difficult to upset them for a long time (see Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic).
- Introverts are self-oriented and believe that the universe should revolve around them, because they (by their own conviction) know everything better than others. They are considered closed, sad people who love to grumble, but for all their closedness they are faithful comrades, the most reliable colleagues.
- Introverts rarely let you into your soul. Although if they trust people, they give themselves completely and try to grasp the subtle organization of the soul of a loved one, listening to the desires.
- A characteristic feature of introverts is a skeptical, even pessimistic, attitude. They rarely see the good, but very often behind this attitude lies the desire to look at the world soberly and make informed decisions.
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There are clearly defined psychotypes, and there are those that are difficult to determine at first glance. Since there are a lot of such people (according to various sources, from 38 to 50% of all inhabitants of the Earth), psychologists considered it reasonable to identify an intermediate type, which they called an ambivert. On the one hand, these people are open and sociable, but on the other hand, they can withdraw for some inexplicable reason.
Behavior of extroverts in society
There is a widespread opinion in society that, thanks to their ambition, sociability and high activity, extroverts achieve high results in work compared to their antipodes - thinking and judicious introverts. How do extroverts behave in life?
They attract people with their sociability and openness. These people easily adapt to current situations, despite the fact that planning is alien to them and they are characterized by spontaneity of decisions.
Just don’t mistake the spontaneity and openness of extroverts for superficiality. Like introverts, extroverts can have a rich inner world. They strive to achieve high results and direct all their accumulated knowledge, emotions and feelings to achieve their plans.
Extroverts openly express their emotions and feelings and willingly share their joys with the outside world.
They do not think about the motives of people’s behavior; directness and openness of actions are important to them. Often these individuals are surprised by their feelings and emotions and cannot explain them.
Extroverts do not know shyness and constantly make new acquaintances, establish new contacts and connections. They do not like the monotony of actions, this prevents them from realizing their ideas.
Extroverts easily express themselves in a team. Teamwork gives them pleasure.
Ambivert, extrovert, introvert
You will be surprised, but it is not so pleasant to call yourself one of the types when you dig deeper.
Various psychologists, like Freud, Adler, Jung, who themselves were prone to one of the types, gave these concepts with different shades. For example, extraversion is considered a sign of increased libido, a strong social role, but also unbridled emotionality, weakness of will, susceptibility to the opinions of others, and dependence on others.
Introversion, in its maximum manifestation, generally leads to schizophrenia and takes root in autistic people (who, by the way, are incredibly talented and rich in inner world).
For a long time I considered myself a true introvert, because... often preferred books, creativity, self-knowledge (tests, psychology) to live communication, excessive talkativeness, crowds, long superficial (without an obvious topic, purpose and result) conversations were tiring and irritating. But, having been in a certain closed world in the form of maternity leave, I felt my inner craving for communication, society, expression of my thoughts, actions, desires outside, I uncontrollably need to share energy and interact with different people. And I didn’t spend my maternity leave completely secluded.
Already in the first weeks I needed a change of scenery, to see new people, to gain new experiences and material benefits. Therefore, I actively read about the new sphere of motherhood and discussed it with friends, invited relatives and friends with children to visit, ran to the store for at least an hour to change the environment, was offended by my husband who left me with the child for the sake of other communication, took active steps for moving, improving living conditions, I never sat still, and soon I started traveling by car around the cities of Russia with a 6-month-old baby (luckily, an extrovert), moving, new connections, business, work, hobbies, studies, active development of children ...
In the morning I need energy - I want to eat, read, walk, move, learn new things, in the afternoon I wake up with the need for action, work, in the evening I always want to throw out my thoughts and feelings outside, in conversation, creativity.
My personality type is ambivert. Jung's test, fortunately, showed that I have a balance of extroversion and introversion, a combination of both types. Why fortunately? Finally, I began to discover knowledge about human energy, about chakras (not in the astral sense, but in the psychological sense).
How to explain such states as “hard-headed personality”, “heart squeezing”, “butterflies in the stomach”, “lump in the throat”? Why sometimes I don’t want to communicate, and sometimes there is a need to throw out thoughts and feelings outside, there is active analysis, comprehension and release of energy, and it’s very good if you can throw out this energy peacefully and usefully for yourself and others. So maybe it is important to know about the principles of the existence of this energy in a person?
There are 7 chakra types of energy, and each is in its place in the body, responsible for its own sphere of activity (the lower one is for basic needs, everything is like in Maslow’s pyramid, and closer to the head there are super-needs, non-material spheres).
Extroverts need a splash of energy outside, while introverts accumulate energy within themselves. Ambiverts need to circulate energy not only within themselves, but also with the world around them. Unfortunately, I admit that children still take more of my energy at all levels, and joint return to the outside in the form of creativity, learning, although it gives effect and satisfaction of ambitious needs, does not give me a feeling of complete harmony and peace, but writing such as this , texts and feedback in the form of understanding, approval, evaluation of others gives a release of energy and a feeling of fulfilled purpose. And the need for new knowledge and communication gives me energy from the outside, for example, at meetings of the DevaVeda club. Thinking about the balance of energy, I decided that it is difficult to constantly accumulate energy inside, you can burst. But you can’t throw everything out, every drop, you need to leave it for nourishment and self-improvement.
Extraversion gives the impulse to give back what has been accumulated, and introversion gives the impulse to collect, preserve, analyze what is received, and use it for oneself; this is also important. Thinking about energy and personality type, images came to me: extroverts, like wild grapes, are climbing, trying to fill more space, catch more objects, but there is not enough energy for large ripe fruits.
Perhaps it is important for an extrovert not to become superficial, i.e. devalue your life by interacting on the constant exchange of one energy, for example, sexual, labor or intellectual. It is useful to develop all your spheres (chakras), and then share your experience and energy with others, interact with people who are equally filled in all spheres (chakras).
Start with yourself and you will attract people equally filled with energy, experience, and benefits, and the energy exchange will become equal and harmonious, complementary.
It is important for an introvert not to become a rotting dusty book volume, with smug, cold wisdom that no one needs, because if there is no return, warmth, energy for the other, interaction in any area will not be successful.
It is important for an introvert to open up like a flower, otherwise no one will pollinate him, there will be no continuation and meaning in his existence. After all, any object of living nature produces energy for life, to satisfy its needs, but meaning is also important - what is this life for?
To process the external energy given to you, give it in return. And people are able to wonder about the meaning of life and find an individual answer for themselves (for the sake of children, self-realization, savings, a beautiful life, etc.), it is only important to realize that all these are different manifestations of the same thing - the release of energy to the outside, the creation new, better, our own... Therefore, the worst sin in all religions is not only murder, but also suicide, this is an unnatural loss of energy, a break in the middle of the path, incompleteness of the energy exchange process, interruption of the opportunity to achieve an ideal, harmonious existence of an individual in the world.
It is interesting that other mortal sins are tied to either too active release of energy outside - adultery, greed, anger, or unnatural fixation on oneself, gluttony, pride, laziness (despondency) ... And you feel an imbalance of saturation and waste of energy within yourself or in relationships?
Ambivert and its features
There is another personality type - an ambivert, or ambovert, as this type is sometimes called. But the second name is incorrect, remember. Maybe being an ambivert is the golden mean? And does it combine the best qualities of extroversion and introversion? The main feature of ambiverts is the ability to move from one state to another.
The average of an extrovert and an introvert creates a mixed personality type - an ambivert.
The activity of this person is replaced by outside observation. At one of the parties he can be a merry fellow and a ringleader, but next time do not expect similar behavior from him, as he will go into observation mode.
People close to an ambivert are confused when describing his character. Depending on the mood and type of activity, an ambovert, like an introvert, can be passive and quiet, or cheerful and active, like an extrovert. Some friends consider him cheerful and carefree, others - serious and reasonable.
An ambivert willingly attends noisy events as long as they are short in duration. He doses out into society and home privacy.
An ambivert can transform depending on the current situation. From a cheerful person he can turn into an ordinary observer and vice versa.
An ambivert is attracted to teamwork, despite the fact that it is easy for him to complete assigned tasks independently.
The video below contains a test that will answer the question of how to determine whether a person is an introvert or an extrovert.
How do you know if a person is ambivert?
You need to ask yourself basic questions that help you identify an introvert and an extrovert.
- Does a person prefer to stay at home and read a book or go out with friends?
- What do you prefer: lively parties or get-togethers with close friends?
- Does a person like to talk with strangers, or is he, on the contrary, reserved in unfamiliar company?
If a person can answer these questions without any clarification, then he is an introvert or an extrovert. To decipher your personality type in more detail, you can take an online test on the Internet, which will give a complete picture of who a person is.
However, if the respondent has difficulty deciding on answers to questions (for example, in one situation he would prefer to read a book, in another he would prefer to go to a party), then he is an ambivert.
It wouldn’t hurt to ask these questions to your loved ones in order to understand yourself. After all, they can speak from an objective point of view. However, you must definitely analyze your behavior yourself. If a person observes someone in many situations, over several days or weeks, then he can adopt the habits of another person.
Effective communication depending on personality type
We live in society and every day we come into contact with different personality types, among which we can find extroverts and introverts or ambiverts. Understanding the differences between these individuals will help you connect with them and build good relationships. Approaching these people correctly will give you advantages in both your personal and professional life.
How to determine your personality type?
The above characteristics of extroverts and introverts will help you in solving this problem. Observe the person you are interested in, highlight his characteristics of behavior, communication with other people, and perception of the current situation. Do not rush to draw conclusions and categorize a person as “strange”, “normal” or “abnormal”, accept these characteristics and establish communication depending on his personality type. By getting to know people and establishing successful relationships with different personality types, you improve your skills in the art of communicating with people.
On the other hand, if thanks to this article you have determined your personality type: extrovert, introvert or ambivert, then you will be able to accept and understand yourself. This understanding will give you the opportunity to highlight your strengths and weaknesses. And as you remember, you can and should work with shortcomings. This is how the work of self-improvement and self-development is carried out.
