Introverted vs Extroverted

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Introverted vs Extroverted

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bkubicek SSChampion Points: 10948 More actions · Answer 1

jay-h - Friday, November 10, 2017 9:00 AM
As a side point, it's interesting how the medium changes things.
People who consider themselves introverts seem very active in this text based conversation (which I think is a good thing). Email and messaging can perhaps reduce barriers to discussion.

That is a good point. Communicate via email and other text based things is not draining. They only issue might be how well do we communicate ourselves in writing. It may not be draining, but we might be mis-communicating ourselves.
Ben

Recombinant SSC Enthusiast Points: 165 More actions · Answer 2

bkubicek - Friday, November 10, 2017 8:54 AM
Nelson Petersen - Friday, November 10, 2017 8:40 AM
I am a little surprised I haven't seen any comments on the sentence, " I fear that when introverts are in the majority, communication suffers." Almost makes me think you are an extrovert, Mr. Kubicek.
Communication can suffer under both introverts and extroverts; it just suffers in different ways.
As an introvert, that says it all. I suspect extroverts will want more words to explain. 🙂
Regards,
Nelson
So in your experience, when introverts are in the majority is communication better or worse? I can only talk about my experience. Of course, it will always depend on the individuals and how introverted they are. My hope for this article was to bring up the discussion, to help people better realize things about themselves and hopefully promote better communication. I do apologize if you were offended by something I wrote.
As for me, I am introverted. My natural state is to listen and not talk unless someone asks me a specific question. I have worked at "acting" more extroverted, pushing myself to talk and express my opinions, but it is not my natural tendency.
Ben

Teams are found to work better when they contain a mix of personalities rather than a group of people who are clones of each other (see Belbin for more on this).
I'm introverted, I don't get energised from meeting people. I even turned out to be well down the autistic spectrum when I hit some issues a couple of years back. Interested people can try this test http://aspergerstest.net/aq-test/ to see just how far down the spectrum they are.

Nelson Petersen SSC Enthusiast Points: 195 More actions · Answer 3

bkubicek - Friday, November 10, 2017 8:54 AM
Nelson Petersen - Friday, November 10, 2017 8:40 AM
I am a little surprised I haven't seen any comments on the sentence, " I fear that when introverts are in the majority, communication suffers." Almost makes me think you are an extrovert, Mr. Kubicek.
Communication can suffer under both introverts and extroverts; it just suffers in different ways.
As an introvert, that says it all. I suspect extroverts will want more words to explain. 🙂
Regards,
Nelson
So in your experience, when introverts are in the majority is communication better or worse? I can only talk about my experience. Of course, it will always depend on the individuals and how introverted they are. My hope for this article was to bring up the discussion, to help people better realize things about themselves and hopefully promote better communication. I do apologize if you were offended by something I wrote.
As for me, I am introverted. My natural state is to listen and not talk unless someone asks me a specific question. I have worked at "acting" more extroverted, pushing myself to talk and express my opinions, but it is not my natural tendency.
Ben

Ben,
No apology needed; I was and am not offended in the least.

From my limited observations, database administrators and IT personnel in general tend towards introversion: there is a reason why we like to "talk" to computers as opposed to talking with people. We enjoy the complexities of numbers and code more than the complexities of large numbers of relationships. I think this is what is meant by the "Do people drain you or energize you?" question.

I agree it is important to be aware of ourselves and take steps to communicate sufficiently for everyone. As an introvert, I realize that means I need to say a lot more than I otherwise would. We need to counter-balance our tendency to listen too much and talk too little. Similarly, I think that extroverts should listen more and talk less - counter-balancing their tendencies to talk and not listen. Part of good communication is everyone expressing and contributing thoughts and suggestions. Imbalances cause issues for everyone.
Enough words with people (for now).
Going to talk my databases.
Nelson

mjh 45389 SSCertifiable Points: 5706 More actions · Answer 4

I once read that introverts prefer cats and extroverts dogs. This is true in my case, and also because I find cats more intelligent. My girlfriend says my relationship with my cat seems almost human and that she (the cat) seems to understand more than her dog. But then both pets seem more intelligent than a number of people I have had to work with over the years!

Even if you categorise people they still come in many sub-types. I had an MD who was definitely an extrovert but could not motivate anyone. His replacement was a great motivator. The problem was neither really understood the business they were in. The world needs all sorts of people to function...

jay-h SSCoach Points: 18816 More actions · Answer 5

mjh 45389 - Friday, November 10, 2017 11:27 AM
I once read that introverts prefer cats and extroverts dogs. ...

There might be something to this. Dogs are highly social, and interact frequently. Cats are more 'loners' and interact only when the mood strikes. Though in my case, I am more comfortable hanging out with my dog than with most people...

Interestingly the smartest animals I've had close contact with, raccoons, are complete loners once they mature (which is why they're lousy pets).

...

-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --

TomThomson SSC Guru Points: 104773 More actions · Answer 6

I have varied over the years between being pretty much an introvert and being pretty much an extravert, but have ended up being fairly stable on the boundeary between the two, or perhaps a bit on the extravert side. I swung both ways several times when I was young (with some obvious triggers - e.g. moving to SE England was one when i was about 9 years old and that had me swing from exttravert to intravert because communication was just too difficult). Eventually, a long time ago, I came to the conclusion that managing things that involve large team plus complex relationships with other teams requires a degree of extraversion that was rather far from the rather strong introversion that I currently had. But I've always had a hate for the time-wasting meetings (meetings which achieve nothing and are clearly held just to allow a useless manager to put a misleading tick in a box) which are so poular in British indiustry and even more popular in the USA, and that gave some people the impression that I'm introverted (which was nonsense - I just objected to a few grand of my employer's wealth being spent to enable some incompetent twit to put a tick in a box).

Recombinant - Friday, November 10, 2017 9:10 AM
Interested people can try this test http://aspergerstest.net/aq-test/ to see just how far down the spectrum they are.

I gave it a quick try and a scored 15, which it says is about averge for males. But I'm not sure I believe it's a useful test, I suspect the absence of neutral options lead to an unconcious bias in the responses.

Tom

Chris Harshman SSC-Forever Points: 42192 More actions · Answer 7

cparks 3541 - Thursday, November 9, 2017 9:22 AM
There is a personality evaluation test, Myers Briggs, that can assist you to determine this and other traits of individuals that will assist in training and interaction. My experience has been this is a reasonably accurate cursory evaluation and has been helpful to me in my own interactions with others and in interactions with staff when I was managing.

I've taken one of those tests, it says I am INTJ (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging). http://typelogic.com/intj.html
I find it counter-intuitive to think of myself as being intuitive though. I think I shouldn't judge this test to harshly based on that though. 😉

Chris Harshman SSC-Forever Points: 42192 More actions · Answer 8

jay-h - Friday, November 10, 2017 11:37 AM
mjh 45389 - Friday, November 10, 2017 11:27 AM
I once read that introverts prefer cats and extroverts dogs. ...
There might be something to this. Dogs are highly social, and interact frequently. Cats are more 'loners' and interact only when the mood strikes.

I've heard it said, "you call a dog and it comes to you, you call a cat... and leave it a message."

Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286590 More actions · Answer 9

jay-h - Friday, November 10, 2017 9:00 AM
As a side point, it's interesting how the medium changes things.
People who consider themselves introverts seem very active in this text based conversation (which I think is a good thing). Email and messaging can perhaps reduce barriers to discussion.

For me the medium doesn't seem to change anything. I am extrovert extreme both digitally and in person. If anything I tone it down a bit more in digital communication. :Whistling:

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Aaron N. Cutshall SSCrazy Eights Points: 9005 More actions · Answer 10

As others have pointed out, there is no definitive line between an introvert and extrovert. If I had to classify myself I would have to say that I'm a social introvert. That means that I can feel quite comfortable in social situations and even behave in an extrovert-like manner for a period of time (the amount of time is an inverse proportion to the size the situation). I began doing presentations to put myself out of my comfort zone and to help me become more social. In doing so I found that I am able to give presentations and interact with folks better than before even though I still get physically exhausted afterwards. Big events like PASS Summit are fun but I'm totally wiped out each day and completely exhausted at the end of the week. Like physical exercise, I find that making myself more social helps to stretch myself and allows me to be more comfortable in social situations where I previously would not have been able to handle or to endure as well. Now I better enjoy socialization with my fellow speakers and the opportunity to meet new people.

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David.Poole SSC Guru Points: 75972 More actions · Answer 11

TomThomson - Friday, November 10, 2017 12:16 PM
Recombinant - Friday, November 10, 2017 9:10 AM
Interested people can try this test http://aspergerstest.net/aq-test/ to see just how far down the spectrum they are.
I gave it a quick try and a scored 15, which it says is about averge for males. But I'm not sure I believe it's a useful test, I suspect the absence of neutral options lead to an unconcious bias in the responses.

43.

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Sean Lange SSC Guru Points: 286590 More actions · Answer 12

David.Poole - Tuesday, November 14, 2017 8:56 AM
TomThomson - Friday, November 10, 2017 12:16 PM
Recombinant - Friday, November 10, 2017 9:10 AM
Interested people can try this test http://aspergerstest.net/aq-test/ to see just how far down the spectrum they are.
I gave it a quick try and a scored 15, which it says is about averge for males. But I'm not sure I believe it's a useful test, I suspect the absence of neutral options lead to an unconcious bias in the responses.
43.

I got 7.