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I'm no fan of Jung, and it's wrong to call it a dichotomy, but introversion / extroversion is definitely a real, measurable trait. If you ask a bunch of people
by evanpw 11y ago
I'm no fan of Jung, and it's wrong to call it a dichotomy, but introversion / extroversion is definitely a real, measurable trait.
If you ask a bunch of people a lot of questions about how they feel or act in certain situations, and perform a factor analysis, then you'll find (or at least several independent researchers have found) that a small number of factors (3 - 5) can explain a large fraction of the variation among personalities.
One of those factors corresponds well to what most people think of as extroversion / introversion. It's also relatively stable through time for the same individual, strongly heritable, present across many cultures, correlated with certain physical brain differences, etc.
- dreamdu5t 11y agoYeah, right. It's a "continuum". Conveniently meaningless. Nobody, nowhere treats it like that anyway. People are labeled introverts or extroverts. Apparently kids who want a quiet place to read are now introverts.
- gerbilly 11y agoIt's not the fault of the researchers if the terms extroversion/introversion have been incorrectly popularized. What exactly is your point? That this personality factor does not exist, or that there are no such things as personality factors? What is you evidence for your scepticism? Just because a concept provokes a negative emotional response in you doesn't meant it's meaningless to everyone.