Introvert or extrovert: Wildfire Winter Salon discussion

Our discussion of shyness yesterday at the Wildfire Winter Salon #2, launched from a reading of a section of Elizabeth Hay's Late Nights On Air (pages 112-114), shifted into talk about introverts and extroverts. It was suggested that introversion was different from shyness; shyness is the fear of negative judgement while introversion is a preference for less stimulation. I came out as an introvert and something interesting happened as we read definitions of the words "introvert" and "extrovert" in dictionaries. I say dictionaries because Wildfire potter Sarah Beck also runs a used book store, so she had many dictionaries in her storage area and we started reading definitions from around 1904, when introversion was then not connected to psychology and there was no definition of extroversion at all, to the 1920s when definitions began to consider personality but without judgement of traits, on to 1954 when extroverts seemed to be considered the norm and introverts were beginning to get a bad rap, on to 1981 where an introvert was defined as unsociable and reserved and an extrovert sociable and unreserved and finally the 1990s when introverts were described as self-centred and narcissistic -- pretty darn negative -- and I began to feel uncomfortable for "coming out" as an introvert but stood by my declaration.

One of our participants remarked that she'd read an article of an interview with Susan Cain, author of The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance in Scientific American in which Cain states, "In our society, the ideal self is bold, gregarious and comfortable in the spotlight," and goes on to suggest our schools, religious institutions and workplaces are designed for extroverts and encourage group work believing creativity and productivity come from a gregarious place. She says, "Introverts are to extroverts what American women were to men in the 1950s -- second-class citizens with gigantic amounts of untapped talent." The article goes on to make a case for what she calls the "differently social." Here is the article for you to look at yourself.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-power-of-introverts

And here is another article on introversion by Jonathan Rauch called "Caring for Your Introvert: the Habits and Needs of a Little Understood Group" from Atlantic Unbound that supports the idea that introverts are a misunderstood and often oppressed group. Just click on the site below to read the entire article:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-for-your-introvert/2696/