Introvert Meaning
When we talk about an introvert, these people have a different personality trait; they enjoy being with their two or three people rather than being in a group or with many people. These people don’t like interacting with others and stay within their inner self and mostly stay reserved or quiet. They spend most of the time alone and focus on their own thoughts and inner ideas rather than focusing on what other people are doing or going on outside.
After reading the word “introvert” or reading the above-written paragraph, I’m sure you might have thought about someone you know and how they prefer to stay alone or not talk much. But staying quite or not socializing are not only symptoms that someone is an Introvert; there are much more types of introverts or people with traits of Introverts. Most of the time, introverts stay alone or prefer being at home, whereas several people being introverts still socialize with people and enjoy their company but are not “social butterflies” like extroverts. They just have good control over their thoughts and are less scared about what people think about them.
How to recognize someone as an Introvert?
Introverts and extroverts are two different personality traits that completely depend on how a person wants to spend their energy. They might be completely opposite but still can be friends. However, there are few common things about introverts or main characteristics of a person which can make you believe that he or she is an introvert:
- These people are always self-attentive.
- They need proper silence to focus on anything.
- These people act thoughtfully.
- They need time to make decisions.
- They feel relaxed in being alone, or their own close one’s companies are their favorite.
- These people have fewer friends, but they are closest to their hearts, and they often spend time only with them.
- They feel tired or anxious in being with a group.
- They love to write over talking.
- They are daydreamers or use their thoughts to solve their problems.
- They take their time to refresh or their own ways to rest.
- They prefer to learn only by watching.
- They prefer a job with less social interaction, such as a writer, computer programmer, graphic designer, artist, etc.
What are the reasons behind Introversion?
This is not sure that there might be a cause of being an introvert or extrovert, but in some case, the environment and the people near a child or person makes a person an introvert or an extrovert. But according to scientists, an extrovert’s brain is completely different from the brain of an extrovert. If the person is an introvert or an extrovert, it will completely depend on how his mind will react to the situation as an introvert starts feeling shy or anxious in front of people or a crowd. Still, the extrovert feels free and happy in groups and hates silence.
If we talk psychologically, a system of neurons situated in the brainstem called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) controls all the arousal levels, including wakefulness and all the deals done between sleeping and waking. It is responsible for taking the amount of information you take when you awake. When you are in any danger, RAS increases the arousal level, making you alert and aware to face the danger and deal with the difficulties. Each person has a different set point of these arousal levels. Some people have higher set points where some people have fewer set points, so here are some reasons how RAS defines a person as an introvert or an extrovert naturally:
- Almost 15% of people have low setpoints of arousal levels, which make them extroverts, as they are less attentive to the situation and enjoy the situation without being anxious or fearing embarrassment.
- More than 15% of people have higher set points of arousal levels, which make them extra alert and careful, which is why they focus on themselves more and stay quiet so that they don’t make any mistakes or stay safe from any embarrassment.
- Nearby 70% of people are blessed with the middle count of these setpoints of arousal levels and aren’t counted in both extroverts and introverts as their acts are completely situated on the situation if they feel any uneven environment they stay careful else they enjoy in being a crowd or group of people. These kinds of people are popular as ambiverts.
So, according to researches and studies, introverts are the people who are far more attentive and aware. Due to high arousal levels, they try to keep away from the situations where they need to face high pressure or stress over themselves. They try to spend much time with themselves to stay calm and refresh. Still, it doesn’t make them someone who is having social anxiety.
Misconceptions about the Introvert
This may sound weird, but people often misunderstand or confuse introverts that they are weird or ill; extroverts never understand their nature. Most of the time hate to spend time with them, people often don’t understand “what’s wrong with them?” They feel pressure or stress by their own family or friends because of their reserved nature, so here are some misconceptions about introverts, what they go through in their daily lives:
1. They are shy in nature
No, not every Introvert is having a shy nature; yes, there might be some, but that is just a personality trait of a particular person. Few people are introverted but not shy at all, they just stay quiet because of their introverted nature. So judging someone for what they are not without knowing them will be the worst choice.
2. Are they weird, arrogant, and rude?
Often introverts prefer not to say anything to people or not to explain themselves in front of people. They choose to stay alone or in their homes rather than going in a group of people or trying to hang out with them as they find it impossible to make someone understand that why they are so quiet or there is nothing wrong with them but these facts make other people feel or think that they are so weird, rude or arrogant and misjudge them because of their nature.
3. They are unbearable or abnormal.
The Extroverts are still trying to figure out how someone can stay alone or quiet all the time. They are always confused that why aren’t they enjoying the parties or having fun with them? Or what always keeps going in their minds. Sometimes introverts are asked to change themselves as to how they will survive alone or with their “abnormal” behavior.
But these concepts aren’t right; being introverted doesn’t make them different from others or less affected. It is just the peace that makes them happy, but the introverts aren’t understandable to extroverts. There is very least number of people who completely accept introverts.
Types of Introverts
Introverts may be of different types, someone can be too introverted, or someone can only have few tendencies of an introvert. There are different types of introverts; the main types of introversions are given below:
- Social introverts: These are the most popular type of introverts as they do not like to talk much in large groups or spend most of their time in a small group or with fewer people.
- Thinking introverts: These are the basic daydreamers and stay most of the time in their imagination or their own world, but they are blessed with creative imaginations and thinking.
- Anxious introverts: They mostly spend most of their time alone not only because they love to spend their time alone but also because they feel anxious or weird in a crowd of people.
- Restrained/inhibited introverts: These introverts are little much careful before taking any action, or they aren’t the ones who make quick decisions, but this doesn’t mean they take extra time in making decisions or do extra efforts in making decisions.
A person doesn’t always stay in a type of Introvert. These types may change, or a person can be less or much Introvert in life. It completely depends on what kind of situations you are going through, but it doesn’t mean an introvert may change into an extrovert.
Conclusion
If you are the one who has both introvert and extrovert tendencies, you are in ambivert trait, which means you’re in that 70% who are happy with all situations. Still, if you find yourself into Introvert, I want to tell you that you’re completely normal. It’s okay to be an Introvert. In comparison to others, introverts are more careful and have a better approach to deal with situations. There is no need to feel complex or less about anything, and it’s good to be self-aware. Also, people need to accept and normalize people with different personality traits as it’s completely natural and god gift to be them, and introverts aren’t awkward or weird at all. So, be yourself and enjoy what you’re doing.