Extroversion

[flexibeast]

Western society is dominated by extroverts. Extroverted behaviours are typically regarded as healthy; introverted behaviours are not. For example, extrovert societies tend to incorrectly regard introversion as synonymous with shyness, social phobia, or asociality in general, and/or as something that needs to be 'fixed' or 'overcome'.

As someone who is definitely not an extrovert - perhaps an ambivert at most - i decided it was time to start putting together a list of extrovert privilege. i'll probably continue adding things to it as they come to mind.

As an extrovert:

• My behaviours are not regarded as possibly / probably pathological.


• I can attend a variety of social / networking events, which are usually designed to appeal to extroverts.


• I am more likely to have my voice and opinions heard.


• I find the constant sensory barrage of modern Western society stimulating rather than draining.


• I do not have to learn to 'pass' as extroverted so that others don't assume I'm 'aloof' or 'snobbish'.

Please feel free to suggest additions!
 

Comments

[winterkoninkje]

This is awesome. I can't think of anything to add at the moment, but I'll keep a mind out.

As an extremely social introvert I've always thought that the "introvert--extrovert" scale as it is taught in the US fails to capture any terribly interesting insight. In part because it gets assimilated to the antisocial--asocial--gregarious scale[1] and the quiet--garrulous scale, all three of which are quite different. Perhaps "I get to assume gregarious and garrulous are synonymous" would be a good one for the knapsack.

[1] Even that's not quite right. There's a difference between the scale of wanting to be with people vs not, and the scale of whether there should be a lot of generally anonymous people vs only a few well-known people.

[flexibeast]

Hm, interesting points .... will have to give them some thought. :-)

[nixwilliams]

I find it easy and comfortable to promote myself and my accomplishments.

i don't think this is particularly an 'extrovert' thing. you can enjoy/get energy from being around people without being self-confident enough to breeze through self-promotion - this is something that a lot of people just have to learn/struggle through, imo.

[flexibeast]

Hm, you may well be right .... think i'll remove that from the list, for now at least.

[nixwilliams]

i'm open to hearing other opinions, i don't want to sound like a butthurt-in-a-bad-way extrovert! i think the thing with that one, though, is that it makes it seem like self-promotion comes 'naturally', when i think it's a lot more to do with gender/upbringing/etc.

the others are really interesting, though. especially the 'passing as extrovert' one - i know i have been very guilty of dismissing people as snobs when they're really just shy/introverted (especially when i was a teenager).