Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

Q1: I am very much an extrovert, overly so in certain situations. Myers-Briggs: ENTP. I normally don't like formulated personality tests, but I like Myers-Briggs because the results of everyone I know who has taken it matches what I believe their personality to be. It seems to be a pretty decent benchmark.

Q2: I think you can very much discern personalities from a message board. But, like Carter said, online personalities are usually exaggerated versions of the real life personalities. I think this is a result of the fact that message boards strip out the nuances of human interaction.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

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I think anyone who answers this question with "I can be either" is an introvert, who probably doesn't want to admit it.

Extroverts are outgoing & personable in any situation, with any group of people. Introverts (unless they are an extreme case) are only outgoing in a group they feel established & comfortable in.

Personally, I'm an introvert. Even in groups of people I feel comfortable with, I'll get very shy at times. This includes family on occasion.

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This sounds good on its face, but I don't think it's true. If an extrovert is an extrovert always and without qualification because that's how the classifying works, then an introvert too should be introverted always and without qualification.

What we are talking about is tendencies rather than absolutes. How much you do things a certain way before it becomes a tendency? And just because it's a tendency, is it particularly accurate to depict a person in those terms? That's what's really at issue. I don't think you have to be a pure extrovert or not be one at all. Or that introverts will always shy away from contact.

Speaking of shy, I think that shyness can mask potential extroversion. I've seen people get over shyness with time and eventually become very outgoing. I think both introverts and extroverts can be quiet until they feel secure. But the true introverts will STAY quiet, and frequently choose being alone over even being with people they know well and feel comfortable with, or whose company they enjoy. An extrovert will come home and say, "I gotta get outta here!" He'll find almost any alternative to doing quiet things, especially doing them alone.

So anyway, it seems clear that there is granularity to these concepts and that they don't work well as absolutes.

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Blarg: obviously there's no 100% guarantees when you're dealng with people. An introvert is only able to be outgoing with people they are comfortable with, or with a strong concious effort. An extrovert is capable of being outgoing & personable in any situation. Whether or not they choose to be is a whole different story.

This is the distinction I was trying to make originally. I did not clearly define what I meant, however.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

It looks like not many of us are using the same definition for what makes an introvert or an extrovert. I have always thought of it as what someone's natural state is, where someone can "recharge one's batteries" as Blarg put it. I think everyone needs a balance of alone time and contact with others.

An introvert will feel energized by spending time alone or inside their own heads, shifting to an extroverted kind of personality isn't necessarily unpleasant, and can even be enjoyable for an introvert, but it requires energy, and if you spend too much time in this state you'll feel burned out.

Similarly an extrovert recharges by being with other people and telling others what's going on in their heads. Again they might enjoy their occasional alone time, but after too much they'll be burned out and they'll have a desire to go back to talking to someone.

I also think there's a sliding scale, one person may be extremely introverted and might need weeks alone before having the energy to spend a few hours out with friends, another person may be mildly introverted to where he can spend a few days alone and then all day socializing with someone.

I'm pretty far out on the introverted scale. It's not uncommon for me to run into someone further out, but I'm further out than most. I have no problem spending a few days completely alone. My normal interactions throughout the day at work are enough for me and usually drain me to the point where I'll stay in most weekends, unless I have a particular reason to go out. It takes a ton of energy for me to socilaize with someone I don't know, although I love running into an extreme extrovert who doesn't mind doing most of the work carrying a conversation.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

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I think anyone who answers this question with "I can be either" is an introvert, who probably doesn't want to admit it.

Extroverts are outgoing & personable in any situation, with any group of people. Introverts (unless they are an extreme case) are only outgoing in a group they feel established & comfortable in.

Personally, I'm an introvert. Even in groups of people I feel comfortable with, I'll get very shy at times. This includes family on occasion.

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This sounds good on its face, but I don't think it's true. If an extrovert is an extrovert always and without qualification because that's how the classifying works, then an introvert too should be introverted always and without qualification.

What we are talking about is tendencies rather than absolutes. How much you do things a certain way before it becomes a tendency? And just because it's a tendency, is it particularly accurate to depict a person in those terms? That's what's really at issue. I don't think you have to be a pure extrovert or not be one at all. Or that introverts will always shy away from contact.

Speaking of shy, I think that shyness can mask potential extroversion. I've seen people get over shyness with time and eventually become very outgoing. I think both introverts and extroverts can be quiet until they feel secure. But the true introverts will STAY quiet, and frequently choose being alone over even being with people they know well and feel comfortable with, or whose company they enjoy. An extrovert will come home and say, "I gotta get outta here!" He'll find almost any alternative to doing quiet things, especially doing them alone.

So anyway, it seems clear that there is granularity to these concepts and that they don't work well as absolutes.

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Blarg: obviously there's no 100% guarantees when you're dealng with people. An introvert is only able to be outgoing with people they are comfortable with, or with a strong concious effort. An extrovert is capable of being outgoing & personable in any situation. Whether or not they choose to be is a whole different story.

This is the distinction I was trying to make originally. I did not clearly define what I meant, however.

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I don't think you can assign volition to one of these and take it away from the other.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

Oh yeah and ISTP on that Myers Briggs test.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

Katy,

I said I might be able to tell; I didn't say you could tell. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

And, by the way, you probably are a bit nuts right now (of course, I think that's for the best).

A number of years ago when there were but a smattering of posters here (such, such were the days), another poster named me as the person he would most trust to deliver ten thousand dollars for him without worrying about it being stolen. That was based solely on my posts. At that time, though, I also thought I could trust quite a few others whom I had never met, in particular Andy Fox, Greg Raymer, and Ray Zee. Since then, I have met Andy and Greg, and I still have no doubts about either. I have yet to meet Ray, but my opinion hasn't changed. Of course, that's only one aspect of personality.

I can't say, though, with any sort of certainty that I could give you an FBI profile based soley on someone's posts. As T.S. Eliot said, poetry isn't an expression of personality but an escape from personlity. But only those with a personality realize this.

John

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

I'm a introvert. It's not like I can't leave the house or talk to strangers tho. I work with the public everyday so I think I just get sick of them. I don't like public speaking that is for sure! Seems the more people I let into my real life the harder it gets. I often feel like people are sucking the life out of me so I need time alone to recharge.

I don't think you can tell much about a person from the forum postings other than if they are having a good or a bad day. I try not to post when I'm having bad day or I just pick on ElD cuz he can take it and hopefully enjoys it. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

I'm gonna agree with Stuey here, which is also restating what I said earlier. I don't think you can necessarily figure out all that much from people online. For instance, there was one guy who was an "online friend" of me and some people for years, and he wound up viciously screwing this one chick over. It wasn't even spited love or anything like that. Just came out of nowhere, once he got the opportunity. Nobody would have suspected, and nobody did.

There's no real need to reveal more than you want to, or any different side of oneself one doesn't want to. That's probably why there are so many online a-holes. It's much scarier to be anything like yourself than be an online a-hole, and takes much more courage to speak up than lurk. Yet people still want to venture a presence and "exist" in a sense online. It's just harder to paint a picture worth seeing online, so, like in the story of the fox and the grapes, not even trying is popular and has some passing douchebaggy resemblance to being hip. Being scared while pretending to be hip is pretty standard for young kids. So it's standard on forums. Who's the real turd skulking behind the pucker? Who really knows.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

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Katy,

I said I might be able to tell; I didn't say you could tell. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]


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It dawned on me after I made the original post that perhaps I am the only one having trouble reading people on the forums. I honestly think I might be slow that way. But then Chipstorm said "emphatically no" and I felt better.

I do agree with you though that there are certain posters who have been around for awhile who I think I can trust and maybe even trust to hold large sums of money. I just wouldn't have any clue if these trustworthy posters were introverts or extroverts or kooky acting or what. But I do think that over time you can get a feel for who is genuinely kind. I think.


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As T.S. Eliot said, poetry isn't an expression of personality but an escape from personlity. But only those with a personality realize this.



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I like this.

Re: Personalities - Introvert or Extrovert?
 

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I'm a introvert.

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Ok this is my point exactly. I was sure you were an extrovert Stuey! What is going on here? Now I'm completely convinced that I am hopeless at reading people online.




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I often feel like people are sucking the life out of me so I need time alone to recharge.

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This is how I feel. At work everyone likes to chat me up and it really drains me. I've started to use headphones a lot more. I am totally happy doing my own thing. I would rather be alone to read or to write than hang out with people I know well. It's not that I can't make friends, I make them easily and I like people a lot. I just like them in little doses and tend to get my fill of people at work.