Susan Cain: Why the World Needs Introverts!

Shy, unconfident, solitary. There are many popular conceptions of introversion, most of them negative, but the reality is far more complicated. Our lives are shaped as profoundly by personality , the "north and south of temperament" as the scientist JD Higley puts it, is where we fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum. Our place on this continuum influences our choice of friends and mates, and how we make conversation, resolve differences, and show love. It affects the careers we choose and whether or not we succeed at them. It governs how likely we are to exercise, a habit found in extroverts, commit adultery, function well without sleep, learn from our mistakes, place big bets in the stock market, delay gratification, bea good leader, and ask "what if". Its reflected in our brain pathways, neurotransmitters, and remote corners of our nervous systems. Today introversion and extroversion are two of the most exhaustively researched subjects in personality psychology, arousing the curiosity of hundreds of scientists. These researchers have made exciting discoveries aided by the latest technology, but they're part of a long and storied tradition. Poets and philosophers have made exciting discoveries aided by the latest technology, but they're part of a long and storied tradition. Poets and philosophers have been thinking about introverts and extroverts since the dawn of recorded time. Both personality types appear in the Bible and in the writings of Greek and Roman physicians, and some evolutionary psychologists say the history of these types reaches back even farther than that: the animal kingdom also boasts introverts and extroverts from fruit flies to pumpkinseed fish to rhesus monkeys.