As an introvert, I love spending time alone. Extrovert family members and friends often despair when I run out of steam three hours into a party. Too much chat and I get cranky.
For me, there’s nothing better than being alone with a good book on the deck in the sunshine or tucked up in my study with my laptop, a cup of coffee, and my thoughts.
In the 1920s, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung coined the terms “extrovert” and “introvert” to explain why some people are energised by social situations and others find loud, rowdy environments exhausting.
Businessman and investor Elon Musk is reportedly an introvert. In an interview, his father Errol said: “Elon has always been an introverted thinker … so where a lot of people would go to a great party and have a great time, and drink and talk about all sorts of things like rugby or sport, you would find Elon had found the person’s library and was going through their books.”
Study after study has made sociability a prerequisite for good health, along with low cholesterol and physical activity.
However, being the most talkative person in the room doesn’t necessarily mean you have the best ideas.
Susan Cain, author of the bestselling book suggests that the hidden benefits of the introverted temperament are often overlooked — for workplaces, personal relationships, and society as a whole.
Introverts may be able to fit all their friends into a large closet, but those relationships tend to be deep and rewarding. Introverts are more cautious and deliberate than extroverts, but that can result in thinking things through more carefully and, ultimately, making smarter decisions.
“Introverts are better at listening too — which, after all, is easier to do if you’re not talking — and that in turn can make them better business leaders, especially if their employees feel empowered to act on their own initiative,” Cain told in 2012.
“Simply by their ability to sit still and focus, introverts find it easier to spend long periods in solitary work — which turns out to be the best way to come up with a fresh idea or master a skill.”
There is evidence that temperament is strongly inborn and inherited, influencing our behaviour from the very early days after we leave the womb.
Dr Catherine Conlon, of Ballyphehane, a public health doctor in Cork
In a series of experiments in 1989, Harvard developmental psychologist Jerome Kagan gathered a sample of 500 four-month-old infants and exposed them to new experiences in the lab — including popping balloons, colourful mobiles, and the smell of alcohol on cotton swabs.
Twenty per cent of the infants reacted intensely to the stimuli, crying and pumping their arms. Forty per cent stayed relatively quiet, and the remaining 40% fell between the two extremes.
Kagan predicted that the infants with the most intense response would likely be introverted as adolescents, whereas those who stayed relatively quiet would likely be extroverted.
As the subjects grew older, his hypothesis proved to be true: highly reactive babies matured into more introverted teenagers.
In the interview, Cain explained the impact of temperament: “Hell for an introvert isn’t other people — not exactly — but people are stimuli, and a cocktail party or brainstorming sessions can blow their neural circuits.
“Meanwhile, extroverts are a little bit like addicts who are always in search of a high, seeking out stimuli — in the healthier form of social situations — that would make an introvert’s head ring.”
More recent evidence identifies a number of brain features associated with personality types. The brains of introverts look and react differently than those of extroverts. Introverts have a thicker prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain associated with deep thought.
There is a good reason why introverts often feel overwhelmed and it relates to the neurotransmitter, dopamine. This brain chemical is often referred to as the “feel good” chemical, because it regulates our pleasure and reward centres.
One of its roles is to motivate us to pursue rewards and reduce the effort needed to do so. Socialising requires energy because it involves paying attention, listening, thinking, speaking, and moderating our emotional reactions.
Psychotherapist Dr Marti Olsen Laney, in , outlines how introverts are more sensitive to the effects of dopamine — requiring less of it to feel its pleasant effects.
“Too much dopamine,” she noted last April in an interview with Jenn Granneman for introvertdear.com, “can lead us quiet ones to feel overstimulated”.
Extroverts may be less sensitive to dopamine, meaning they need more of it to feel happy. Social activities and stimulating environments increase dopamine production, which helps explain why extroverts love meeting people and “being on the go”.
Laney describes how introverts may also use a different brain pathway that is activated by another neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.
This neurotransmitter is linked to the ability to stay calm, along with long-term memory and perceptual learning. She suggests that acetylcholine can produce a sense of happiness for introverts when they engage in inward-focused activities, such as quiet reflection or enjoying hobbies.
The next time an introvert needs time alone, remember that it’s not personal. Introverts need time alone because of the way their brains are wired.
- Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork and former director of human health and nutrition at Safefood
