Introverts go to extreme lengths when avoiding people but Carl King perfectly reminded us that there's more than meets the eye. "The problem is that labeling someone as an introvert personality is a very shallow assessment," he wrote. According to the composer and filmmaker, it's more complex than that.
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"I’ve written a lot of stupid blogs on a whim, and never expected that 10 Myths About Introverts thing to be read by so many people," Carl told Bored Panda. "It was surreal to get emails from moms asking me for advice with their kids' personality types (I have no clue because I don’t have kids). Then there was the backlash, with people saying it’s all B.S. It seems like a polarizing topic that everyone can argue about. I was only writing about my own experience with this urban legend on introverts and glad it helped some people who identified with it." The last time he checked the stats, the article had already accumulated over 2 million views on his website.
King wrote the list after discovering a book called, The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World, by Marti Laney, Psy.D. "It felt like someone had written an encyclopedia entry on a rare race of people to which I belong. Not only had it explained many of my eccentricities, but it also helped me to redefine my entire life in a new and productive context."
"This personality definition hit me very hard," Carl added. "It was important for me to read because I was under a lot of pressure at the time to be an extrovert, and just felt like something was wrong with me. It was easy to blame myself because all the people around me in Los Angeles wanted non-stop stimulation and partying, always going out, or always having people over. I felt like they were always thinking, 'What’s wrong with Carl?' The truth is, I love socializing. But when I’ve had enough, I should feel OK about going home."
Carl highlighted a section of Laney's book that maps out the human brain and explains how neuro-transmitters follow various dominant paths in the nervous systems of different personalities like Introverts and Extroverts. "If the science behind the book is correct, it turns out that Introverts are people who are over-sensitive to Dopamine, so too much external stimulation overdoses and exhausts them. Conversely, Extroverts can’t get enough Dopamine, and they require Adrenaline for their brains to create it. Extroverts also have a shorter pathway and less blood-flow to the brain. The messages of an Extrovert’s nervous system mostly bypass the Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, which is where a large portion of contemplation takes place."
The book states that only about 25% of people are Introverts. "There are even fewer that are as extreme as I am. This leads to a lot of misunderstandings."
Some people are praising the list
But others disagree
