American writer, journalist, and introvert Jonathan Rauch thinks that extroverts are relatively easy for introverts to understand because they spend so much of their time working out who they are in voluble, and frequently inescapable, interaction with other people. Rauch says they are as inscrutable as puppy dogs.
On the other hand, he believes that extroverts have little or no grasp of introversion. "They assume that company, especially their own, is always welcome. They cannot imagine why someone would need to be alone; indeed, they often take umbrage at the suggestion," Rauch writes. "As often as I have tried to explain the matter to extroverts, I have never sensed that any of them really understood. They listen for a moment and then go back to barking and yipping."
And that, he claims, is the reason why introverts are so often misunderstood compared to their more social peers.
Furthermore, Rauch says that introverts are, in a way, oppressed. "For one thing, extroverts are overrepresented in politics, a profession in which only the garrulous are really comfortable."
"Look at George W. Bush. Look at Bill Clinton. They seem to come fully to life only around other people. To think of the few introverts who did rise to the top in politics—Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon—is merely to drive home the point. With the possible exception of Ronald Reagan, whose fabled aloofness and privateness were probably signs of a deep introverted streak (many actors, I've read, are introverts, and many introverts, when socializing, feel like actors), introverts are not considered 'naturals' in politics."
Since extroverts dominate public and social life, they are also the ones who set the expectations. "In our extrovertist society, being outgoing is considered normal and therefore desirable, a mark of happiness, confidence, leadership. Extroverts are seen as bighearted, vibrant, warm, empathic. 'People person' is a compliment."
"Introverts are described with words like 'guarded,' 'loner,' 'reserved,' 'taciturn,' 'self-contained,' 'private'—narrow, ungenerous words, words that suggest emotional parsimony and smallness of personality," Rauch explains.
However, it's worth mentioning that a few studies have found support for some connections between introversion and depression.
For example, this research suggests introversion may play a part in the development of the condition when people also have a greater sensitivity to feelings and emotions as well as neuroticism, a personality trait linked to a tendency toward negative or distressing feelings.
However, it's interesting that another piece of research, which explored the connection between social anxiety and personality traits, suggests that the highest overall levels of social anxiety appears in people with moderate to high extroversion, described by the researchers as "anxious extroverts."
