To find out how exactly introverts' minds differ from extroverts’, previously Bored Panda spoke with Helen Marlo, a licensed clinical psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst who provides psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and consultation.
Helen, who is also a Professor of Clinical Psychology and the Department Chair at Notre Dame de Namur University, said that the key difference between introverts and extroverts “is in the characteristic and distinctive ways they direct and use consciousness and, consequently, how their attitude of consciousness impacts their psychic energy.”
“An individual who becomes energized when their consciousness is oriented towards internal sources exhibits a more dominant introverted attitude while an individual who is energized when directing consciousness to external sources exhibits a more dominant extroverted attitude,” Marlo told us.
The psychoanalyst explained that introverts obtain more gratification from sources inside themselves. “They are typically described as more introspective, reflective, solitary, and oriented towards individual pursuits,” she said some time ago.
However, Marlo believes that the common characterizations of introvert and extrovert personalities are often simplified. ”While the personality traits and activities ascribed to introverts and extroverts have some validity, frequently, such characterizations are overgeneralized and simplistic. For example, a frequent overgeneralization is that extroverts are not introspective or reflective while introverts are not social nor relate well to others.”
While we often believe we’re born introverts or extroverts, the research shows that it depends on a combination of factors: “What we are born with, along with what we experience in life, including influential relationships, our social and cultural world, life circumstances, stressors, and traumas,” Marlo said.
That being said, being an introvert is not just about avoiding crowds and preferring solitary time. Marlo believes that there are tremendous benefits of being an introverted person. “The consciousness of introverts, relative to extroverts, is more primed to absorb, reflect upon, analyze, endow meaning, and organize external material from fellow human beings as well as the objects of our external world.”
Moreover, introverts help to make our relationships, with others and ourselves, as well as the events of the external world more meaningful. “Introverts enable us to learn from our experiences by inspiring reflection. Moreover, introverted attention fosters creativity, and when met with extroverted consciousness, it inspires innovation,” the psychoanalyst concluded.
