Carrie answers “A psychologist told me I am an introvert...”

Sherry asked this question about Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking:

A psychologist told me I am an introvert pretending to be an extrovert. I remember when I first made the decision to pretend I was more outgoing and less shy than I was when I noticed schoolmates who were outgoing had more fun. Anybody else remember making a like decision?

Carrie Susan talks about the pretending idea you mentioned quite a bit in one chapter. There are plenty of case studies about it as well. What you are descri…moreSusan talks about the pretending idea you mentioned quite a bit in one chapter. There are plenty of case studies about it as well. What you are describing is basically called Free Trait Theory by Dr. Brian Little so you can read up about this on your own easily on the internet. Susan does a fantastic job explaining Little’s theory. The idea at the core is saying that introverts and extroverts have the ability to act like the opposite personalities for a certain period of time particularly if they are passionate about a project or it’s needed to advance at work. But it’s not sustainable. It’s nearly impossible and very unhealthy to try and maintain the opposite of one’s true personality. I can’t remember the term she used but she says that people need to revert back to their safe space after doing something that doesn’t traditionally line up with their dominant personality. The best idea to get out of the book in my opinion is that balance is key. It is probably best to tune into ourselves and self monitor what makes us feel comfortable the majority of the time.(less)

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