The Introvert-Extravert Flip-Flop

The personality dimension of introversion-extraversion is well-known, well-researched, and seemingly quite a “visible” personality trait. It is one of the Big Five personality traits. Introverts are individuals who are more reserved and inward-focused. They tend to be more focused on their own thoughts and feelings and enjoy solitude. Extraverts, on the other hand, are more outwardly-focused, enjoy social situations, and are energized by them.

Like most personality traits, introversion-extraversion is normally distributed (think of the well-known bell curve), with a few people who are at the extremes – solid introverts and extraverts – but with the majority in the middle – a sort of blend.

Because this personality dimension is so well-known, people will often determine whether they are an introvert or an extravert based on their own feelings about being reserved or being more social, or, more commonly, they are told by friends and relatives, “You are an extravert/introvert!” based on your sociability.

The Introvert-Extravert Flip-Flop

Most of us, however, go through life seemingly “flip-flopping” from believing ourselves to be more introverted or extraverted at different times. You may even hear people say, “I thought I was an extravert, but because I spend a lot of time alone, I might be an introvert,” or “I’m quite popular at work, and others seek out my company all the time. I guess I’m becoming an extravert!” This may be because the majority of us are in the middle, neither strongly introverted or extraverted, or, more likely (and supported by our research), because both introverts and extraverts vary in their possession of social skills.

Individuals who possess good interpersonal and social skills, regardless of their level of introversion-extraversion, may, at times, appear extraverted and outgoing. For example, in one of our studies (Guerin, et al., 2011) we found, consistent with prior research, that extraverts were more likely to attain positions of leadership than were introverts. However, this extraversion “advantage” completely disappeared if social skills were taken into account. It was the possession of social skills that related to leadership, not personality alone. We know that some of our greatest leaders – from Abraham Lincoln to Mahatma Gandhi to Barack Obama – were introverts.

Personality, Motivation, and Skill

Whether a person appears sociable and extraverted, or introspective and introverted, likely depends on a combination of personality (i.e., level of introversion-extraversion), motivation (e.g., even extreme introverts can be motivated to be sociable at times, while extraverts may occasionally seek some solitude), and whether you possess good skills in social interaction (which benefit both introverts and extraverts).