There is no more disturbing phenomenon in the world than the moment in which popular culture takes over psychological concepts and begins to play with them freely. It may soon turn out that even an interesting psychological concept will be turned into a small nightmare. Let's look at Introverts and Extroverts.
At the beginning, it should be noted that I will not tell you about psychological theory or about research that confirms the various traits of people recognized as Introvert or Extrovert. We can say that the theory itself is not sucked out, that there are indeed some differences in the functioning of certain brain regions of both groups and that there is such a phenomenon in general. The problem is that it does not quite look the way popular culture shows it online. And this is what I want to deal with today. Mainly because it is a fairly neutral subject which shows how often other concepts and mechanisms start to operate on the Internet or in society.
Let's begin with the fact that we live in societies that reward and stigmatize introvert and extroverted behavior to varying degrees. For many places in the Internet, posts, information and blogs from the United States dominate. There, the culture not only at work, but also private life, really rewards being an extrovert. At least - being a social human, popular, making friends without much difficulty. Especially in schools, popularity is considered an important element and often translates not only into positions in the group but to achievements that are important from the point of view of an academic career. Whoever touched American culture or took a bit more social observation will notice that popularity is very highly valued there. Is this in European society? It seems to be a bit less. Of course, these are quite generalizations, but we can assume that of all the more extroverted American societies, the American seems more oppressive. It does not mean that every society is not in a way oriented to reward interpersonal interactions, but in the world of the Internet you can hear such a clear cry of young people - mainly from the United States who would like to leave them alone.
This rebellion against sociability found its place on the Internet. If you look at the Internet looking for information about extroverts and introverts, you will hit if more content is devoted to introversion. More - if the creators prefer - whether it's blogs or funny pictures or comics, they put introverts apart from extroverts. In this simple division Introverts are shown more or less always the same as people who are listening to themselves, sitting with a book, or wondering about the mechanisms responsible for the existence of the world. They are withdrawn, they love to spend the evening alone with their laptop in bed and they feel attacked from all sides by the world that wants to get them out of this safe cocoon. It is emphasized everywhere that they do not like such polite conversations about anything and are willing to engage in serious conversations about the nature of the world. No one writes that they are better, but in this juxtaposition it is clear that hardly anyone understands them, hardly anyone can look at their inner world, and they are definitely more interesting than they are attributed to them but still shouted by self-assured extroverts.
If you find a lot of pages describing "typical problems of introverts" then you will not find many that are devoted to similar extrovert problems. These are treated as such a starting "normal" member of society, who everywhere feels comfortable, is necessarily confident, as the first one jumps at the event on the dance floor and in general - no one ever puts him in an awkward position. The Internet shows these two features as opposing, somewhat during a constant fight. Although one is still persecuted and the other has an advantage over it. A pattern is quickly drawn - being an introvert is a special feature, somehow morally better, puts a person in a situation in which he is unadapted and misunderstood by the world. What's more - to a certain set of behaviors, appropriate for this type of personality, then more is added. Often not having much in common with being an introvert. For example, social fears, problems with self-esteem, doubts about their own values - all this can happen to every person, regardless of whether meeting people is pleasant or not. You can be very self-confident introvert and extrovert who every now and then wonders if anyone likes him. Similarly with asking for help. This is something that is definitely more complicated than a simple division.
It is not difficult to notice that in creating this simple dichotomy, the complexity of the human psyche and social behavior is lost. People are not divided into two types, which exhibit two very different sets of behaviors and live in almost different worlds. It is hurtful to everyone, mainly because as humans we are simply incomparably more complex individuals. Unfortunately, a simple division not only appeals to the minds of people but it can also be perfectly used in online psychology. Half of the blog posts about introverts and extroverts contain a section that encourages you to participate in the next online psychological test that will tell you what type you are. In addition, a well-defined vision of introvert in the network is perfectly combined with the quiet desire of most teenagers that everyone would live them alone and let them sit in front of the computer until they no longer distinguish the day from the night. At the same time, such a division - you can easily identify yourself with a wider group and feel part of a larger whole. What we all like very much as people. Add to this the professional context. On the Internet you can meet quite a few complaints that introverts find it harder to find a job because they fall out worse on job interviews. At the same time - nothing is lost in the business world, so books are being created that introverts are actually better at work.
In addition to this, other features of each individual are lost in this. You can be shy regardless of whether you like contact with people or not. You can enjoy meetings with your friends while at the same time sitting quietly in the corner. You can honestly suffer from both big events and reading books. You can calmly ask yourself a lot of important questions about the functioning of the universe and have a weakness for dancing. This logical way of looking at the complexity of human personality is not being sold well on the Internet. Like all errata for a simple view of the world. Besides, if we are already at the same time, the simple division here is at all contradictory with a certain look at the Introversion and Extraversion which should rather be presented as a spectrum at which ends as usual - there are very few people. No less such a spectrum is difficult to give new cultural significance, it is difficult to unite around it, it is much harder to draw a witty drawing or create a certain vision of constant oppression or fight with the world.
Recently, the Internet has a new concept (from the point of view of the Internet), and after completing millions of tests, it turns out that for many people, the matter is not simple and they are wondering who they are supposed to be. And here comes the new term ambivert - which says - that quite a few people have both introvert and extroverted features. It would have been mismatious to grunt something like "who would have thought", but the truth is that in the popular understanding of psychological concepts, the appearance of this term as a third option is quite important. First and foremost, it eliminates the somewhat poetics of the conflict. Secondly - quite a few people, if not the majority, may be in this group. What allows you to enjoy all the elements of your behavior without feeling that something is wrong with you. Because the truth is that canceled plans for meetings with friends are enjoyed by most of the living, especially if they were plans to meet in the middle of the week after work.
Unfortunately, online psychology - or rather popular psychology is a phenomenon that lives entirely on its own. At Tumblr you will find tens of thousands of blogs that slowly go from "I like to sit with a book" to "I'm an introvert, lonely in the world of aggressive extraversion." Which of course leads to confusion of orders and artificial divisions, in which people are forced to behave according to the scheme. Meanwhile, no matter where you are on the scale of behavior, sometimes people behave completely out of line with the scheme. Because we are already so complex that regardless of patterns we can behave differently. This does not mean that the recognition of differences in behavior is wrong - rather that what happened to him on the Internet raises some anxiety, mainly as a cultural and not a psychological one. Especially that the divisions become more and more distant from what they originally meant. Suddenly, it turns out that the creative can only be an introvert, which is not true. Some general statements about preferred behaviors are raised to absolute truths. What unfortunately leads to the fact that psychological concepts begin to have completely different meanings.
Ultimately, the whole thing is not so simple. Let's take me, for example, if I'm here anyway. I like to meet people, I'm not afraid of them but I never speak as the first one of the whole group. At the same time, if you give me headphones and a computer connected to the Internet, people are naturally unnecessary to me. I can spend hours or days without speaking to anyone and I feel fantastic about it. I can also not call my family and forget about contact with my relatives. I'm definitely not shy. But I can not also say that my self-confidence is an example of unwavering conviction about my abilities. For this most of my life is taking me to create a story in my head. But at the same time, this story is based on what I could observe when staying with other people.
As you can see for yourself, I am a perfect example - like many others people, that an unambiguous division works perfectly in the world of the Internet, meme or post, but it does not work much more in the real world. Of course, there are real extroverts among us who need people to live, otherwise, they lack happiness and introverts who may not have noticed the zombie apocalypse, except that at last there has some peace. Both types function in the world, sometimes feeling good, sometimes bad and sometimes completely out of place. And only in this strange world of the Internet everything in this division is clear, simple and not requiring discussion.