Extraversion
Extraversion is the Big Five trait for how much you seek out people, talk and attention. High scorers lean outgoing and lively in company. Low scorers, the people we call introverts, lean quieter and more reserved, and most people land somewhere between the two.1
- The two ends: Quiet and reserved, to outgoing and talkative.
- Enthusiasm: Warmth, sociability and enjoying company.
- Assertiveness: Speaking up, taking charge and influencing others.
- In the free test: Five statements count toward the outgoing end and five toward the quiet end.
Introvert and extravert are one scale
The popular picture is two kinds of people. The scores don't split that way.
When researchers looked at about 12,000 people's results on the Myers-Briggs introvert-extravert scale, the scores bunched toward the middle instead of forming two camps.1 An introvert, in Big Five terms, is someone toward one end of a range everyone is on.
The trait also has two sides, which researchers named Enthusiasm and Assertiveness.2,3 You can love a dinner with friends and dread leading a meeting, or the reverse.
Parties, attention, and nothing about leading
Here are the 10 statements our free personality test uses for this trait, taken from the IPIP item set.4 Five count toward the outgoing end and five, scored in reverse, toward the quiet end.
| Statement | Agreeing counts toward |
|---|---|
| I am the life of the party. | Outgoing end |
| I don't talk a lot. | Quiet end |
| I feel comfortable around people. | Outgoing end |
| I keep in the background. | Quiet end |
| I start conversations. | Outgoing end |
| I have little to say. | Quiet end |
| I talk to a lot of different people at parties. | Outgoing end |
| I don't like to draw attention to myself. | Quiet end |
| I don't mind being the center of attention. | Outgoing end |
| I am quiet around strangers. | Quiet end |
Two of them mention parties and two mention attention. Not one asks about leading or taking charge, even though Goldberg's own name for this factor is Surgency or Extraversion.4
Charged up or worn out
Near the outgoing end, you're likelier to start the conversation, enjoy a busy room and think out loud. Quiet stretches can feel flat.
Near the quiet end, you're likelier to listen more than you talk and like a few people at a time. A loud evening may call for a quiet morning after it. That's one end of a range, and nothing in it needs fixing.
In between, a crowd suits you on some days and an empty room on others.
"I met three new people at the wedding and stayed until the band packed up." (toward the outgoing end)
"Dinner with two close friends was perfect. A third table of strangers would have been too much." (toward the quiet end)
After the last few hours you spent with people, did you feel charged up or worn out? What about that time made the difference?
Answer this with JoyThe week 147 people acted extraverted
Can a quiet person borrow an extravert's good moods just by acting outgoing for a while? A 2019 trial put that to the test, randomly assigning 147 people either to act extraverted for a week or to a comparison task.5
On average, acting extraverted raised positive feelings.5
The more introverted people gained less. They also reported more negative feelings, more tiredness and feeling less like themselves.5
An earlier study had found the upside at the scale of hours: when people reported every 3 hours for 2 weeks, each of them felt happier at the times they were acting extraverted.6 The trial adds the bill. The more introverted you are, the more of it you pay.
Good moods, people jobs, and a shift with age
Three more findings from the research:
- Extraversion went with pleasant feelings across five studies and a meta-analysis of earlier work, with moderate to strong correlations, though the link was weaker when people rated their mood in the moment.7
- At work, it predicted performance in jobs built on dealing with people, managers and sales among them.8
- The two sides age differently. The taking-charge side rises on average between 20 and 40, while the sociable side rises in the teenage years and falls in old age.9
Questions people ask about extraversion
Is extravert the same as extrovert?
Yes, two spellings of one word. Researchers usually write "extraversion". Everyday speech says "extrovert".
What is an omnivert, or an ambivert?
Neither is a Big Five term. Someone who feels both ways sits near the middle of the scale, which is where the 12,000 Myers-Briggs scores bunched.1
Should introverts try to act more extraverted?
Weigh what it costs you. In the week-long trial, the more introverted people felt more tired and less like themselves while doing it.5 Acting outgoing for an evening you care about is a different choice from acting outgoing all week.
Related
- Know yourself: the section hub.
- Free personality test: see where you fall on all five traits.
- Agreeableness and openness: two of the other four traits.