introversion and extroversion

[erratio]

So the other day I asked Alison Hein and Dave L whether they thought a lot of people in cse revue were introverted, because from where I'm standing it looks like most of them are extroverts. Alison surprised me by quoting one of the directors from last year who said that virtually everyone in revue last year was an introvert. Naturally this got me thinking about what introversion and extroversion actually means.

The way I've always defined it before is that an extrovert is someone who needs other people around and is comfortable with being in crowds, while an introvert is someone who needs privacy and tends to get uncomfortable in large groups.

Turns out that my definition is fairly close to the accepted gospel on it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introversion_and_extroversion

Going back to my original question, I've thought about it some more, and come to the conclusion that the director was probably right. To be in a computing course argues for a certain level of introversion already, since traditional coding (as opposed to extreme programming) involves long hours spent alone in front of a computer, which would in turn drive a lot of extroverts insane. My mistake was in associating extroversion with sociability, and in assuming that more </> extroverted is the same as extroverted.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Your last sentence totally threw me. Do you perhaps mean "less introverted is the same as extroverted", speaking of the relativity of introversion and extroversion within a primarily programming-intensive course?

[erratio.livejournal.com]

i meant it more in the sense of "better isn't the same as good". I am personally more extroverted than a complete anti-social, but that doesn't mean that i myself would be considered extroverted by a long shot.

And yes, you could replace the words with "less introverted" and get a similar effect