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Ashley White
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1102

April 27, y

Introvert-Extrovert Interaction With Different Environments

Think about the following scenarios: going to the bookstore, walking to class, working at
your job, going out with friends and relaxing at home. If you could guess what they all had in
common, what would you think? Lets give you a hint, each one of these scenarios plays a role in
how you express yourself. Environment has a bigger impact on personality than people expect
and many dont take it into account that people choose how they interact with their surroundings
based on two key personality traits. These two personality traits can simply be called
introversiont and extroversiont. Its true that introverted and extroverted people prefer a
certain environment (Robinson). Though how exactly does environment influence the
choices of introverted and extroverted people?
Lets start off at the beginning with what exactly is an introverted person. Someone who
is introverted can be classified by liking alone time,, expressing their thoughts on paper, quiet
and think before they speak in a conversation (Bainbridge). So its clear that a person who is
considered an introvert values the time they have alone. This environment helps them express
themselves and as Robinson states about alone time, introverts are re-energized
(Robinson). Therefore, an introverts perfect environment would be curled up in a comfy
chair, reading one of his or hertheir favorite books in a quiet room with no distraction. Introverts

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feel their best in this type of environment and most alive(Cain). Though what happens if
they are placed in an environment that is completely opposite of this, w. Where they have to
invest time in social interaction or have to interact with many things at one time?.
Imagine being introverted and asked to go to a house party that your friend is hosting.
When you arrive there are people everywhere and its hard to move from room to room. The
guests have to scream in order to hear each other talk and you cant even concentrate on your
own thoughts. Immediately an introvert can become uncomfortable with their environment and
feel drained from too much social stimuli. They try not to interact with too many people because
that would cause more stress on them so they search for one of their good friends. In most cases
introverts have only one or two friends, not because they lack social skills but because they dont
need many friends to fulfill their social needs. Though once the introvert finds their friend, they
still prefer to engage in a conversation that is beneficial to their well-being. By this they want to
talk about something that puts a lot of thought into and promotes inner individuality. However,
three hours into the party they can become quite irritable from too much going on and look
zombie like by showing less expressions (Bainbridge).
Now lets take a closer look at the difference between the introverts behavior towards
its his or her environment when they werent with their friend and when they finally found
them. When first introduced to the party, an introvert is looked upon as shy and antisocial.
Though thats not exactly what theyre trying to portray themselves as, instead they are holding
onto their internal energy so its not taken away from the people surrounding them (Robinson).
This gives people the wrong impression on introverted people, because they dont bring life to
a party, but once they get in the range of a close friend their true inner self comes out and they

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become very social. Many introverts will become highly talkative around a familiar environment
and wont feel any stress from the uninvited attention (Bainbridge).
So environment clearly shows a huge influence of how an introvert will express their
emotions and social interaction. The same concept is shown in extroverted people as well. An
Eextrovertsted can be defined as "social butterflies," and, extroverts make a living through
social stimulation. (Robinson) which is the complete opposite of an introvert. Instead of
distancing themselves from social interaction, they thrive off of being around people. Also they
express their ideas through talking to others and prefer to multitask (Robinson). So in this case
going to that loud, social party would be an extroverts perfect environment. They want meet
new people and interact with everyone whothat is present. Just like an introvert, they have the
same concept of a re-charge environment. Though lets take an extrovert out of their typical
environment and cut them off from all social interaction for a day. A personal connection can
be put into this scenario since I tested my personality and it came out to be that I was
extroverted.
Being around people gives me an all around good feeling. Socializing makes me feel
connected with others and helps me express myself, t. Though being taken away from that
environment gives me the complete opposite effect. When I isolate myself from the real world
and stay in my room for over a few hours, my mental state goes from stable to stressed. Without
the social interaction I dont have the opportunity to express my thoughts and ideas. To make up
for lack of social stimuli, I try to talk to myself and pretend Iim with someone else to fulfill that
need. Though this only works for a short period of time and just like an introvert, I soon become
zombie like and will stop showing expressions. A good point was made in an article I read,
they mentioned that extroverts find happiness in being around others and thats exactly what I do

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(Angelo, Srivastava, and Vallereux). When Iim around people I can feel their happiness and
take it in to help improve my mood.
After analyzing both the perspectives of introverted and extroverted people, a. Anyone
can see the distinct characteristics of each personality and even the similarities; however,
not everything is in black and white. In todays society people adapt and change to fit their
environment. They will push back personality traits to pursue in something, gain traits to
fulfill tasks, and even change to fit in (Cain). Therefore, many introverts will show
extrovert characteristics and vice versa. So in that party scenario from above, an introvert
could become the life of the party instead of excluding themselves with the close friend.
While there might be multiple reasons why they did this, one idea could be because they
wanted to feel accepted.
To go further into this idea lets talk about different environments that could alter an
introvert or extroverts personality traits more specifically. If a job requires social interaction with
a large group of people, like in a conference, an introvert can obtain the trait of public speaking
and easily talk to the crowd. Many of these traits wouldn't be in their original personality
characteristics, but are obtained to do the things they love. Some introverts will pursue in careers
that seems only extroverts would seemingly excel in. They say that careers in the arts and
sciences are targeted for people who are more introverted than others (Robinson).
Of course, introverts can equally be lawyers, actors, or entrepreneurs (Robinson). Susan
Cain is a good example of an introvert who took a different route. She grew up with a family
who valued reading and exploring the world through their mind. This created a strong
imagination for Cain and she thought it was normal for people to be more to themselves and
enjoy alone time. Though one summer she decided to go to camp and thats when learned that

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being extroverted was more valued. After that experience, she went on to become a Wwall
Sstreet lawyer to prove that introverts were equally valued. This was something no introvert
would dare to do because it required more social interaction than normal. Of course, she never
grew out of her introvert side. Reading was something she still had passion for. So she decided
after years of being a lwayer, she would go write a book on what she experienced. Those seven
years were the best she ever had because finally her true introvert side could come out (Cain).
The same goes from extroverts, some will learn to be quiet more often to do their work
efficiently or stay in a room for hours in order to write a book that will take years to complete.
Not every extrovert will go into the career that is meant for them like an actor or spokesman
(Robinson). Even though extroverts are known to be more outgoing they, too, can learn to adapt
to the environment influence. Similarities in extroverts and introverts like above are a good
example of that each personality trait is effected the same way.
Another common environment that influences introverted and extroverted people is school.
Most of the time school is a place where extroverts can really express themselves (Cain). Group
projects, presentations, class discussions, and other social activities help extroverts do what they
do best, w. While introverts feel stressed to talk about ideas to others and present a project in
front of the whole class. Just like having a job that requires someone to obtain traits that arent
usually in them, introverts learn to adapt to their environment. Dont let this adaption fool you
though. Once an introvert or extrovert goes back home to their safe place, they revert to their
natural self. They Re-energize by talking to their group of friends or sitting down to read a
book. By doing this they are preparing to take on the next day and once again adapt to the
environments they are exposed to.

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Relationships and friendships are also an environment that changes the traits of these two
personality traits. Previously mentioned, introverts become more talkative around people that
they are close with. The conversation topics that they talk about probably hold more value to the
introvert and they enjoy the interaction. Introverts like to talk about deep topics and put a lot of
thought in what they want to say. So people who they are close with get this side of them because
they know how the other person works and are both interested in the same types of things
(Bainbridge). Extroverts have a huge role in this because they help bring out those traits in
introverts. By being the complete opposite of introverts, extroverts can do most of the talking in
a conversation while the introvert can sit back and listen to what they have to say. This helps take
the pressure off of introverts and if the conversation is interesting enough, they will become
more involved in the social stimuli (Cain).
Now that a new perspective is opened up about environment influence on personality
traits of introverted and extroverted people. Even though the two personality traits are
completely opposite from each other, they still have some similarities when it comes to
environment influence. While the same environments dont create the same responses, they bring
out the best of the two personalities or make the person feel uncomfortable and stressed. In
order to prevent stress from arising in an environment, introverts and extroverts will gain traits to
adapt in the specific environment. This helps the person pursue in what they want to do with
their life even if its dominantly for the opposite personality trait.

Works Cited

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Angelo, Kimberly M., Sanjay Srivastava, and Shawn R. Vallereux. Extraversion and
positive affect: A day reconstruction study of personenvironment transactions.
Journal

of Research in Personality, 42 (2008): 1613-1618. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Bainbridge, Carol. All About Introverts. Gifted Kids. About.com, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.
Cain, Susan. The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain. Online video clip. Ted. TED
Conferences LLC, Feb 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Robinson, Jabril. How to Tthrive in an Iintroverted/Eextroverted Wworkplace. Phys Org.
Phys.org,

22 Aug. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Reflection

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Writing this inquiry paper gave me a lot of mixed feelings. At the beginning of the process
I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. Though once I got to the research it was hard to
find information about it and outline a good inquiry essay. I had to change my topic to something
that still related to it but made more sense when researching it. This same situation happened in
the paper when I started writing. In the first three pages of my paper all my information flowed
perfectly, I had realistic examples and it seemed like this essay wouldnt be difficult. However, at
the point where I talk about how personality traits of introverted and extroverted people can
change, my mind became blank. You could say I got writers block, but it was hard to shake off.
Though I pushed through the block and tried my hardest to keep my paper flowing.
When I learned that introverts and extroverts can take on each others personality traits,
that was very interesting to read about. I thought introverts could never be social and always
liked being alone. Though for certain environments they are in some way forced to become the
opposite what they are. Extroverts do the same by being more quiet than they usually are. After
learning this, I wanted to know more about how the brain is affected in this situation. What parts
of the brain are being used to push away some personality traits and to turn on ones that seemed
to never be there. The brain is a very interesting part of the human body and something I always
want to know more about.
My research was mainly focused in the time period between 2008 to 2014. I dont
particularly know if that had any effect on my paper, but I dont think much was known about
introverts and extroverts in older times. If they did know anything, I would think that all the
information was the same compared to what I used in my paper because research only gets more
detailed over time.

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Now that my inquiry essay is over I look back at it and see a lot of accomplishments. First
thing im proud of is my in text citation because it was something I really struggled with for my
research paper in high school. I feel like I have a good grasp on what to do and just improve over
the years. Also while I dont think my analytical skills have changed, they were put into effect in
this essay. Ive always been a curious person and know how to analyze information that is given
to me. The only downfall of this paper was my attention towards it. I didnt mind doing the
research because it was interesting and fun to learn about; however, im more of a person who
likes to research about medical topics.

Grading Criteria
25% your voice is heard/not all research: 22
10% grammar/spelling/punctuation: 8
25% structure/organization: 25
15% incorporates sources well: 12
15% content must validate your research: 12
10% stays on topic: 8
total: 87