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Introverts Have More Brain Activity?
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Mon Nov 28, 2005 09:28 PM
from the looking-only-as-far-as-the-nearest-computer-lab dept.
from the looking-only-as-far-as-the-nearest-computer-lab dept.
* * Beatles-Beatles writes to tell us Yahoo News is reporting that introverted individuals tend to have more brain activity in general, specifically in the frontal lobe. From the article: "The attitude that there's something wrong with introverted people is widely shared in society, where fast talk and snap decisions are often valued over listening, deliberation and careful planning. Extroverts seem to rule the world or, at least, the USA, which hasn't elected an introverted president for three decades, since Jimmy Carter."
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Submitter is a link spammer, does /. care? (Score:5, Informative)
Am I the only person who has noticed the numerous stories that get posted by *--Beatles-Beatles? Am I also the only person who has noticed that the link used in is name is a constantly changing URL (depending on the story) with pointers to various scammy sites? Is it not obvious what he's doing? He's using the awesome PageRank of slashdot do promote his sites based on searches that have the word Beatles in them.
It's a small price to pay for free advertising. Find a story, summarize it in 5 minutes, post to slashdot, and get a pagerank boost that advertisers would pay hundreds (or maybe thousands) for. (Text links on high-ranking sites is big business - just ask oreilly).
Slashdot should at least put a ref=nofollow in the links to submitters (or better yet, only link the submitter's name to his/her user page).
In closing, a quick bit of WHOIS shows that all the sites linked by **B-B are registered to Carl Fogle. Carl, cut this crap out.
Re:Submitter is a link spammer, does /. care? (Score:5, Funny)
From the point of view of Slashdot, giving a pagerank boost is a small price to pay to get submissions that got at least 5 min of work into them.
Parent
Fast talker (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe on your side of the pond, mate.
Vik
This is a surprise? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This is a surprise? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:This is a surprise? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Great subject.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Reminds Me... (Score:5, Informative)
A while back I read an article in The Atlantic titled "Caring for Your Introvert [learningplaceonline.com]" by Jonathan Rauch. Absolutely great piece.
Irony (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Irony (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
People are introverts precisely for that reason. (Score:5, Insightful)
One key difference among introverts, introverts know you don't really care and stay in their own world. An Extroverts world and entire reality only exists if people in that reality allow for it.
View it like this, if you are an introvert because you don't want an overly dramatic, painful, insane life, and want actual control over your life, thats just the logical way to have control.
If you are an extrovert, you care what other people think of you, you care about others more than others care about you, and I'm not saying its wrong to care about others, but extroverts simply get attached to everyone, or no one, while introverts are very selective with whom they attach to and connect with.
It's just different strategies, if a person can put up with the pain of being an extrovert, then theres nothing wrong with it, but for others being an extrovert is impossible or difficult unless its in a very artificial way. The artificial way of being an extrovert is to pretend to care, pretend to listen to people, pretend to trust people, and pretend to be social. Example, being social at work or at school because you are supposed to, not because you actually like to or need to, this is how an introvert views.
An extrovert HAS to be social or they go insane with bordem. An extrovert HAS to feel loved or they get depressed. An extrovert MUST feel accepted, MUST feel normal, and so on and so forth.
introverts want to simply stay in their own world and enjoy their time here, and are much more time conscious in that they know its a complete waste of time to play social mind games with people.
Parent
What about perverts? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes yes, I think so, yes, maybe, well, no yes. YES (Score:5, Insightful)
For example; today I had an awful day. I'll think about it until tomorrow morning. My extroverted friends will shrug it off as "bad day, tomorrow is another". If in fact I do "think" more, I'll spend less time socializing as it'll cut into my thinking time.
Yesterday at a church event I attempted to be even more extroverted than normal. I was insulted in the course of the evening, a minor misunderstanding of my position, and of course it distracted me the rest of the evening as I thought about how to restate and rectify my position.
So yes, we think more but why would the thinking want to associate with the brain-dead? We don't. We fall back into our shells and think about why the world is as it is.
Re:Yes yes, I think so, yes, maybe, well, no yes. (Score:5, Insightful)
An introvert says it, but only after thinking it over, if it is the best thing to say, the timing, thinking about what others say a bunch to try to come up with good things to say, etc. An introvert can "over analyze" things like that.
Other things happen too. When I'm going to meet someone, I'll often think up entire conversations on the way. It isn't purposeful, but I think something along the lines of "I could say X", then that leads to "then they would say Y", and it continues and before you know it I've had a little conversation in my head.
I think about all sorts of stuff. I can be walking down the street and I'll start thinking about something completely irrelevant. I'm not talking about "I remember that one birthday", I'm talking about "how you could build X" which leads to how to solve problem Y, how X would be useful in situation Z, etc.
That is sort of the whole introvert/extrovert thing. Introverts do all this stuff inside. Extroverts might do these things as conversations with other people, or they might fill that "need" in some other way with normal conversation and such.
That's how I see it. I used to be more of an introvert, and I've never been an extrovert so I can't say I've had that point of view (outside of the odd situation).
Parent
Perhaps (Score:5, Informative)
More information here: http://www.theintrovertadvantage.com/ [theintrove...antage.com]
Here's a quick bit from the site:
Are You One?
We all use both our introverted and extroverted skills, but we are hard wired to be more one than the other. Look at the lists below and determine which one feels more like YOU!
Not every aspect will fit exactly for you because we are all unique. If you don't feel like you fit one side more than the other, even by 51% to 49%, then ask yourself this question: If there is an emergency do you tend to stand still and feel somewhat shutdown or in slow motion? If you have a standstill reaction to stress more often, then you are probably an introvert. In a crisis do you tend to move your body immediately and feel like taking action, maybe without pausing to think? Then you are probably an extrovert if you react with movement. Under stress we can experience our innate temperament. Look over the two lists and think about how you ARE, not as you'd like to be. If your still uncertain, as a last ditch effort, ask someone you trust and who is honest to read these and suggest which one sounds more like you.
Introverts:
Extroverts:
I recommend this book if you think you are or know somebody that you think is indeed an introvert, as this book says alot about what an introvert is and what the article briefly describes.
Re:Perhaps (Score:5, Insightful)
On the other hand, many "nerds" who really struggle at small talk still crave opportunities to meet lots of people and on those rare occasions when they are on top of their game they feel energized and love it.
Being a nerd (or a geek for that matter) does not necessarily mean being an introvert.
Parent
Also seen in the brain scan ... (Score:5, Funny)
Well, duh... (Score:5, Insightful)
Ever wondered why meeting people is easier when tipsy? It makes your brain shut up.
Groupthink!! (Score:5, Funny)
I feel the karma burning, but hey, I got a 4 today, so I can afford a -1.
As always, issue of causation (Score:5, Insightful)
There is frequently an assumption that the physical (brain chemistry, electrical activity) causes the behavior (introspection), as opposed to the other way around, or some other, independent cause.
To Borrow a Quote... (Score:5, Insightful)
Strive for diversity, not one or the other... (Score:5, Insightful)
I try to beleive I'm a little more diverse than one word, the same way I don't describe myself as a Jew, or white, or red head, or whatever. If you are in a situation where you have to describe yourself as one word, you may be around the wrong people.
frontal lobe (Score:5, Funny)
You know, we'd guessed....
Presidents nothing, try Apprentices (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:USA != The world (Score:5, Funny)
What is this "World" that you speak of? Is "World" one of the Middle States? Like between Kansas and Ohio? I never could remember those.
Parent