Do you believe that introverts would be happier if they could only
become more extraverted? Are there unmistakable benefits associated with
extraversion
involved in being outgoing, sociable, cheerful, and likely to relate
well to others? Are these the qualities that introverts secretly wished
they possessed? Perhaps you tend toward the introverted yourself and
prefer to retreat to the background. Whether it’s a social gathering, a
work event, or a volunteer meeting, you’re just as happy to let other
people shine their lights while you stay in the shadows. However, your
partner or best friends
keep urging you to become more outgoing. They insist that you’d have
more fun and be more successful socially if you, as the song goes, “put
on a happy face.” It’s not that you’re unhappy, but your quiet behavior
leads them to think you are. You wish they’d refer to the song lyrics
“don’t go changing” instead.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6BxTsE9yIIxOsRCZdHW7NY6qooXf7U3AQmm7IVFnhKuol2t__9S3vQe5uFYZbTPhLMslBQgpQjroIZ0QEm_Z7bK0Qynnbt4hrqPIa5pzik4Its2FtGABBXeG0Zfu1R4Xl2tjeEPZgNI4/s640/happiness-introvert-extrovert.001.png)
Previous research on the happiness of introverts suggests that living in a
culture that values outgoing and gregarious behavior can create a set of maladaptive “extraversion deficit” beliefs. However, correlational studies can’t quite get at the link between introversion-extraversion
and happiness. Using a unique experimental design, University of
Melbourne’s Rowan Jacques-Hamilton and colleagues (2018) recently tested
the hypothesis that people’s well-being could be manipulated by
controlling the extent to which they’re encouraged to act in an
extraverted manner across a one-week interval. Noting that in previous
diary-based and laboratory studies, “people feel happier in moments when
they are acting more extraverted,” the researchers wondered if they
could actually create higher levels of well-being in people who are
actually told to act in a more extraverted manner. On the other hand,
though, they also wondered whether people high in introversion would be
made more miserable by being forced to put on the façade
of extraversion, even if only for a brief time. It can be exhausting,
not to mention emotionally debilitating, to be someone you’re not, as it
drags you further and further from your true self.
For the Jacques-Hamilton et al. experiment, a sample of 147 adults
ranging from 18 to 55 years of age (average of 24 years old) met with
the researchers in small groups, while they received instructions on how
to use the smartphone app through which they would provide their daily
behaviors and happiness levels over the course of the one-week
intervention. The 71 participants who were in the “Act Extraverted”
group received the following instructions: “In your interactions with
other people across the next week, act in a bold, talkative, outgoing,
active, and assertive
way, as much as possible.” In the so-called “sham” condition (one of
two control groups), researchers instructed the participants to “act in
an unassuming, sensitive, calm, modest, and quiet way, as much as
possible.” Luckily, to prevent any unintended consequences, the
researchers instructed participants in both conditions to ignore the
instructions if the situation demanded it, such as needing to be quiet
when they were in a library. Throughout the week, participants also were
reminded of the instructions corresponding to their conditions. A true
control in the form of a contact-only group completed the same
questionnaires and daily measures as those in the two experimental
groups, but had done so in an independent study, so their data were
considered “archival.” All participants received questionnaire measures
at the outset of the study assessing their levels of extraversion,
positive and negative affect, trait “authenticity” (the extent to which
they felt their behavior reflected their true self), and a “tiredness”
scale in which they assessed their levels of fatigue, lethargy,
impulsivity, and alertness.
Throughout the one week active portion of the experiment,
participants completed six so-called “experience sampling method (ESM)”
questionnaires on their mobile apps at one randomly-determined point in
the day between the hours of 9 am and 10 pm. These questionnaires
included items assessing their momentary (within the past hour) levels
of extraversion, positive and negative affect, authenticity, and
tiredness. They also provided an estimate of how focused they had been
on socially oriented activities in the past hour. At the end of the
week, and then two weeks later (for the extraverted and sham groups
only), participants also rated how closely nine extraversion-type items
described them in the previous week, as well as their affect,
authenticity, and tiredness. Participants received monetary compensation
for completing the questionnaires but only partial compensation if they
failed to complete 75% of all the measures.
Putting yourself in the place of the participants, think about how
you would respond if someone instructed (and paid) you to act in a
specific manner when you’re with other people. Would you find it easy to
change your own natural inclinations and behave in the opposite manner
for an entire seven-day period? Would forcing yourself to step outside
of your comfort zone actually make you happier if that comfort zone of
yours wasn't ideal, from a happiness perspective? The answer, as you
might surmise, is only in part. People high in the trait of extraversion
had little difficulty acting in an extraverted way and their happiness
levels rose accordingly. However, people high in introversion really
could not, and they therefore didn't receive the same "happiness
benefit," as it were. It was only the participants high in extraversion
at the start of the study who became even more extraverted, which in
turn led them to feel happier, more authentic, and less tired in their
daily assessments.
These findings may not surprise you, but they did lead the study’s
authors to have to take a step back: “in sharp contrast to virtually
every previous study in the literature, we found that these effects [of
acting in a more extraverted way] depended on one’s level of trait
extraversion.” All previous studies in the literature, unlike the
Jacques-Hamilton study, relied on assessing the correlation between
introversion-extraversion and happiness as they naturally occur in
people's lives (at least as stated on self-report questionnaires). Using
the experimental method along with the ESM approach allowed the authors
to determine the effect on well-being of becoming more extraverted,
taking into account pre-existing introversion-extraversion scores.
The authors also conclude that being told to act in a more
extraverted manner for people who are true introverts is just not a
sustainable approach. The only way to urge such individuals to become
noisier and more gregarious, the team
maintain, would be to try to nudge them in that direction in small
doses with different instructions than to "become as extraverted as
possible." If highly introverted people have the opportunity to return
to an introverted “restorative niche," they can ratchet up their
gregariousness in small and acceptable doses. You might be asking
yourself, at this point, “Why bother?” Can’t introverts be happy the way
they are? The simple answer to this question would be “yes,” but there
was an overall correlation between extraverted behavior and positive
affect as, it turned out, even among the two control groups.
Despite the overall effect of the intervention on positive affect for
the true introverts, the authors reported a small, fleeting effect
related to momentary assessments of well-being. As they conclude,
“Introverts might ‘feel good’ after naturally expressing extraverted
behaviors, or when enacting extraversion for short bouts.” The costs
come when the behavior is expected to continue for a longer duration. To
feel better, introverts could benefit from other interventions such as mindfulness
and focusing on their positive self-thoughts. However, the authors warn
that being happier might not be the most important goal of an
introvert, and assuming that they need to live up to a certain happiness
standard may be “misguided."
To sum up, becoming more extraverted can benefit people’s happiness along a broad spectrum of the personality
trait of extraversion, but only up to a point. True fulfillment may
come from being able to follow your natural inclinations, with
occasional prompts to be more outgoing serving as temporary mood boosts.
If you’re an introvert, you can try talking yourself up to raise your
energy level in a social situation as needed, but when you’re done, that
“restorative niche” might be the best place to remain.
ABOUT AUTHOR
Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D., is a Professor Emerita of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her latest book is The Search for Fulfillment.
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