Being introverted should not be a shame

While in our Western culture it is valued when someone is outgoing
and extraverted, being introverted is often not accepted.

Stephanie Blom attended Utrecht University, where she completed her Bachelors (Psychology) and research Masters (Social and Health Psychology). Currently, she works as a PhD student at Utrecht University under the supervision of G. Semin. Her research is focused on specifying the parameters of simulation processes involved in the facial expression of emotions.

Do you sometimes prefer to stay at home and bury yourself in a book but end up saying ‘yes’ to the invitation to go to a busy bar just because you feel that it is not accepted to prefer a calmer environment? In modern day Western society, being introverted is often looked at as something negative. Writer Susan Cain -former lawyer and consultant having attended Princeton and Harvard- offers a different view. She states that we are undervaluing introverts. Introverts have various good things to bring to the table, as many of them for instance have shown to be very creative, a good leader, or manager. Currently, both introverts and extraverts are forced to live in an ‘extravert’ environment, for instance by always having to work in groups at school, or by having to interact with co-workers all day because of the absence of walls in an office. This does not allow introverted people to use their full potential. Having the option to learn and work alone as well as together, would be best for both introverts as well as extraverts.

Picture by Gerg1967, on Flickr

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Cain, S. (2012, March). Susan Cain: The power of introverts [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html