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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 a key personality trait. 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. It 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 their
favorite books in a quiet room with no distraction. Introverts can feel their best in this type of
environment and most alive as Cain would say (Cain). Though what happens if they are

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placed in an environment that is completely opposite of this. Where they had to invest a lot of
their time on social interaction or had many things to interact with 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
guest 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
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). Which gives people
the wrong impression on introverted people, because they dont bring life to a party, but once
they get in range of close friend their true inner self comes out and they become very social.
Many introverts will become highly talkative around a familiar environment and wont feel any
stress from the uninvited attention (Bainbridge).

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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
extroverted can be defined as "social butterflies", 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 that 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. Though 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 im 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
(Angelo, Srivastava, and Vallereux). When im around people I can feel their happiness and take
it in to help improve my mood.

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After analyzing both the perspectives of introverted and extroverted people. 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 could
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 arent what would be in their original
personality characteristics, but are created to do the things they love. Introverts will pursue in
careers that seems only extroverts would excel in. They say that careers in the arts and sciences
are targeted for people who are more introverted than others (Robinson).
While that can be true, 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 being alone. Though one summer she decided to go to camp and
learned that introverts can also learn the ways of extroverts. After that experience, she went on to
become a wall street lawyer. Something no introvert would dare to be. Of course, she never grew
out of her introvert side. Reading was something she still had passion for, so she went on and

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wrote a book. 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 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. 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 friend group 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.
Relationships and friendships are also an environment that changes the traits of introverted
and extroverted people. Previously mentioned, introverts become more talkative around people
that they are close with. The conversations that are talked about probably hold more value to
them and 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

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each other works and are 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 they conversation is interesting enough, they will become more involved in the social stimuli
(Cain).
Now with a new perspective in mind about environment influence on personality traits of
introverted and extroverted people. Even though the two personality traits are complete opposites
from each other, they still have some similarities when it comes to influence from the
environment. While not the same environments create the same responses, they bring out the
best of the two personalities and some 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.

Reflection
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 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

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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 some 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 want to know more about how the brain is affected in this situation. What parts
are being used to push away some personality traits and 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.
Now that my inquiry essay is over I look back at it and see a lot of accomplishment. 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 keep on
perfecting it. Also while I dont think my analytical skills have changed, they were put into effect
in this essay. Ive always been
Works Cited
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.

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Robinson, Jabril. How to thrive in an introverted/extroverted workplace. Phys Org. Phys.org,

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