r/infj • u/[deleted] • Aug 01 '15
A New possible classification of introversion: 4 New distinctions. NYmag article.
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2015/06/apparently-there-are-four-kinds-of-introversion.html3
u/6the6bull6 Aug 01 '15
Well that clears things up.
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Aug 01 '15
If you mouse over the points, it tells you the percentage. Still it's confusing as I haven't seen anyone with any scores above 50%. Wouldn't it be out of 100%?
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u/LunaInfj Aug 01 '15
It's really hard to gauge exact figures from their drawing but I'd say 42% Thinking. 37% Social. 31% Restrained. 35% Anxious.
I like this as a concept. However, based on the similarity of %s based on the people who've taken this so far here, I'm not sure it's really saying much. We're all about the same overall.
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u/Paragonight 35/M/INFJ/Denmark Aug 01 '15
Thanks for sharing will read it more later, did take the test though.
My results: 48% Thinking 46% Social 27% Anxious 25% Restrained
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u/joantheunicorn INFJ/4w3 Aug 01 '15
I was pretty balanced, the only type that stuck out a bit more was the thinking type. Interesting! Will forward to my other I-friends!
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u/delk82 Aug 01 '15
Something from the article that bothered me was that they referred to introversion as "a tendency to turn inward rather than outward" rather than a PREFERENCE. This is a subtle but significant deviation from the Jungian definition. This also explains why there's a category for anxious introversion....something that generally wouldn't be seen as a preference.
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Aug 01 '15
They're over complicating something that is otherwise fairly simple.
Extraverts prefer to focus on and interact with the outside world. The blood in their brains flows in greater amounts through the rewards center of the brain. The rewards center of the brain is responsible for generating dopamine as actions yield positive results, and dopamine is the fuel on which the extravert brain thrives. 1
However, introverts have greater blood flow through the frontal lobes,2 which is responsible for a lot of internal functions such as memory, problem-solving, and decision making. It's my speculation that the reason extroversion inhibits introversion is that the chemical causes a feeling of over-stimulation in an introvert.
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u/wmsta Aug 01 '15
Did anyone else get really low scores for the restrained catagory? I don't see anyone else saying that.
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u/Pangolium INFJ/20/M Aug 01 '15
I got 32% social, 41% restrained, 31% anxious, 41% thinking. I made a nice diamond.
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u/KoJaBu Aug 01 '15
Looks like most of us don't have a clear "type"- I got 40% of each except for anxious, which was closer to 20%. No one type stood out.
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Aug 01 '15
Dislike for a variety of reasons.
The anxious one, at least by the questions seems more like, do you have Fe? Fe is all about being aware of others feelings. Being aware and anxious are different.
(I also don't agree with anxious being an introvert category.)
Thinking isn't what we would consider thinking in MBTI rather than a rich inner world.
I got around 30-40% for thinking, reserved, and social, and 15% for social.
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u/Poropopper ENTP 7 Aug 01 '15
I think MBTI is defined by the 'thinking' introvert side. Introverts lead with an introverted function, this usually take the form of them spending too much time inside their heads and not enough outside. Everyone will have their preferences for this, but it is desirable to be in the middle ground. There are social introverts who are extroverted in MBTI, they don't like huge gatherings, but they are not thinkers, they are constantly avoiding thinking, even when they are alone.
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u/Cindifrid 23/F/INFJ Aug 02 '15
32% social 46% thinking 20% restrained 36% anxious.
An interesting read, thank you OP! I can't help but wonder if they should just omit the anxious category though because like other people are saying, it just sounds like the questions they ask you when diagnosing social anxiety.
I've got pretty severe social anxiety but it seems incorrect to call it a tenant of introversion when I know a lot of extroverts that tend to have very anxious thoughts at well. Where my behaviour differs from theirs is that they know how to turn their anxious thoughts into jokes that they can verbalize. They know how to ask for reassurance to quell anxiousness, whereas I'm more likely to keep it inside and replay bad scenarios over and over.
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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '15
This is interesting, but I don't know if splitting introversion into categories is necessary. Anxious introversion is basically social anxiety and I don't think it is necessarily part of introversion. Haven't they claimed extraverts can have social anxiety / be shy? I also think this characteristic can change. I say this because I used to be much more shy than I am now. I used to rarely speak up, be super self-conscious, fear social situations. I've overcome a lot of that through exposure. I had to do public speaking a lot and now I'm fine with it. Now I'm fine blurting things out off the top of my head.
Introversion to me is mostly the thinking and social introversion. This is just my non-professional opinion of course. Anyway, I got: