Extravert / Introvert




Extravert                           -                      Introvert
Outwards                           -                      Inwards
Object                                -                      Subject
Poly                                   -                      Mono
Naive                                 -                      Sentimental
Close                                  -                      Distant
Surface                               -                      Depth
Concrete                             -                      Abstract 
Realist                                -                      Idealist
Dionysus                             -                      Apollo




The introverted impulse travels inwards, towards the internal world. It is a zooming-in, favouring parts over wholes.

The extraverted impulse travels outwards, towards the external world. It is a zooming-out, favouring wholes over parts.




Extraversion

Extraversion is characterized by interest in the external object, responsiveness, and a ready acceptance of external happenings, a desire to influence and be influenced by events, a need to join in and get "with it," the capacity to endure bustle and noise of every kind, and actually find them enjoyable, constant attention to the surrounding world, the cultivation of friends and acquaintances, none too carefully selected, and finally by the great importance attached to the figure one cuts, and hence a strong tendency to make a show of oneself.

The disinclination to submit his own motives to critical examination is very pronounced. He has no secrets he has not long since shared with others. Should something unmentionable befall him, he prefers to forget it. Anything that might tarnish the parade of optimism and positivism is avoided. Whatever he thinks, intends and does is displayed with conviction and warmth.

He lives in and through others; all self-communings give him the creeps. Dangers lurk there which are better drowned out by noise. If he should ever have a "complex," he finds refuge in the social whirl and allows himself to be assured several times a day that everything is in order.


Introversion

[...] the introverted standpoint is one which sets the ego and the subjective psychological process above the object and the objective process, or at any rate seeks to hold its ground against the object.

This attitude, therefore, gives the subject a higher value than the object, and the object accordingly has a lower value. It is of secondary importance; indeed, sometimes the object represents no more than an outward token of subjective content, the embodiment of an idea, the idea being the essential thing.




Overview


[...] in one case an outward movement of interest towards the object, and in the other a movement of interest away from the object to the subject and his own psychological processes.

For the introvert the idea of the ego is the continuous and dominant note of consciousness, and its antithesis for him is relatedness or proneness to affect.

For the extravert, on the contrary, the accent lies more on the continuity of his relation to the object and less on the idea of the ego.

The extravert discovers himself in the fluctuating and changeable, the introvert in the constant.

The one sees everything in terms of his own situation, the other in terms of the objective event.

Everyone possesses both mechanisms, extraversion as well as introversion, and only the relative predominance of one or the other determines the type.

[C.G. Jung]
The Essential Jung, p.130, 140, 141, 142, 143
Psychological Types, p. 4, 5, 90,




It will be observed that the schizoid subject fears being overwhelmed, and so tends to become isolated; whereas the depressive subject fears being isolated and so may become overwhelmed.

[Anthony Storr]
The Integrity of the Personality, p.145



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