Top 5 Questions about introverts

Prefer to curl up and read a book, while the wall passes shindig? Communicate better with a close friend, and not c whole company of cheerful and young people? Do not like to take risks and are looking for a safe way out?

Well, the diagnosis is simple: you are an introvert. And you probably already know about it. Only, perhaps, not quite understand why you just that. We have prepared answers to five key questions about what makes an introvert introvert.

That's all Carl Gustav Jung coined

It was this scholar and philosopher in the 1920s coined the term "introvert" and "extrovert". He invented them, to describe the contrasting types of personalities, and explain why different people get their energy charge from completely different sources.

Carl Gustav Jung hypothesized that extroverts get energy from social interactions. They feel uncomfortable and devastated in those moments when alone with themselves remain.

Introverts also replenish your energy supply when they are in a relaxed environment. Unlike extroverts they are communion tedious and feel excessive pressure during socialization.

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Of course, it should understand that introversion and extraversion - it's not black and white. No one can be completely introverted, like you can not be an absolute extrovert. We are adults, who often exist outside the comfort zone.

Introversion and extroversion are located in different parts of the same range, but in each person there is the side that prevails.

1. What is special about the brain introvert?

The main difference between the brains of introverts and extroverts is how they respond to dopamine.

Dopamine - a neurotransmitter, one of the chemical factors "reward system" of the brain. It causes feelings of pleasure. Dopamine can motivate a person, so that he made more money, increased the circle of friends, has attracted a prospective partner or managed to raise at work.

When dopamine is released, we become more attentive to others, more talkative and active. We are ready to do something, even if such an action is regarded as risky.

We introverts and extroverts amount of dopamine is the same, but the "reward system" they work differently. She is an active and dynamic extroverts: in anticipation of any event extrovert feels good and energetic. But introverted will feel pressure and emaciated.

2. How, then, renewable energy introverts?

We introverts have another neurotransmitter, which rely in that case, if you want to succeed in this world of extroverted. He called acetylcholine and is associated with feelings of pleasure, like dopamine. Unlike the latter, acetylcholine helps a person to feel good during the internal dialogue.

This neurotransmitter helps to reflect, to concentrate on the task at hand, to work productively for a long time. Acetylcholine - a real salvation and help for the introvert, because it helps him to find peace of mind and a point source of energy in itself.

3. How the nervous system is an introvert?

It seems that introverts one part of the nervous system takes precedence over the other.

The nervous system is composed of two parts: the sympathetic (the one that is responsible for the mechanism of the "fight or flight") and parasympathetic. The latter are responsible for our holiday and analyze the information.

• When the sympathetic part of the nervous system is stimulated, the whole body is prepared to act. Provided adrenaline, tense the muscles in the body increases the level of oxygen. thinking mechanisms are in standby mode, dopamine acts on the rear part of the brain.
• When running the parasympathetic part of the nervous system, muscles relax, energy is conserved, the food is digested, and most of all work the front part of the brain. Acetylcholine is released.

Of course, introverts and extroverts use both sides of the nervous system.

But introverts are more likely to use the parasympathetic part, to remain calm, move steadily and slowly, thinking about his action, even in unexpected situations. Because introverts are... introverted.

4. Why do so many people think introverts?

When extroverts get the information they pass it through the area of ​​the brain responsible for the sense of touch, taste, sound, sight. It is a short way.

Life is completely different, if you're an introvert.

Introverts, receiving stimulus from the outside world, it is passed through a long path that runs through a variety of brain regions, including through the ones that are responsible for:

• empathy;
• emotions;
• self-reflection;
• internal dialogue.

Therefore, introverts need more time to talk, react and make decisions.

5. Is it true that introverts - the most intelligent?

At exactly introverts more gray matter than extroverts. According to a study published in the Journal of NeuroscienceAvram J. Holmes, Phil H. Lee, Marisa O. Hollinshead, Leah Bakst, Joshua L. Roffman, Jordan W. Smoller, Randy L. Buckner.Individual Differences in Amygdala-Medial Prefrontal Anatomy Link Negative Affect, Impaired Social Functioning, and Polygenic Depression Risk. , Introverted have thicker dense layer of gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. Prefrontal cortex - this is an area of ​​the brain that is responsible for abstract thinking and decision-making.

What does it mean? This means that introverts spend most of their energy and resources to abstract thinking. Extroverts also tend to live here and now.