With the filing of psychologist Carl Jung, we divide people into extroverts and introverts. But there are differences between extroverts, neuroscientists are sure. Ambitious extroverts have a different brain structure than those who simply enjoy socializing.
Can you tell an extrovert from an introvert? Most likely, yes, because the difference between them is visible to the naked eye. Introverts are more thoughtful, immersed in themselves, do not like noisy companies and sudden steps. Extroverts, on the contrary, love new experiences and acquaintances, they are not embarrassed by risk and are not afraid of uncertainty. However, among extroverts there are those who rather prefer to make acquaintances on the basis of “usefulness”, and those who simply love communication and are always glad to make new friends. Scientists have found that there are differences between them at the level of brain structure. And they even came to the conclusion that we should separate extroverts into two separate types.
Tell me what is your incentive
Introversion and extraversion as features of temperament are related to how we respond to stimuli. What will you experience when you are at a party where most people don’t know you? Excitement, interest, burst of energy? Then you are most likely an extrovert. Are you lost, nervous, starting to think worse? Such reactions betray you as an introvert.
Research by neuroscientists has confirmed that these are not just speculative observations. Extraversion/Introversion has to do with how the brain processes and responds to signals. In extroverts, when processing new information, the “pleasure center” (nucleus accumbens) is more involved. The stronger the stimulus, the more pleasure they experience. Therefore, they are excited by risk and novelty, they prefer to live “here and now.”
Read more:
- Extrovert? An introvert? Ambivert!
People or goals?
So, all extroverts are more or less inherent in the desire for pleasure and vivid sensations. But recent research by neuroscientists has shown that this desire is realized in different ways in extroverts. For some, communication and maintaining relationships with people is a priority, while others are driven primarily by ambition, a thirst for victories and achievements. Scientists attributed the first to the “affiliative” (sociable) type, the second to the “agent” (active) type. In a Brown University study, 83 men and women completed a personality trait questionnaire and then underwent an MRI scan. Extraverts (identified by their responses to questions) had more gray matter in the medial orbitofrontal cortex. This zone is responsible, among other things, for decision-making and choice. But in achievement-oriented extroverts, in addition, increased gray matter volume was also concentrated in other areas responsible for behavioral control, memory, and learning (1).
The authors suggested that this feature of the brain allows “active” extroverts to think more clearly, focusing primarily on their own goals and interests. For “active” extroverts, communication with others is more of a tool to achieve a goal, while for “affiliative” it is a value in itself. Where the “affiliative” extrovert prefers not to escalate the situation in order to maintain relationships with loved ones, the “agent” one can sacrifice friendship if the goal requires it.
(1) Cognititve, Affective, Behavioral Neuroscience, 2015, online publication February 25, 2015.