Are you an extrovert or introvert?

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I find this discussion interesting, especially with people who have anxiety disorders, depression, or aspergers.

I know a few people with aspergers who identify with being an extrovert, yet they need more alone time than the normal extrovert to unwind from sensory overload and what-not. Or, they might come off as being more introverted, but because anxiety holds them back from speaking.

Do you identify as being extrovert or introvert, and why? Have you ever taken tests such as Myers Briggs, Enneagram, or Global 5/SLOAN?

I personally identify with being an extrovert (and score as one on Myers Briggs, Enneagram, and Global 5/SLOAN), I am happy being around other people. I don't necessarily have to always be talking. Sometimes I think I come off as being more introverted because anxiety can hinder what I want to say...

I've always thought of myself as an introvert, according to the definition that we expend energy on social interaction and need alone time to rest, which is definitely true of me. But I still enjoy (positive) social interaction and would like to hang out with friends more. But I have social anxiety/agoraphobia so that's often not possible for me. I'm often too anxious that there will be a new person, and that person will be mean to me, to be able to go out. Or worse, someone I already know, who has already been mean to me u__u

But I think my social anxiety is actually more of a function of my asperger's and history of abuse, than of my introversion. Until I was around 18 (when I started to become agoraphobic), I always craved travel and meeting new people, despite how much it wore me out.

I think I took an online test for intro/extroversion, but I don't remember what it was called, just that I was "INTJ" ...introverted neurotic something something? I don't remember :O

Introvert, although I have all of the above.

I love INTJ's. I'm an ENTP XD

I think I do too? haha I knew a few people online and in college who were INTJ and we got along really easily. Though since I don't know what it stands for, or what the other options are, or who I know is of which category, that is saying very little XD What is this classification called?

It is basically an assessment of which cognitive functions are your strongest. Everyone has all cognitive functions, but the test basically tells you which ones are most dominant.

INTJ would be: Ni (introverted intuition), Te (extroverted thinking), Fi (introverted feeling), Se (extroverted sensing)<--- Dominant cognitive functions for INTJ.

I didn't take any of the test yet, but I've always been an introvert (with the exception of people close to me, depending on my mood) that's always trying (albeit futilely) to break-through to the extrovert side. I wish I could stop trying, but I'm a compulsive self-help fanatic with no brakes it seems.

I really find this discussion interesting. Especially since I've been told I could never be an extrovert, simply because I have aspergers. The person specifically said aspies can't be extroverts, and they're all probably a bunch of INTP or INTJ, then using Einstein as an example (he had aspergers and is INTP).

I think that extroverts don't always have to be talking, more or less they gain energy with others around. I find the more people around, the more energy I get, but it doesn't mean I have to be talking.

How do you guys feel with having other people around you?

I actually like company despite my (perhaps) introversion. I really like sitting quietly in the corner of a room filled with family and friends, maybe while drawing or something. It's my favorite thing about family holidays. I don't necessarily want to talk or even have the ability to talk (I am sometimes nonverbal), but I just like being there. In fact I often don't realize that I've overwhelmed myself until I try to do something and find that I can't because I'm stuck in that weird "needing a cue" state (does anyone else get that? its almost like my body is frozen until I hear a noise or see something that prompts me to get up without thinking about it).

I even think I would like going to a house party full of people, as long as I was allowed to simply watch and listen to the music and sip a drink in the corner, and not be expected to "dance" or anything. I can dance. Just not like that. And not "with" people.

I think whoever told you auties can't be extroverts was either badly misinformed, or perhaps ablist. We are people just like everyone else and of course we can be extroverted. I think maybe autistic extroverts simply are extroverted in their own way? Which maybe NTs can't identify as extroversion. And I'm sure extroverts can become agoraphobic/socially anxious just like anyone. And I'm sure that would appear to be introversion to anyone who didn't look too hard.

Oh! and I just remembered this one time when I was in high school I went to a punk rock concert in a little dark club full of people, and I had a great time. I didn't have to talk because it was too loud, and I felt a sort of comraderie with these other short girls about my age who were standing up on the half-wall with me to see the band and kept getting told to get down, lol. I very rarely feel that with strangers. I'm not sure if it was the concert or the punk culture, but it worked for me.

I can come out as an INTJ or ENTJ depending on my mood when I take the test, and I always score very near the center. It makes sense, as I seem to need time alone to stay centered but I also need to have interaction with people in order to communicate jokes and ideas. The Net plays a significant role in my intellectual life, but I can't hear people laughing when I interact online.

I'm extroverted by nature and introverted by circumstance. I desire positive social interaction, but when I pursue it, I just get kicked. I live in a world that was not built for me and where I am not welcome. Hence, my hermit-like existence and severe depression.

Wow I can really relate to that...I mean I'm introverted, but I do still desire social interaction, and that is exactly what it is like sometimes, getting kicked. Like a mangy stray dog. It's so dehumanizing. When I was growing up, I had an aunt who pitied me and made my cousin play with me even though he didn't want to (she thought she was helping), and the experience was so hurtful and confusing. He made fun of every little thing I ever did or said, and sort of made up...just...stuff...about me. Like in elementary school he sort of randomly decided I "liked" this one friend of his (maybe he was really picking on that friend, in a way?), which I didn't (I very rarely take a fancy to a boy, and certainly never did until I was an adult), and he just teased me about it constantly. If I looked at him, I was doing it because I "liked" him, if I didn't look at him, it was because I "liked" him. He made a "club" of his friends that I wasn't allowed in (it wasn't a real club), he teased me for being a girl, for being poorer than his family, he insulted my mom, he called me fat CONSTANTLY... The worst part was that I was so used to such ill treatment, I didn't realize it was wrong. I just thought my cousin was a way better, faster (I had asthma and couldn't keep up in soccer), cooler, smarter kid than me and treated me accordingly. "Kicking" me. Constantly.

Then in high school I met some other people finally, and they just. Allowed me to be there. Sometimes. But if I said or did anything I usually got snapped at or shut out. Over time I realized they didn't want me around and I just didn't even know what to do. It's been so lonely.

I actually have a couple of real friends now, but I still get very lonely. And just last week I was hanging out with them and I suddenly got the sense that I was simply being allowed to be there, unwanted. It keeps happening. I don't even know what to do.

I feel the same as you, Chocoholic.

I really do enjoy debating, but I can only take so much before the highly sensitive person in me starts inadvertently getting anxious due to reading too much in to what is being discussed.

I am fascinated with law, I have taken law courses via Coursera, but I could never get out there and become a lawyer. I am much too emotionally sensitive to handle the topics being discussed.

I want to be out and socializing with others, having fun, but I am much too sensitive, especially with lighthearted joking (mostly fretting over what they meant by that, and feeling awkward asking for clarification).

Myers-Briggs - pop psychology. (Click)

On topic, I'd say I'm introverted, but my introversion is the result of being autistic. I get overwhelmed very easily, and I never get depressed from not being around others or having friends. So I can withdraw for a long time. What really motivates me to get out there is the thought that I'm wasting my life being so solitary.

I think if I wasn't autistic, I would probably be very extroverted. I actually quite like extroverted people, but I can only deal with them in extremely small doses. Of course there are some bad things about people in general, like the histrionic behaviour a lot of outgoing people indulge in that puts me off.

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What really motivates me to get out there is the thought that I'm wasting my life being so solitary.

That's a great mindset, I need to work on this mindset ^_^