Personality is defined as "a consistent way of behaving as a rsesult of the interaction between temperament characteristics and social experience" (Deckers, pg. 211). The text indicates that personality traits are genetically transmitted, that is they tend to run in families. I find this to be interesting since I am somewhat of an introverted person while my brothers and sisters (I am the youngest of six children) and even my parents are much more outgoing/extroverted. My parents are past middle age, so they are not as adventurous as they used to be, but in their 20s and 30s from what I hear, they partied a lot and enjoyed meeting all kinds of people. Likewise, my brothers and sisters all have a lot of friends and feel right at home at parties and other events.
I'm much more comfortable staying home and reading a good book. That's not to say that I'm antisocial, and I'm definitely more communicative than I was in my teenage years and in my 20s which attests to the fact that personalities change with experience. However, I don't feel a burning need to be around other people all the time and actually enjoy those rare moments of solitude (I am a single mother of a six year old, so those moments are few and far between!). I think it safe to say that my "need for affiliation" is not nearly as high as many other people's.
I've wondered many times why my personality seemed to be so different from many of my family member's; and not just in my immediate family. I have a very largy family, so I also have a ton of cousins. By and large they are extroverted people who don't mind being in the spotlight and having attention focused on them. I on the other hand was none too pleased to stay in the background. With age and due to various experiences, however, I'm a much more confident.
What I also find interesting is I think I have many characteristics of the "power motive", which seems rather contradictory for an introvert. Persons with a high power motive wouldn't mind being the center of attention and would probably actually prefer it.
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I can relate to your post as I also consider myself an introvert. I enjoy being out with friends from time to time, but I am definitely not a big party person. My family consists of both introverts and extroverts so I can understand where I get my personality traits. As for you, maybe your introverted personality is a result of being the youngest of 6 siblings. As more children come into a family, individual attention time tends to decline. Also, your siblings were all able to go out and do things before you.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting thought, thank you. I have to think about that; how much time/attention I received growing up. I hadn't pondered that.
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