“Is this situation an introvert thing?” This is a commonly pondered question on Twitter, and one that I get asked occasionally. Introversion/extroversion is the “in” personality trait right now, and because there’s plenty of sweeping generalizations out there about how “an introvert” behaves, it can be hard to know what is actually a common behavior for an introvert.
Today, the most common description of personality used by personality psychologists is “The Big Five,” which states that personality can be grouped into 5 terms. This means that introversion/extroversion is just one piece in the personality puzzle. The puzzle pieces that comprise the “Big Five” model, which are referred to as dimensions, can be remembered with the very helpful and memorable acronym OCEAN: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Or, if you’re better at spelling than I am, you could use the acronym CANOE.
Here are Wikipedia’s descriptions of the four other dimensions:
- Openness involves six facets, or dimensions, including active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity.
- Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being thorough, careful, or vigilant…. Conscientious people are efficient and organized as opposed to easy-going and disorderly.
- Agreeableness is a personality trait manifesting itself in individual behavioral characteristics that are perceived as kind, sympathetic, cooperative, warm and considerate… reflecting individual differences in cooperation and social harmony.
- Neuroticism is a fundamental personality trait in the study of psychology characterized by anxiety, fear, moodiness, worry, envy, frustration, jealousy, and loneliness.
Introverts can be described as “high” or “low” in any of these dimensions. What this means is that a behavior which is common for introverts high in conscientiousness won’t be common for introverts low in conscientiousness. So an introvert high in conscientiousness may have a tidy desk while the desk of an introvert low in conscientiousness may be totally covered with papers.
So, the next time you’re wondering if you’re “normal” for an introvert, remember that there are many kinds of introverts. You’re normal for you.
