Extraversion

 I am salient. Thus of the Big-Five personality traits, Extraversion is my most obvious trait. Although I am also high in Agreeableness, the trait of Extraversion has taken up much more of my time and energy and thus deserves the spotlight in this paper.

Extraversion serves fore mostly in the context of socialization. While being Agreeable helps one to win close friends one at a time, Extraversion allows one to attain and maintain a much larger social network, and more particularly to me, helps me to maintain my friendships on Facebook; In an online culture that requires one to “shout out” almost shamelessly about themselves on their friends’ profile pages, being an extrovert helps me take that first step to overcome the awkwardness and stay in touch.

Psychological research has plenty to say of Extraversion as it is the recurring trait in almost every personality inventory. Other than being outgoing, extraverts tend seek out more stimulating environments than introverts would, something that psychologist Hans Eysneck attributed to their biological make up; The ascending reticular activating system of extroverts is not as sensitive as those of their introverted counterparts, thus they take a higher level of environmental stimulation to feel the same level of satisfaction (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1967). This explains why extroverts tend to go to more exciting parties, and tend to drink more at such events (Paunonen, 2003).

I may be an extrovert, but contrary to expectation, I do not like noisy parties and I do not drink. Rather I find the added stimulation I require by actively participating in the things that I am doing, more so than others would. A good example of this is seen in lectures, where most people are contented with just listening quietly, I would sit right in front, laugh loudly, ask questions, and sometimes even add a funny comment to what the lecturer is saying. Thus I do not actively seek stimulating environments (e.g., parties), but rather actively seek to make the neutral environments I am in more stimulating through active involvement.

Most psychologists see extraversion as a positive trait with good lifetime outcomes. Extroverts tend to be task oriented, driven, and ambitious (Hogan, 1983), qualities that give them better chances in reaching managerial positions in their workplace. They also have more successful dating relationships than introverts (Ozer & Benet-Martinez, 2006), which I do believe is linked to their being more positive and optimistic about life (Costa & McCrae, 1985).

While I would agree to a certain extent that I am ambitious (e.g., becoming a platoon sergeant in the army) and successful in dating (e.g., going into a steady relationship with a beautiful Caucasian ballerina), I find it still too premature to talk about how successful I am in the areas of marriage and career. What I am confident to agree with instead is that I am very positive and optimistic. I am cheerful and enjoy life; I seek out stimulus from nature (e.g., watching the sunset, taking nature walks) and enjoy bringing friends out to try new activities that I enjoy (e.g., prawning, kite-flying). Positivity is the part of myself that I feel is attractive to people and thus allows me to have many friends, both in real life, and even online.

What is interesting is that I did not always think of myself as an extrovert, because there has been one significant trait found within Extraversion that I am completely lacking in, which is that is dominance (John & Srivastava, 1999). Whether it was because of my high Agreeableness or my repulsion towards any form of assertion as a result of childhood abuse, I ended up being outgoing but unassertive. This translated into difficulties when I was put in leadership positions, such as in the army. My ambition allowed me to rise up the rank structure in the army, but my lack of dominance made me an inapt leader and I soon lost the confidence of the men under my charge.

Thus I feel that although broad trait of Extraversion can be universally applied to me, the expression of its specific traits like dominance or optimism are dependent on the varying environmental conditions that different individuals experience. So while I may agree with most of what psychological research says about my personality trait of Extraversion, it could only give a generalized idea of what I might or might not be like, being completely off the mark on the trait of dominance. Thus I tend to think of broad based traits as more of an intellectual guess than an accurate measure; I may not have all the specific traits within Extraversion, but I am definitely very extroverted.

Bibliography

Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1985). The NEO Personality Inventory Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assesment Resources.

Eysenck, S. B., & Eysenck, H. J. (1967). Salivary response to lemon juice as a measure of introversion. Perceptual and Motor Skills , 24, 1047-1053.

Hogan, R. T. (1983). A socioanalytic theory of personality. In M. Page (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Personality-Current theory and research (pp. 58-89). Lincon: University of Nebraska Press.

John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big-Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. Pervin, & O. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed ed., pp. 102-138). New York: Guilford.

Ozer, D. J., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology , 57, pp. 401-421.

Paunonen, S. V. (2003). Big Five factors of personality and replicated predictions of behaviour. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 84, 411-422.