There’s social pressure to be extroverted in the US—but there are a lot of unhappy introverts. There’s social pressure to be introverted in other places (Great Britain?), but for all I know there are a lot of squelched-feeling, lonely extroverts.
Alas no, there is no social pressure to be introverted here in the UK, at least not in my generation and younger. We have the same celebrity culture which idolises the loud and outgoing as does America.
Middle class, middle aged British people are a bit more reserved than the younger generation.
I apologize for misreading your comment. When you wrote:
culture affects how social people are expected to be.
and
extroversion is much more compulsory in the US than in a lot of other places.
I had thought you were suggesting that cultural pressure would influence people to become extroverts (or introverts as the case may be in some cultures). Actually, I would guess that the dominant social culture would cause both these things: 1) some people, probably influenced from an early age, would be more likely to become extroverts in an extrovert-dominated culture (or vice versa); and 2) some people would feel unhappy because they didn’t fit into the dominant culture.
I agree it’s plausible those who have some flexibility between introversion and extroversion will probably become what fits in their culture, but not everyone can do that.
It occurs to me that we’re putting a lot of thought into how people can be more like extroverts, but I haven’t heard anything about how people can become more comfortable with their own company. Meditation presumably helps, but is there anything more specific?
I didn’t quite say that.
There’s social pressure to be extroverted in the US—but there are a lot of unhappy introverts. There’s social pressure to be introverted in other places (Great Britain?), but for all I know there are a lot of squelched-feeling, lonely extroverts.
Finns (disclaimer: I am one) are probably the archetypal introverts.
-- You know you’ve been too long in Finland when...
Alas no, there is no social pressure to be introverted here in the UK, at least not in my generation and younger. We have the same celebrity culture which idolises the loud and outgoing as does America.
Middle class, middle aged British people are a bit more reserved than the younger generation.
I live in Ireland, and the social pressure in favor of extraversion is at least as great as in the United States.
Finns (disclaimer: I am one) are probably the archetypal introverts.
I apologize for misreading your comment. When you wrote:
and
I had thought you were suggesting that cultural pressure would influence people to become extroverts (or introverts as the case may be in some cultures). Actually, I would guess that the dominant social culture would cause both these things: 1) some people, probably influenced from an early age, would be more likely to become extroverts in an extrovert-dominated culture (or vice versa); and 2) some people would feel unhappy because they didn’t fit into the dominant culture.
No biggis.
I agree it’s plausible those who have some flexibility between introversion and extroversion will probably become what fits in their culture, but not everyone can do that.
It occurs to me that we’re putting a lot of thought into how people can be more like extroverts, but I haven’t heard anything about how people can become more comfortable with their own company. Meditation presumably helps, but is there anything more specific?