Extraversion
One of the Big Five. Low scores are what people mean by introversion.
Extraversion is the tendency to seek company, stimulation and positive excitement: to be sociable, talkative, assertive, active and cheerful. Introversion is simply the low end of the same scale, not a separate type. Most people are somewhere in the middle, which is why the word ambivert gets used.
What it does not mean
Introversion is not shyness. Shyness is discomfort or fear around people; introversion is a preference for less stimulation and smaller company. Many introverts are socially confident and many extraverts are anxious in groups.
A high score is not a measure of social skill, warmth or how much people like you. The scale measures how much someone seeks out company and activity, not how good they are at it.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on extraversion say they make friends easily, love large parties, take charge, are always on the go, seek adventure and radiate joy. In daily life that shows as a wide circle, a liking for doing things with others, speaking before thinking, and energy that rises in a busy room and falls when alone for long.
Low. People low on extraversion say they prefer to be alone, avoid crowds, wait for others to lead the way, like to take it easy and keep others at a distance. In daily life that shows as a small circle of close friends, time alone to recover from social effort, careful speech, and no wish to be the centre of attention.
Facets
- Friendliness: warmth and ease with other people.
- Gregariousness: liking for crowds and company.
- Assertiveness: taking charge and speaking up.
- Activity level: pace of life and keeping busy.
- Excitement-seeking: appetite for thrills and risk.
- Cheerfulness: how readily joy and enthusiasm arise.
What the research says it predicts
Extraversion is the Big Five trait most strongly linked to who emerges as a leader and how effective leaders are rated, with a moderate effect. (Judge and others, 2002)
It predicts happiness and the number and quality of social relationships, and it is one of the better-replicated trait-outcome links. (Ozer and Benet-MartÃnez, 2006)
The assertive, dominant side of extraversion rises through young adulthood, while the sociable side changes little. (Roberts, Walton and Viechtbauer, 2006)
Where people fall
The spread of scores
Curve height shows how common each score is; the darker middle holds half of all people. If you have taken a test on this device, your marker is drawn on.
IPIP-NEO-120, extraversion, 24 items
410,376 people
IPIP-50, extraversion, 10 items
603,322 people
The other traits
Sources and licence
Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4), 765-780. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.87.4.765
Ozer, D. J., & Benet-MartÃnez, V. (2006). Personality and the prediction of consequential outcomes. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 401-421. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190127
Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 1-25. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.1.1
Instrument: IPIP-NEO-120. Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/30FacetNEO-PI-RItems.htm.
Norms: Johnson, J. A. IPIP-NEO-120 public dataset (IPIP120.dat), OSF component wxvth of osf.io/tbmh5, https://osf.io/wxvth/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm
Instrument: IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/newBigFive5broadKey.htm.
Norms: Open-Source Psychometrics Project, IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers responses (IPIP-FFM-data-8Nov2018.zip), 1,015,342 responses collected 2016 to 2018, https://openpsychometrics.org/_rawdata/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm