Are new psychological and personality types solidifying themselves as a pandemic product?
It was an uncomfortable feeling. I either talked too much (talked at people) or didn’t know what to say, quiet, dumfounded, staring with a far-away look on my face. For an extroverted, show-boaty, loud voice life of the party guy like me, I was in the midst of a crisis. And it had me wondering if I still need the energy of people to fuel me up the way I did before. I guess I’d always just assumed that was me, the ENTJ; the extrovert; the keynote speaker; the band front-man; the one who gained energy from being around crowds of strangers or friends. Not in the new-agey “energy vampire” kind of sense, I guess I thought I was just wired that way. That’s what I have believed my whole life. But my first ‘social gathering’ with a group larger than 10 had me questioning my whole narrative, maybe even the whole introvert/extrovert dichotomy. Now, I believe I’ll get my extrovert mojo back, but it might take me a bit… or maybe I never will; at least not in the same way. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up.
In March of 2020, I already missed people. I missed the thump of a DJ’s bass on a sweaty dance floor, condensation on the outside of a glass holding bottom shelf Gin and Tonic crammed into the kitchen of a house party, the small talk and laughter demarcated by smoky circles outside of live music venues. Having just come back from six months in Africa with only my family, I think we were all ready to diversify our experiences and our circles a bit and I for one, was looking for the party. Then lockdowns came. I hunkered down with the best of them, seeing almost no one, doing weekly essential shopping excursions like stealth black ops missions, watching the news roll in from Italy and New York. I hung around with my family, worked on any number of building and creative projects around my property, read books, walked my dog, watched T.V. I marvelled at the enforced slow down for a high-strung guy like me. And then summer came and some respite came. I started jamming again with my band(s); we had a few beach fires and camping trips; we went on a few road trips. But as the summer was ending and the cases started to rise again, it felt almost natural, instinctual to go into lockdown, to withdraw, to hibernate. And I have to say I didn’t hate it.
As the weeks turned to months I became content & complacent. My Saturday nights involved a few beers, a beach fire, and an early bed time. Weekdays were taken up with home based work, books, guitars, conversations with my family, streaming TV, cooking, introspection. Routines began to form. I started thinking lots about the introvert/extrovert dichotomy and whether there were others out there like me going through a possible personal energy transition. Is anyone out there??
A brief history of introversion and extraversion
We’ve all heard the words at some point in time. We all sort of understand what they mean. But let’s do a refresher for those of us like me, who took psych 101 but just regurgitated the first five letters of the alphabet in random sequences for the multiple choice exam.
Extraversion and introversion were popularised by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung (1875–1961) in 1921. In Psychological Types, Jung described how extraverts engage with external stimuli (Jung, 1921). He believed that extraverts direct their energy outwards — towards other people — and gain energy from such encounters.[1] Jung (1921) suggested the principal distinction between personalities is the source and direction of an individual’s expression of energy [2]
However, as I and many of us have directly experienced first-hand, not everything is so binary and paradigmatically distinct. As many scholars pointed out following Jung’s (1921) distinction, introversion and extroversion are, in some ways, at the ends of the bell curve, similar to the important at the time, but quite possibly outdated, Kinsey Scale (1948) regarding sexual orientation[3]. So when it comes to the introvert extrovert spectrum, what lies between the two extremes?
Heidbreder (1926, p. 123) suggested that “pronounced introversion and pronounced extroversion merely represent extremes of behaviour, connected by continuous gradations. In other words, the evidence points to a single, mixed type rather than to two sharply separated classes. Jung (1921) accepted there is an ‘extensive third category’” Conklin (1923) also posited the existence of ambiverts [italics mine] considering them to be the most ‘normal’ with individuals showing flexibility between the two extremes. [4]. So, let’s admit it- the whole the dichotomous paradigm of introversion versus extroversion is a purely human imposition — aimed at providing a simple and easily understandable framework through which to categorize individuals based on their observable, behavioural characteristics.
So, given these subjective categories, it’s kind of intuitive to think that an extrovert can easily and naturally transition to becoming an introvert (probably many examples of this over the last 18 months). Cooking at home instead of engaging in a bustling restaurant scene on the regular, beers by a fire with a friend rather than a crowded pub, exclusive texting rather than any phone calls and Netflix and Alexa as constant companions of the household. In fact, one could fathom a guess that the proliferation of streaming services and Amazon prime delivery are actually part of a hidden agenda- a diabolical plan by big Tech and mega-corporations to foster of world of introverts. For what purpose is the larger question.
But can an introvert change to being an extrovert? Studies show it can be done, but must be intentional, is inherently more difficult, and gets even more difficult as we get older. And in fact, while introverts may show extroverted traits, this may not mean their personalities are actually changing; it may simply be out of social necessity and most likely won’t change their fundamental disposition [5].
While we idolize extroverts and parties and social gatherings, the reality is that society is making introversion (and its accompanying social ‘isolation’) more socially and culturally acceptable. In fact, in the year 2021, with a high bandwidth internet connection, one could survive at home, even in their studio apartment, without ever leaving (lockdown imposed or not). Door dash, task rabbit, prime and Netflix, zoom and slack, Apple music & Spotify, FB live, Youtube and Twitch. The tech is there to make this possible and create a personality type unlike anything we have seen before. And thus the crux of my piece: I’m going to drop some new terminology into the psychology realm right now; come at me Jung.
This new type of personality trait is an “extravirt(ual)” hereafter referred to an ‘extravirt’ (dropping the -ual for ease of speech).
An extravirt exhibits typical extrovert-type tendencies but these tendencies are mediated to varying degrees by the confines and opportunities of the virtual/digital world. Based on their social media profiles and communication style you would assume them to be extroverts IRL. But in some cases, you would be wrong, in some cases oh so wrong. So now, as a thought experiment, we can imagine a new spectrum that extends from extrovert to extravirt, especially as we emerge from 18 months of lockdowns to a whole host of new patterns and behaviours created in smaller circles and/or in isolation.
Admittedly, one could argue that extravirts were being born into existence over the last number of years anyways and the emergence of this type is not pandemic driven. One would be right; however, the speed at which some became and could now be categorized as extravirts was certainly accentuated by the necessity of enhanced virtual communications and displays of personality across space and time.
There are obviously a whole host of implications of this new extravirt personality type. For example- take the longevity of extrovert actions. In eras past, a muscle shirt wearing bro who dominated the house party through raucous behaviour and eventually fell into an icebox in a drunker stupor would be the talk of a small circle of friends; now he could potentially become a fast spreading meme, a hyper-visited sub-reddit topic or a least a viral video that lives on beyond the party becomes part of an employment reference check. The actions of an extrovert/extravirt can be intentionally and/or unintentionally made public in a much more wide-reaching fashion. Momentary notoriety; but longevity for good or ill in the virtual space. Take expression and the nuances of it. Extravirts may also feel empowered to share beliefs (good or bad) in virtual public spheres in a more confident fashion; beliefs that would never be spoken in a group setting. The proliferation of app based dating/hook up sites can also represent the differences between an extravirt’s persona and communications and the confidence/respect (or lack there-of) when those interactions are brought out of the virtual space and into real life settings.
I’ll admit, I’m not even close to a psychologist and the theoretical development and categorization qualities need a lot more work, more than I am prepared to put in at this point in time. However, I think it is worth a preliminary discussion. Extroverts: ask yourself if any of you are moving onto the extravirt side of the spectrum during the lockdown or is this simply a product of my imagination? Is there a new extravert-extravirt blend emerging? Maybe I am way off base.
Now, getting counter-factual on you, some readers (those who have made it this far), must be asking: well, if there is an extravirt, is there not also an intravirt(ual) (hereafter refered to as an intravirt for ease of use)? What are the personality characteristics of an intravirt? Here we might return to an extensive body of work done around the variable impacts on mental health as a result of “ active or passive use of social media”; the latter referring to the cognitively passive ways of engagement — where social media use has moved from an active process to an almost “subconscious action” [6]. Is there a correlation between introverts and this level of passive use (i.e. less content creation and engagement more lurking, doom-scrolling and comparing) and the pandemic moving introverts to disengage even further? Is this one of the potential intravirt indicators?
On the other side of the equation however, introverts who drew energy from alone time, prefer calm or less stimulating environments may in fact use less virtual tools given the over-stimulus they can provide. This could be a healthy culture shift, leading back to hand writing/journaling, photography or music creation without constantly sharing, cooking a meal without taking photos of it and reading paper books. Or, assuming they still use an equal amount of virtual tools, given the fact that introverts have total control over closing down the stimulus instantaneously, something they have less control over in real life settings, maybe one of the sign of a more intravirt(ed) personality is a greater degree of control and a greater and more mindful ability to disengage when virtually mediated stimuli proves overwhelming? Extravirts stay on, feeling the need to follow the trolling and spiralling comment thread to the bitter end; maybe intravirts feel empowered to leave it, without the mental anguish of not seeing every single comment and seeing how it all ends?
At the end of it all, one fact remains. The pandemic patterns and the collision of the virtual space/tools parasitically integrating so deeply into so many aspects of our life is bound to shift long held personality types in some way; indiscernible or not. We aren’t technically cyborgs, but tech, wifi, algorithms and data are becoming part of our psychologies & personalities, if not intertwining with our physical bodies Skynet style.
However, in the era of instant fame and then loss of fame for millennial content creators, songs that are popular for a mere 10 days, video games that rage trend and then fall from grace, meme formats that may as well be time-coded to age brackets, new vernacular entering the lexicon for months and then vanishing, and human relationships (whether superficial or deep) that can be started or ended with a mere swipe, is it any surprise that psychological types might be shifting back and forth much quicker than before along an existing spectrum and/or forging markers/indicators on a new one?
I still believe I’m an extrovert; but I probably added some extrovirtual tendancies and surely experienced the power of introversion. But I’m still weak and fallible. If only I could get that quintessential introvirtual trait of knowing when to close down the screens and stimuli and just eat my waffles rather than snap, filter, and post about them.
[1] https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence-personality/extraversion-introversion#:~:text=Extraversion%20and%20introversion%20were%20popularised,gain%20energy%20from%20such%20encounters.
[2] https://positivepsychology.com/introversion-extroversion-spectrum/
[3] https://kinseyinstitute.org/research/publications/kinsey-scale.php
[4] https://positivepsychology.com/introversion-extroversion-spectrum/
[5] https://www.bustle.com/p/can-introvert-become-extrovert-we-asked-psychologists-how-its-done-18161747
[6] https://www.stylist.co.uk/health/mental-health/social-media-active-passive-use-study/482918
