Why extroverts are happier than introverts

Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter livescience a nd on. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Politics Covid U. News World Opinion Business. In that study, which included people, some of the participants behaved like extroverts for a week—but only the true extroverts among them gained in positive emotions. The introverts suffered when they pretended to be extroverts. Lyubomirsky and Margolis did check for that pattern in their data—but they did not see it.

University of Melbourne psychologist Luke Smillie was one of the co-authors of the older paper. He suggests his intervention may have had different results because it included more reminders: multiple daily smartphone alerts in contrast to just three weekly e-mails.

Lyubomirsky is open to that possibility. Lyubomirsky adds that her research may simply indicate that introverts benefit from a few minutes of extroverted behavior each day. A bigger question is why happiness and extroversion might go hand in hand. One hypothesis is that extroverted tendencies, such as being high-energy and outspoken, are highly valued in many societies. Studies have suggested that extroverts are happy because they live in cultures that reward their behavior.

In line with that concept, another research team at the University of Melbourne, which includes psychologist Dianne Vella-Brodrick , has found that the more introverts wish they were extroverts, the less happy they are.

For being introverts they were asked to be deliberate, quiet and reserved. Surveys were then conducted to examine their happiness and wellbeing. Those who behaved like extroverts had better mood, while those who were introverts were not as happy as extroverts. When introverts took on the attributes of extroverts and behaved in a more talkative way, they got happier. To sum up, the authors highlighted that personality has a major role to play when it comes to well-being.

This study also supplements research on broadening personality psychology methods. Click on Deccan Chronicle Lifestyle for all the latest and viral news on health and wellbeing.

Follow us on Facebook. Get over it. There have been a number of responses to similar posts for this study in US blogs. The way the researchers defined happiness is, as you surmise, very important. BAReFOOt — the only one who looks silly is the one who doesn't understand that there are two correct alternate spellings.

You could look it up. This is a load of bull. Art, math, code, writing, drafting. I don't think that either personality is happier than the other. I must say though that extroverts might look happier when they are having fun because it involves a lot of activities.

An introvert can have so much fun by himself in a room reading a book so if you compare that to an extrovert who is also having fun doing the things he love then you might think that extroverts are happier but they are actually both having fun and perfectly happy.