Higher in extraversion

People higher in extraversion usually find that company energises them. They tend to think out loud, warm to new rooms quickly, and are often the ones who start the conversation.

Lower in extraversion

People lower in extraversion tend to recharge alone and spend their social energy more selectively. That often shows up as depth over breadth: fewer conversations, but longer ones, and a good deal of listening before speaking.

Neither end is the good one

It is tempting to read one side of a personality scale as the healthy side. That is not how these traits work. Each end carries its own strengths and its own costs, and which one serves you better depends entirely on the situation you are in. A trait is a description of how you tend to operate, not a score on how well you are doing.

Traits also move over a lifetime. Where you land today is a snapshot, not a sentence.

The statements that measure it

Extraversion is scored from these 10 statements. 5 count toward a higher score and 5 are reverse-scored.

  • Am the life of the party.
  • Don't talk a lot.reverse-scored
  • Feel comfortable around people.
  • Keep in the background.reverse-scored
  • Start conversations.
  • Have little to say.reverse-scored
  • Talk to a lot of different people at parties.
  • Don't like to draw attention to myself.reverse-scored
  • Don't mind being the center of attention.
  • Am quiet around strangers.reverse-scored

Reverse-scored statements count the other way round: agreeing with one lowers the score rather than raising it. Mixing them in is what stops someone who agrees with everything from scoring high on everything, and it is why a questionnaire like this cannot simply be eyeballed.

The other four traits