We have Dr. Luke Smillie on the podcast to elucidate the research and conceptualizations surrounding introversion and extraversion. Topics include psychometrics, well-being, cultural values, the neurochemistry of personality traits, nature vs. nurture and much more. With this episode we wanted to clear up controversy and delve deep into this hot topic to help the listener get the lay of the land. We hope you enjoy!
In this episode you will hear about:
- The many conceptualizations of introversion & extraversion
- How to spot an extravert and/or know if you are one
- Ambiversion and how people are not always extraverted or always introverted
- Relations of narcissism, agreeableness, neuroticism etc. with introversion & extraversion
- How psychological surveys work
- How personality is simply your habits of behavior on average
- How a person can change their personality by changing their habits
- Differences in cultural valuation of introversion vs. extraversion
- Introversion as it relates to social intelligence
- The autism spectrum quotient and introversion
- Extraversion and wellbeing
- Reward sensitivity as it relates to extra/introversion
- The pros and cons of different personality traits
- Nature and nurture of extra/introversion
- The future of research in the field
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Resources:
- Luke’s website
- Explanation of the big 5 personality traits
- Personality processes lab
- Susan Cain’s book: Quiet
- Susan Cain TED talk
- Some information on Will Fleeson
- Clarifying the relation between extraversion and positive affect
- Towards a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states
- The Heritability of Intelligence: Now What you Think
- A novel differential susceptibility gene: CHRNA4 and moderation of the effect of maltreatment on child personality
Luke is a personality psychologist. His research interests broadly relate to the causes and consequences of major personality traits. Much of his work concerns the relation that personality has to emotion/motivation, with a large proportion of this work focusing on the trait domain called Extraversion. He is also interested in testing and refining theories concerning biological mechanisms that may underlie personality differences (including those that mediate the effects of social/environmental influences on personality), and in neuroscience paradigms that can serve this goal. -Blurb taken from unimelb.edu