If you find a moment, please spend just a couple minutes in filling out this poll that I have posted on SurveyMonkey. The link for this poll can be found immediately below this explanation. Primarily, the focus of this poll is on the behavioral differences between introverts and extroverts, as well as society's opinions/bias concerning these groups. Because I am interested in your opinion(s), as everybody viewing this post is a member of society, I ask that you please answer honestly. For some questions, I have an idea concerning which answers/options that the majority of poll-takers will choose; for other questions, I honestly have no premonitions concerning the likely outcomes and trends. Regardless, this my first step in actual field research, and I am interested to learn what I may find out. I do not know when I will close down voting, but I simply ask that individuals answer as soon as possible so that I may begin data analysis while designing subsequent polls. I appreciate the help that any and all individuals can provide me by participating in my survey.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/62238Y
Moving on, I pose a question to you, my audience, as involved members of society: Do we pretend to possess qualities likened to social introverts and/or extroverts?
I have decided to ask a series of follow-up questions as well: In lieu of anxiety concerning social acceptance, do we as individuals sometimes decide to put on a false mask and act contrary to our actual personalities? In other words, do some extroverts decide to act like introverts so that they seem less obnoxious and gain the respect of their peers and superiors, and do some introverts decide to act like extroverts so that they seem more outgoing and fun in order to gain the attention (and avoid the ridicule) of their peers and superiors? Do humans become somebody that they are not so that, they hope, they become more accepted, but in the meanwhile also receive false labels?
During English class, Ms. Hetrick asked us to follow others students' blogs and see if we can find any that interest us. In browsing through my classmates' blogs, I looked into one that my friend is currently working on. He had mentioned before that our topics were interrelated, intriguing me, which convinced me to thoroughly read some of his articles for both information and inspiration. The first post that I read covered the idea of the persona. Working off of some of his ideas, as well as those that I have researched on my own, I believe that the concept of this persona can be adapted to explain confounding variables in the behavioral differences between introverts and extroverts.
By definition, a persona is "the aspect of someone's character that is presented to or perceived by others" ("Persona"). In other words, someone's persona consists of the qualities that society can see, or thinks that it can see (further explanation later). From ancient times to the year 2015, personas are used in literature, television, movies, etc. as a means of character development. The audience can only see the attributes and personality traits that the author, actor, director, producer, etc. provides us. We imply that these traits are representative of the individual's personality as a whole, thus forming their persona. In reality, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars could have actually secretly planned to become the Sith Master, simply acting as a good guy while behind-the-scenes he had an agenda to dethrone the Emperor and Darth Vader so that he could take over. Similarly, Lennie from Of Mice and Men, although he had his moments of blundering screw-ups, could have also been able to spectacularly write a dissertation on social stereotypes while deriving an equation that would be essential to quantum physics. However, because these characters do not display such qualities/do not execute such actions whenever they are represented by literature, movies, etc., the audience is left to assume that the actions that they witness are testaments to that character's motives and personality. The audience creates a persona, or assumed personality of such characters but these personas may actually contradict these characters' legitimate personalities if we saw what they did behind-the-scenes.
Luke Skywalker: Hero or Deceptive/Duplicitous Villain? (von Radowitz)
Likewise, when stepping out into the public eye, most of us act as if we are characters in a text or form of media. According to psychologist Sigmund Freud, most individuals may repress memories, motives, and traits that would otherwise be deemed as inappropriate for or unsavory by society. In the case of Freud, this concept, termed psychodynamics, primarily focused on sex drive, although it can also relate to other aspects concerning an individual's behavior in the public eye. As an individual involved in society, you may relate that there are things that you do at home that you would never do in public, simply because it would be deemed as inappropriate within that context. Likewise, there may be "character attributes" that you exhibit in society but would never display at home, sometimes because these "attributes" may be unsavory, while other times simply because those "attributes" do not truthfully represent you.
Personas can be likened to false labeling/advertising; they can, if not inevitably do, represent individuals inaccurately, yet they can also mask qualities that may seem socially unacceptable. (Jaoude)
Why would individuals, when they are in the public eye, intentionally/inadvertently act like something that they are not? Surprisingly enough, the answer comes from the website for a program known as "Persona." At the top of the page, as the website's primary ad, is the following explanation/argument: "Because reputation is everything. What does your social media say about you? How do you come across on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+? Persona lets you identify and manage photos and content that could compromise your personal brand, so you can project an online image that reflects your best self." I am by no means condemning this ad, but I am using it to prove my point: Because we as humans care so much about our reputation (about how people think of us, about our popularity, about our image, etc.), we are willing to form personas to best fit our goals. We will sacrifice some pieces of our personality and adopt others when in the public eye, simply because we want to "fit in."
("Because reputation is everything")
What does this have to do with the behavioral differences between introverts and extroverts? Because the concept of the persona is very well present in society, there are two fall-out effects that result.
To begin with, it helps to explain why introverts and extroverts act the ways that they do. If social acceptance is the end result, introverts and extroverts may employ different methods, but their implied outcomes hold similar ties. Some introverts, because they feel overwhelmed by the stimuli around them (recall that introverts need less stimulus than extroverts and can become exhausted through overstimulation) and by the pressure of social acceptance, may use silence or withdrawal as a means to escape the scrutiny of society or at least avoid seeming obnoxious. At the same time, however, these individuals will act differently in this situation than they would at home with their families or around their groups of friends, representing their adoption of a persona when in society. Likewise, some extroverts, because they experience a "high" from the stimuli buzzing around them (recall that extroverts crave stimulation much more than introverts), and because they are confident that they can receive attention if they adopt a false personality or simply act out-of-character, may speak out or energetically and excitedly interact with others. This may be contrary to how these individuals act in other situations, but because they crave social acceptance, they may adopt a persona so as to receive this attention. The fact of the matter is that, unless we are only around friends or family, we only see the persona that an individual chooses to exhibit. Thus, we can still explain their behavioral differences as attempts to be socially acceptable, albeit through different methods due to opposing perceptions.
Additionally, the presence of personas in society creates confounding variables. Most often, society will not see individuals as who they actually are, but rather it will see them as who the individuals think they should be and thus act like. As a result, an individual may vary from one social situation to another (compare the classroom setting to that at a football game or concert). Therefore, you may view this individual as an introvert because that is what their persona suggests in the setting that you seem them. Conversely, I may view the same individual as an extrovert because that is what their persona suggests in the setting that I see them. In reality, only one of us is likely right, or neither of us may right; this individual may be an ambivert. The point is that the persona can lead an individual to be incorrectly identified as a member of one group while they should be one of another. Moreover, an individual who is an introvert (or an extrovert), may act as an introvert/extrovert even in all public situations, but they can, through their persona, possibly stress the qualities that suggest that they are a stronger introvert/extrovert than they really are. Therefore, the persona can complicate the process of both identification and behavior explanation because we rarely receive the whole picture from an individual. (As a sidenote, particular actions are not confined to solely introverts or solely extroverts, but some behaviors may be more indicative of one group than the other. Also, as previously discussed, there are few, if any "full" introverts [hermits] or "full" extroverts [party-all-the-timers], but individuals can show a leaning toward one group or the other.)
Confounding variables can complicate and confuse the process, but in the context of the persona and its interference with behavior, this difficulty can likely be overcome. (Sly)
All in all, the persona in itself is a paradox; it helps to explain the behavioral differences between introverts and extroverts, but it can also complicate the processes of identification and explanation. If you have not already, please consider participating in my poll, and then recommend it to your friends as well. Thank you.
Works Cited
"Because reputation is everything." Persona. Persona, Inc., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
Jaoude, Marc. "Exposing The Whole Grain Myth." Markito Nutrition. Markito Nutrition, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
"Persona." Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
Sly, Emeritus Tim. "Confounding Variables." PROTEUS. Ryerson University, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
von Radowitz, John. "Star Wars' Force being used for thought control to cure headaches and epilepsy." Mirror Online. Mirror, Nov.11 2014. Web. 16 Jan. 2015.
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