We all have ingrained ideas about the differences between introverts and extroverts, one of which being that the latter tend to have an advantage in social situations thanks to their more outgoing attitude.
After all, it’s well-known that introverts tend to find socialising, particularly in large groups, draining, while their more extroverted counterparts experience the opposite effect when out and about with others.
But it turns out there’s one way in which introverts may have the upper hand in social situations – and it’s all down to their ability to read other people’s behaviour…
The new study tested how well over 1,000 participants fared in a series of questions about how people tend to behave, think and feel in different social scenarios.
The team from Yale University then worked out the personality traits of those participants who showed themselves to be ‘natural’ social psychologists in the test.
And, while intelligence was unsurprisingly found to be a common trait among those participants, so too was introversion, report the team in the journal Social Psychology.
As well as this, those people who reported having lower self-esteem and greater loneliness also performed well.
Discussing the findings in a release, study co-author said Anton Gollwitzer said: ‘It could be that the melancholic, introverted people are spending more time observing human nature than those who are busy interacting with others, or they are more accurate at introspection because they have fewer motivational biases.
‘Either way, though, this demonstrates an unappreciated strength of introverts.’
Take that, extroverts!
