Are introverts and extroverts different?

My mother has often worried about
the way I seem to enjoy my time. My definition of a good time is at home by
myself doing whatever I want with some scrumptious food at my disposal. My
mother is a creature from a different universe. She loves the world outside,
she adores meeting new people, socialising and playing host whenever she
possibly can. I cannot tell you the number of times this personality disparity
has made me question the biological basis of our relation, but that is a topic
for another time.

If it is not obvious to you by
now, my mother and I are not exactly on the same spectrum of the personality
scale, while she is a shiny, beamy extrovert who gets energised by the external
world, I am the warm, silent introvert who passionately clings to quality
me-time whenever I possibly can. While you wouldn’t want to get caught on one
of our quality mother daughter time, this got me thinking about how deep this
difference between extroverts and introverts really is.

Its not just skin deep/ there’s more to it than meets the eye

While many of us just think about
personalities as this external façade that is ever changing, studies show us
that it is far from that. Hans Eysenck, extraordinary psychologist was first to
bring this to every ones attention in a paper published in 1967. Research shows
us that personalities are hard wired down to the physiological and chemical
level in the brain, not necessarily unchanging, but rather shaped by our
experiences in general (If you want to read more on this visit the Dr Colin DeYoung’ lab).
For example it has been observed that people who are more extraverted have a
bigger medial orbitofrontal cortex which
is involved in decision making and expectation (or reward and punishment), as
compared to the rest of the population.

Another major difference is the
way our brains react to neurotransmitters. Turns out each brain type (introverted
or extroverted) has its special cocktail to turn on the mojo (with mojo – I
mean reward). An extroverted brain relies heavily on Dopamine for stimulation.
Dopamine is responsible for reward motivated behaviour as well as increased
body temperature, increased heart rate, increased movement; in short Dopamine
gives you a rush.

On the other hand an introverted
brain relies heavily on acetylcholine – a neurotransmitter, known for its more
relaxing effects like digestion, lowering blood pressure, lowering heart rate, in
short if you love lounging at home with a nice book or a movie series, you are
basking in the warmth
of acetylcholine.

While different neurotransmitters
may be responsible for the feeling satisfaction for different individuals it is
interesting to note that introverts and extroverts seem to tap into same
systems very differently. One such example is the Reticular formation – part of
the brain stem also referred to as the primitive brain. The Reticular Formation
is involved in vital functions like sleep, pain, fatigue, motivation, alertness
and consciousness among others. This region has also been one of the key
regions concerning behaviour. In fact antipsychotic drugs seem to have maximum
effect in the reticular
formation. This region is also being studied in context to introversion and
extroversion (Biological Basis of Personality Eysenck, 1967). Turns out that
introverted individuals possess an easily stimulated reticular formation, while
and extroverted brain has a less stimulated reticular formation. The
introverted mind is hence less likely to seek external stimulation, while an
extroverted mind is more likely to crave external stimulation.

But this debate dint start now, it is centuries old

So there we have it, introversion
and extroversions are not just external personality but deep rooted traits that
have physiological signs, but what about the genetics? One of the more
fascinating studies that came up with during my research was by Dr Glen Geher
and his team at the New Paltz Neanderthal Project that is looking at the
personality traits of Neanderthals.

Although Neanderthals are
considered a different sub species from Homo Sapiens, they were anything but
savages, in fact they were very much like the way we are today (except for the
clothes and the tech and a bunch of other things perhaps). Turns out that Neanderthals
were quite artistic, had bigger craniums and had more than just meat on the
menu. Homo sapiens are social animals- in that I mean we were able to form and
exist in large groups extending way beyond our kin. The Neanderthals dint do
that, they lived in a small group (extending sometimes to the max of 30
individuals) of kin.

We share about 99.7% of our
genome with Neanderthal which makes us very close. Dr Geher and his team have
worked out a way to find out the personalities of Neanderthal by comparing our DNA
with those of the Neanderthal’s DNA.

Volunteers who share their
genetic information are asked to complete a 45 minute survey. Your DNA sequence
then goes through a DNA overlap report, which gives you a range of shared DNA –
from 1 to 4%, which can also go to 10%. This data is then analysed with the
survey. Turns out the more you share with the Neanderthals the more likely you
have the following traits –

Introversion, less emotionally
stable, lower religiosity, not too enthusiastic about fiction, receive less
emotional support from others.

And when there is a lesser
overlap, or similarity you are likely to be –

More extroverted, have a wider
social network, emotionally more stable, among others.

In short, the more you share with
Neanderthal the more you are inclined to an introverted personality, while the
lesser Neanderthal – the more social and extroverted.

There is so much that we need to
know about how we tick and how it manifests on the surface. Personalities are
not skin deep and nor are they set for life, which is also inter

esting. The
more I dig up on the matter the more I have realised that I have my mother to
thank for a lot of my more quieter inclinations, no matter how very different
we may be from each other.