Introverts or Extroverts?​

By Isabella Hill '25

After a long week, do you find yourself unwinding at home, curling up with a good book, or escaping into the comfort of your favorite show, wrapped in a pile of soft, fuzzy blankets? The quiet, the calm—it’s a perfect retreat for an introvert seeking to recharge. Or perhaps the best reward lies in the company of friends, with laughter over a lively meal, the thrill of karaoke, and the spontaneity of the night.
Sometimes, though, choosing the first option comes with a hint of shame—does feeling “drained” and needing to “recharge” after a week of socializing and academic stress mean there’s something wrong with you? Does it mean that you’re…antisocial? 
The short answer: no, there’s nothing wrong with choosing either A or B; both introverts and extroverts—option A and option B pickers—crave connection and enjoy the company of others. It’s simply the way they recharge that differs, whether through quiet reflection or the lively buzz of social interaction. 
In a crowded area, it can be impossible to differentiate extroverts from introverts. It’s only how the two types of people respond afterward: whether they go home needing to spend time alone or feel energized and want to call or visit a friend. What creates these differences? Well, biologically, introverts and extroverts respond differently to the neurotransmitter dopamine, which provides the motivation and happiness to make friends, seek relationships, and advance in a career. “When dopamine floods the brain, both introverts and extroverts become more talkative, alert to their surroundings, and motivated to take risks and explore the environment,” as Scott Barry Kaufman, the Scientific Director of The Imagination Institute, explains. Introverts and extroverts need dopamine, but extroverts require more. Introverts are more sensitive to dopamine, getting overstimulated while extroverts become energized. Instead of dopamine, introverts prefer the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, as Christine Fonseca writes in her book, Quiet Kids: Help Your Introverted Child Succeed in an Extroverted World. “Like dopamine, acetylcholine is also linked to pleasure; the difference is, acetylcholine makes [people] feel good when [they] turn inward.” There are scientific differences between the two—not personality flaws.
Despite these differences, introverts and extroverts are not really at opposite ends of the spectrum, as we often think. The dictionary reinforces the differences we typically have in mind, describing introverts as “shy, reticent people,” with the example reading, “I’m an introvert and don’t like public speaking,” while extroverts are labeled as “outgoing, overtly expressive people,” with the example, “his extrovert personality made him the ideal host.” However, introverts are not inherently anxious and antisocial, and extroverts are not simply more likable and fun. An introvert can host just as fun of a party—it’s just that the introvert might need to spend some time reading a good book in a quiet space after the fact. Once again, in social settings, both types of people can be fun and entertaining; it’s just the way they react afterwards that sets them apart. 
At the end of the day, introverts aren’t hermits disconnected from the world, just as extroverts aren’t always brimming with endless energy. There is nothing wrong with either one, and both crave connection with others.