Personality Spectra Enable Malleable Trait Cultivation for Goal Achievement

Key Quotes

"people are super duper precious about their personality pretty much like all of the like introvert worth nightmares were played out it seems like to me of the last five to eight years everybody and their mama is proclaiming to be an introvert a few weeks ago we got a call from a listener named ladell it just seems like the introvert thing is a new hot word that everyone is caught onto and is clinging to even if they don't demonstrate the qualities and um i'm just curious is that just a personal observation or something other people are seeing and also just why"

The speaker notes a trend of people widely adopting the "introvert" label, questioning if this is a genuine reflection of personality or a popular cultural adoption of the term. This highlights a societal fascination with personality types and the potential for terms to become trendy without full understanding. The speaker's curiosity prompts an investigation into this phenomenon.

"it's a little bit of a misconception because we think that we can put ourselves into these like discrete categories but most of the things that we use to describe people are on continua so you can be more towards the introverted side or more towards the extroverted side but this is a continuum with different poles people that are more on the introverted side they're gonna need less stimulation they're gonna have less sort of energy and they're gonna derive less energy from social situations whereas people on the more extroverted side are going to be more excitable have more positivity and tend to derive a lot of energy from social situations"

Shannon Sowers, a professor of psychology, clarifies that personality traits like introversion and extroversion are not rigid categories but exist on a spectrum. Sowers explains that individuals on the introverted side require less stimulation and gain less energy from social interactions, while extroverts are more excitable and gain energy from social situations. This perspective moves away from strict typologies towards a more nuanced understanding of personality.

"i think like any skill when we are out of practice we get rusty and so i think people may be kind of confusing discomfort and a little bit of rustiness with like i'm introverted but i do think that here in the last decade or so there's been more recognition of introverts as having qualities that are really desirable you know what no one talks about how freaking good introverts are at networking it's a whole spiritual filtration system that refuses to uh let surface level conversations sit on the same couch as their souls"

The speaker suggests that the perceived increase in introversion might stem from a "rustiness" in social skills due to lack of practice, rather than a fundamental shift in personality. This quote also points out that introverts possess valuable, often overlooked, skills like effective networking, framing their preference for deeper connections as a positive attribute. The speaker implies that society is beginning to recognize and value these introverted qualities more.

"so what things that's tend to change or increase on average as people age is what's called social dominance and this is a facet of extroversion that is the tendency to be assertive and confident on the flip side social vitality tends to decrease and this is like enthusiasm and energy for social situations kind of what you're describing like i don't necessarily i don't have the same fomo i used to have i'm happy to read my book um but what i really want to highlight though is that these are on average and like nobody is really the average person"

Sowers explains that as people age, certain aspects of extroversion, like social dominance (assertiveness and confidence), tend to increase on average, while social vitality (enthusiasm and energy for social situations) may decrease. Sowers emphasizes that these are average trends and individual experiences vary significantly, cautioning against assuming everyone fits a generalized pattern. This addresses the common observation that people may become less driven by social energy as they get older.

"most of the commercial personality tests that people have heard of that they're taking in like hr offices they're very category based right they put you into a type and you know that's that what we use what we think sort of describes personality in a much more nuanced way is the big five or the five factor model of personality these are sort of five overarching traits the first one is openness and this is the degree to which you are interested in new ideas and aesthetics philosophy art versus folks that are more um more traditional and like this is how we always do it then you have conscientiousness which is um on a continuum with disinhibition and essentially conscientiousness is like how achievement striving you are how organized how reliable and disinhibition is more like you know i kind of act before i think it through"

Sowers contrasts popular, category-based personality tests with the scientifically validated "Big Five" or "Five Factor Model." Sowers describes the Big Five traits: openness (interest in new ideas), conscientiousness (achievement striving, organization), and the beginnings of explaining conscientiousness versus disinhibition. This highlights the academic approach to personality measurement as more granular and continuous than common tests.

"i always say that you know academic personality science needs like a pr person because we're not really good at spreading the word on what personality actually is coming up some personality pr support for today explained comes from at t there's nothing worse than needing to make a call and realizing you can't connect this is at t and of course every wireless provider will claim that they're the best but at t says at t has the goods to back it up according to root metrics at t earned the best overall network performance while the other guys are busy making claims they can't keep at t says they're making connections on america's fastest and most reliable wireless network"

The speaker humorously suggests that academic personality science needs better public relations to communicate its findings effectively to the general public. This quote implies a disconnect between scientific understanding of personality and popular perceptions, often shaped by less rigorous commercial tests. The speaker believes the scientific community could do a better job of disseminating accurate information about personality.