Extrovert, Introvert or Ambivert?

It's a spectrum and some of us are right in the middle, says Charlotte Haigh MacNeil.

- Charlotte Haigh MacNeil

If you’ve never been able to workout whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert, it might be because you’re actually a bit of both.

That is possible, says Dr Adam Grant, an organisational psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Scientists now believe that introversion and extroversion are two extreme ends of a spectrum, rather than being distinct categories. We all sit somewhere on the scale, and some of us hover around the middle. We might be happy in big groups and great at persuasion, like typical extroverts, but, like introverts, need plenty of time alone. Ambiversion may well be the most common type – Grant’s research has shown around two-thirds of us fall into the ambivert category, with only a third of us being strong introverts or extroverts. Read the following to decide which group you fall into.

YOU’RE AN EXTROVERT IF. . .

...you feel most energetic when you’re around others, or in a busy environment; ...you’re most motivated by feedback from other people, whether that’s compliments, praise or constructive criticism; ...you’re easy to get to know and make friends easily – people warm to you quickly; ...you tend to ‘think out loud’, coming up with ideas while you’re talking to people.