Ambiversion is the New Normal

Have a go at these questions using only "Sometimes," "Always," or "Never" as answers:

Do you gain increased energy and fulfillment in social situations?

Would you rather stay in with a close friend or a good book than go out and socialize in a group?

Do you sweat, scan for an exit, and wish for a quick and painless death when in the middle of a large group of people?

These questions may look familiar to those who've taken one or more personality tests in the past--the answers gage whether you sway toward a bubbly extrovert or a withdrawn introvert. Because exploring and promoting gray areas seems to be 21^st-century chic, however, psychologists have lately begun to focus on a new personality type: the ambivert.

Ambiverts fall somewhere between the E and I poles. While it's less-used than the classic extroverted and introverted types, the ambivert label originated in Carl Jung's 1921 study Psychological Types as belonging to a large middle group, comprising the majority of a population, that's less differentiated than E's or I's. In other words, they make up an extensive group of people who sometimes act outgoing and sometimes don't. The term "ambivert" was applied in 1947 by Hans Eysenck.

Apparently Myers and Briggs didn't get this memo, as their popular type indicator includes only various degrees of extroverted vs. introverted. Ambiversion as a legitimate type may explain why MBTI surveys-the instruments often used for personality assignment and career placement-have been found to have high standard errors of measure when retesting occurs, and why two people with similar personalities often come up with two completely different types. It may also explain why other personality mapping systems like The Big Five have gained in relative popularity.

Some researchers found self-described ambiverts to be far from vanilla and bland, possessing more balance and flexibility, emotional stability, intuition ("speaking up vs. shutting up"), and comfort in a variety of situations. And a recent study of salespeople-a stereotypically extraverted profession-found that ambiverts within that field earned close to 25% more per hour than those at extreme ends of the spectrum.

To engage another stereotype: engineers are usually seen as a small, significantly introverted subset of the population-some personality sorters formally label INTP (introverted; intuitive; thinking; perceiving) types as "engineers." Thomas Jefferson, Einstein, and Darwin were all posthumously swept into the INTP box, so you're in good company. But if ever you have the urge to fling off your "I" hat, jump up onto the coffee table and belt out your favorite tune in front of dozens of people, go for it-you might be more ambiverted than you or the personality tests think.

Image credit: Joe Wolf / Creative Commons by-nd