Your choice decides whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert. The test is very simple, but the logic is debatable.
The theory is that one environment helps extroverts with their association with other people, while the other is more solitary. Those who choose one environment are less comfortable than in the other. The extended logic is that extroverts fit in better than introverts.
This is part of the ongoing war against introverts by psychologists and other conformity-mongering creeps. Introversion, aka being yourself and minding your own business, has long been considered “antisocial”. Presumably serial killers and genocidal religious nuts, who obviously don’t have any trouble mixing with people, are OK.
The study by the University of Virginia is the first, however, to focus on environmental factors in the two different mindsets. Whether the results are right or wrong, addressing the issue is a good idea. Environment, after all, is very much a factor in anyone’s thinking.
The argument derails a lot, though.
If you assume that an environment as a social setting is based on your perception of social opportunities, consider this:
A wide open space makes you a great target; no cover.
A place full of people is also full of potential threats, as well as “opportunities.” On that basis, a jail would be a real social plus.
The theory also goes that extroverts are happier than introverts. Some introverts would question the belief that extroverts have enough of a nervous system to know things like that.
According to the introvert/ extrovert test on Quiet Revolution, I’m an “ambivert,” both. I think I tend to introvert. I’m an INTJ on the Myer Briggs test, and I truly despise the noisy kind of extroverts, which I consider to be talking plankton at best and usually vermin. I know how to be extroverted, but don’t usually bother.
I think this study, and psychology in general, needs to get a grip on the relative values of introversion and extroversion. Being a brain dead loudmouth may make you “happy,” but looks like a pretty low bar set. Extroverts intrude on others in the course of all this alleged happiness, too.
Meanwhile, enough of the negative psycho-dictatorship crap about introversion. What the hell is so wrong with enjoying yourself in peace and quiet? I’d say it takes more guts to look inward than to simply look at all the external distractions.
Of course, that’s where extroverts have an excuse — nothing inside to look at. Point made, I think.
