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Introverts and Extraverts, Personality and Success – a Book Report by Gary S. Smolker on “Me, Myself and Us – The Science of Personality and the Art of Well Being”
Posted by Gary S. Smolker
Challenge
The challenge presented to you in this post is to answer the following questions.
- Are you hardwired for happiness, or born to brood?
- Why do you act the way that you do?
- Why do we do what we do?
- How do you thrive in light of your nature?
- How can you best thrive in light of your nature?
- How does your personality shape your life?
- How actively is your life shaped by your goals, aspirations, and personal projects?
- Which forces drive your behavior?
- Who do you think you are?
- What does your personality portend for your health, happiness and success?
- How does your environment shape your nature and your nature your environment?
- How do you want to spend your time? What do you really want to do?
- Which is the more viable path for you towards human flourishing – the pursuit of happiness or the happiness of pursuit?
- What important truth do very few people agree with you on? Are you maladjusted? Are creative individuals essentially maladjusted?
When driving a car, are you a fast driver or a slow driver?
According to a book I am presently reading (“Me, Myself and Us – The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being” by Brian R. Little):
- Behavior is an expression of the motivational sources that energize us.
- Extraverts are fast drivers and introverts are slow drivers.
- “Such features of personality can be detected in the neonatal ward. If you make a loud noise near the newborns, what will they do? Some will orient towards the noise, and others will turn away. Those who are attracted to the noise end up being extraverts later in development; those who turn away are more likely to end up being introverts.”
- “[If we look at professional] success in fields that place a premium on social engagement, extraverts, with all other things being equal, appear to be flourishing.
The author also discusses sexual behavior, whether introverts or extraverts appear to be at an advantage.
Please share any comments you have on personalities, the capacity we have to adapt our personalities to the demands of the day and to enact our social selves in ways that advance the things we care about.
You are enthusiastically invited to post comments on my blog and/or to send your comments directly to me by e-mail at GSmolker@aol.com.
By the way, although I own and drive a very fast car, I am a very slow driver.
My slow driving annoys my principal passenger and seems to drive her “crazy.”
By the way, in “Me, Myself and Us”, Brian Little describes an experiment he ran on his students at Harvard in an attempt to learn how intelligence, at least at Harvard, is linked to construing oneself as “sexy.”
He asked his students to look at how they would feel if they were no longer at Harvard – that they had never been there. How would that influence their status in other constructs like intelligence, attractiveness, and so forth?
The result, according to Professor Little:
One of the guys in the class told us that not being at Harvard would have a direct negative impact on his being construed as “sexy.” Another student, also a male, agreed, and then another. All males. They all thought they would lose their attractiveness and mate worthiness if they were no longer dressed in crimson. The women in the class looked puzzled and then amused. For two of them the change of status to no longer being at Harvard would increase their attractiveness!” As much as it might be difficult for a young woman to think of herself as sexy at Harvard, as one of them said on her way out, “at least it isn’t MIT.”
Warmest holiday greetings and best wishes for the New Year,
Gary
Gary S. Smolker, Publisher
Gary Smolker Idea Exchange Blog
http://www.garysmolker.wordpress.com
Copyright © 2014 by Gary S. Smolker
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Tags: "Me, and Us", aspirations, attractiveness, behavior, Brian R. Little, creative individuals, extraversion, extravert, extrovert, factors that enhance fourishing in individual lives, goals, Harvard, introversion, introvert, life, loud noise, MIT, motivation, motivational sources, Myself, neonatal ward, newborn, noise, personality, sexy, social engagement, success, the science of personality