(no subject)

[randomness]

Is it an extrovert character trait to figure things out by talking them through with people? Or is that a trait not correlated with that?

I'm curious, because I do it fairly often. It helps me a lot.

Comments

[theloriest.livejournal.com]

I'm a split down the middle extrovert/introvert. But talking things out with people does me a world of good.

[tla]

It helps me a lot, and I'm an introvert. I think it's just useful to have another person to help attack a problem—doesn't really matter whether you gain or lose energy in the interaction (which is the classic definition of extrovert / introvert.)

[dpolicar]

"How do I know what I think, until I hear what I say?"

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Heh...for me, it's half that and half, "How do I know what I think until I write it down?"

I am an INFP, but I'm close to center on the I/E continuum, so make of that what you will. :-}

[dpolicar]

Oddly, I find that I'm less grounded in reality when I write. The temptation to just let the prose go away with itself and write things that sound good is even greater than the corresponding temptation in speech.

The implications of this for my LJ are sometimes troubling to me.

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's a correlation, but I'm half-and-half and I'm heavily dependent on it. I'm a weirdly extroverted half-and-half, though.

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

p.s. There's a certain amount of psych research these days that suggests that interacting with people, especially in the sense of perspective-taking, is pretty much the only way we ever change our minds once we've decided how to look at something. That is, it's exceedingly rare that we'll just logically reason ourselves out of a position and into a new one with no input.

[choirsoftheeye.livejournal.com]

I think it's entirely unrelated. I think a lot of it is whether you need outside input to stabilize your views on things, or perhaps whether you admit that you do. I think open-mindedness and willing to question yourself is also part of it - I think if you don't talk through important matters with others, you're assuming your perspective on them is right. Basically, I think that being able and willing to talk through significant things with other people is a good thing, regardless of your intro or extroversion.

[dpolicar]

Incidentally, if you mean MBTI-type I/E, I would ask siderea.

[marginaleye.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I find that while able to explain something is very helpful for learning, no second person is really necessary.

I used to study for exams by explaining things aloud to myself. Once I could explain something clearly and smoothly, without hesitation or groping for words, I knew I understood it.

[qwyneth.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember it being a trait of Myers-Briggs extroversion, yes. Not 100% sure though.

Incidentally, I've tested as both ENFP and INFP. I've always wondered how the social anxiety played into that.

[st-rev.livejournal.com]

It helps me and I am definitely not an extrovert.

I figure it's just an extra way of routing information through your brain--pushing things through the speech centers, out the mouth and back in through the ears. It engages parts of the brain that wouldn't have been involved in straightforward internal cognition.

[inthatoneway.livejournal.com]

I'm on the introvert side, and I can't count how many times simply explaining the problem to someone has caused the solution to pop into my head. It might not be my instinctive first choice on how to find the solution to a problem, but I've found it to be a very successful strategy.

[stolen-tea.livejournal.com]

I do that. I think it's a trait associated with being a non-verbal thinker - sometimes the easiest way to put things into sequential logic is to say them to someone.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

if it's an extrovert thing i'm confused. cause i'm not, and i do it. :>

[babasyzygy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not so much. I think talking things through with someone probably engages the verbal centers of the brain to help organize your thoughts, independently of the direction of your vert.

[xse99.livejournal.com]

Sorry for teh late, I'm just catching up on LJ after vacation.... I'd say the trait probably doesn't correlate, because I do that all the time and I'm a classic introvert in most ways.