# America=Extraverted. Rest of the world=introverted. Why?



## Luther

By and large, America is an extroverted society. Americans are generally viewed as outgoing, people-oriented, boisterous, friendly, and gregarious. Of course, this is a bit of a stereotype, but from what I have observed and heard, this is quite true. In other countries such as Japan, Germany, Russia, and China, introversion is seen as quite normal. I heard somewhere that a collection of studies showed that in American schools, outgoing children who tended to be leaders were perceived as popular, whereas the more quiet, smarter kids in schools in other non-Western countries were generally liked more.

By the way, I will point out that I am Canadian, so maybe this does not apply entirely to my culture; however, the general attitude has certainly been adopted, considering Canada is right next to the US. This may be unrelated, but I am part Filipino, and I have noticed that Filipino culture is quite extraverted too. The Philippines is a very people-oriented society, and I think this may be attributed to the fact that Americans colonized the country about a century or so ago, and these attitudes remain.

Why is this? Does it lie in the post-colonial capitalist attitude that one must have lots of social contacts and constantly be immersed in social situations in order to succeed? Is it because Americans are close-minded and freak out when they see someone who doesn't say much and therefore is seen as "weird" or "different"? Why has America fostered a culture of extroversion?


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## Ectoplasm

I doubt America is the only extraverted nation in the world. It just feels it has a right to be more outgoing and assertive as its the "top dog" so to speak. It also has more commodities so it has more clout and economic muscle to flex. It wasn't so much in the old days. It remains to be seen whether the attitude will survive in the years to come.

In the same situation many countries would be similar.


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## Cwestiwn

As well as being the most powereful country in the world American children are taught from a young age that they can do anything and be anything if the put their mind too, it more so than in other countries. This results in most Americans being extremely self confident.
This is teaching children that anything is possible is probably the result of the American ideal(weither or not they live up to it) of equal opportunity.


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## wonderfert

America as extroverted? I suppose in the larger coastal cities. I'd say by and large many Americans are actually more concerned with what's going on in their own region, and couldn't care less about global matters.


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## Zic

generally the parts close to the coast ("sunny") are perceived to be more extroverted - southern Europe is perceived as such (perhaps it does hold true - as tourism is quite developed here and people skills matter); while Northern is "cold" and introverted. I think it's like that in the US - The midwest is, I've heard, less extroverted than, say, southern US.


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## teddy564339

wonderfert said:


> America as extroverted? I suppose in the larger coastal cities. I'd say by and large many Americans are actually more concerned with what's going on in their own region, and couldn't care less about global matters.


I think Americans being more concerned with their own regions rather than global matters reflects them being sensors instead of intuitives a lot more than it reflects extraversion or introversion.


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## wonderfert

teddy564339 said:


> I think Americans being more concerned with their own regions rather than global matters reflects them being sensors instead of intuitives a lot more than it reflects extraversion or introversion.


Hmmm. Good point.


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## Harley

I would also like to point out that, most Latin American countries tend to quite extroverted too, in terms of culture and customs. My experience mostly stems from friends who are from those countries (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Ecuador) who have close ties to their native countries, and I find even the most introverted of them can be quite outgoing given the right circumstances.

For instance, I used to be friends with a girl (Ecuadorian) who was very introverted and was overall quiet and didn't speak up much in her everyday life, but whenever I went to her place or attended latin events with her (quinceneras and the like) she became very animated (not too mention a great dancer too). I suspect it's because it's the culture of these things, and the strong Ecuadorian presence in her home that makes her more outgoing, since whenever we went to other general party or events she was pretty much very chill and not as animated.

Also just listen to reggaeton. That stuff is meant to DANCE too. Not for the introverted.


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## Scruffy

The American Dream is an ESTP, it also appears to trend that the American population is slightly more introverted than extroverted (something like 55 vs 45). The ideal is that of Extroversion, a fast-paced culture, with big risks and bigger rewards.

The norm for most countries is pretty normal, only the ideals seem to be so drastic. Culture speaks for the base, not the person.



> I think Americans being more concerned with their own regions rather than global matters reflects them being sensors instead of intuitives a lot more than it reflects extraversion or introversion.


The MBTI is limited when used on a large scale, I don't think it has anything to do with intuition or sensing. The average person tends to focus on their world, government issues and global matters hardly mean something to a person who's fighting to live. Perhaps one does not find the issues of all that importance: "it won't affect me anyways".

The MBTI is not a reason.


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## Mutatio NOmenis

I interpret it as America is full of weak dumbasses who can't survive on their own and are ruled by bullshit and emotions. Being an introvert here sucks.


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## Vaka

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> I interpret it as America is full of weak dumbasses who can't survive on their own and are ruled by bullshit and emotions. Being an introvert here sucks.


So being an introvert means you're not a weak dumbass who can't survive on your own and is ruled by bullshit and emotions? Funny.


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## Mutatio NOmenis

^ Being the small quiet one does horrors for your idealism.


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## Vaka

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> ^ Being the small quiet one does horrors for your idealism.


How does that fit if this thread is discussing whether the US is more of an introverted or an extroverted state?


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## Mutatio NOmenis

^Nevermind. Back to the main thread.


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## Ectoplasm

Mutatio NOmenis said:


> I interpret it as America is full of weak dumbasses who can't survive on their own and are ruled by bullshit and emotions. Being an introvert here sucks.


Meh I'm an introvert and all of the above criticisms can still apply to me too. I'm not American so it can be said this theory can apply to many nations.

On another point if I'm not mistaken federal state governments, people and institutions can be concerned with little outside their own borders without becoming introvert. Especially if they manage their state or their own lives with a degree of expressionism which they try and force on others in the state or in the community. On the other hand a nation can subtlely and secretly intervene and interfere with the workings of other nations which would make it introverted by nature even though its shaping the world outside its borders on a potentially huge scale. It's a grey area.


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## Red Panda

Mediterranean countries like mine are definitely more extroverted, introverted people here are treated like we are weird or something. Especially in school I had a hard time like many other introverts. Not to mention summer stereotypes like that everyone has to go to the beach and wear sexy swimsuits and dance and stuff like that. Actually the only introverted people I know I've met them online.
I think America is so large in both population and land that it's pretty much equal in general.


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## Inky

I can't really give perspective on the American culture because I'm not American and I've never been there, but I can give some perspective from the more introverted countries.

I'm Indonesian-Chinese, and I've travelled around quite a lot in Asia because of my father's work, especially Southeast Asia (i.e. Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, China) and I would say that introversion seem quite a common trait. From what I've encountered, extroverts are quite rare. Say 7:3? Its based on personal experience though, so it might not be entirely accurate.

Generally speaking, I noticed the culture in more introverted countries is that people tend to value humility and tact quite a lot. So say you're somebody who is really loud/talks a lot, but youre not tactful enough, and accidentally hurt somebody's feelings... chances are you probably wouldn't know that you did anything wrong. Because most likely, the other person wouldn't tell/show you that they're hurt (unless they really can't take it anymore). If you start hurting more and more people by accident, you're likely to be generally disliked. Nobody will really show it in a straightforward manner, but you can kind of see it, in subtle ways, and it's quite depressing.
Not forgetting to mention, I've seen many instances of loudness that has been wrongly perceived as arrogance simply because people are not used to it. So maybe it's more of the culture that's made many afraid to "talk too much", and thus make many people seem introverted.

Well, anyway, I'm speaking in very general terms. It's difficult to really explain a culture, and everyone is different. Plus, globalisation is influencing a lot of things now such that extroversion is becoming more prevalent.


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## aus2020

The US is not the only extravert country in the world, however it's the most obvious extravert country, due to it's strong influence in this world.

My theory in terms of extraversion/introversion, is related to net migration. The US has high immigration, including both legal and illegal immigrants. By contrast, Japan has a strongly introvert culture and a low net immigration rate.


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## Aqualung

I definitely felt more comfortable around Europeans than I do in the U.S. In Europe I'm normal. In 3 years there, no European ever told me I was too quiet. But in the U.S I've heard it all my life. And here in my homestate of Texas introversion is highly discouraged so you learn how to see through a lot of masks. I put my mask away long ago & tune them out now. So far, no "fist fots".


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## aus2020

Living in a place like the US has it's advantages and disadvantages. However, I'm not sure how I'd cope with the stress levels in the big cities, let alone the strongly extrovert culture.


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## ENTJudgement

Are you sure America is extroverted? Coz I walked around in America for a month during my visit there and noone talks to anyone unless they have reason to like every other country in the world.


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## aus2020

Judson Joist said:


> In that case, come visit Bunny Burrow...I mean, Indiana.
> roud:


I've been to the US four times, but haven't been to Indiana as yet. I can see there are all types of things to see and do in Indiana, beyond the rabbits.

Retro Indy: Heads turn Downtown as wallaroo hops on by

I might visit Indiana, to see how Indianapolis compares to Australian cities.


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## ninjahitsawall

charlie.elliot said:


> I don't agree that America is extroverted-- it's more complicated than that. Americans definitely *value* extroversion, but we are also very image-focused, which makes a lot of people self-conscious and shy. Americans are very guarded and in public and usually keep to themselves... They socialize much less spontaneously than people in other countries. When conversations in public do happen, we are polite and congenial and willing to talk, it's just that those conversations don't happen much. People don't generally talk to strangers... We are too worried about how we're coming off, or we're too busy, or we're talking to someone familiar on our phones, or we feel alienated from strangers because they come from a different culture/ language than we do.
> 
> A perfect self-esteem killer, to have a certain cultural value and at the same time make it really hard for people to achieve it.
> 
> That is only certain parts of America, though, I'm sure-- I'm from East coast/mid Atlantic, white, middle class, college educated.
> 
> Also as many people have said, there are MANY very extroverted countries and cultures in the world. In fact, I think most of them are.


Yeah good point. I was going to say that it's a specific type of extroversion, like an almost contrived effort to be "polite" or "friendly". Not that everyone doing it is even necessarily extroverted, so much as conditioned haha. But I think that'd go along with what you're saying about being image conscious.

I have noticed as an introvert, having less of an issue with people around me being extroverted as I get older. Like as a kid I just hated people my age by the time I was like 12 because I didn't relate to anyone, people (peers + family) kept shoving extroverted values down my throat making me think I might be defective, and the few introverted kids were losers. I don't know if it's a maturity thing for most people, because it seems like specifically in the college upperclassman/post-college age, is when people around the same age as me suddenly seemed to have a level of introspection I could at least partly relate to...now that I have to unlearn my bitterness of however many years, lol. Unless there was also some cultural shift that occurred there specific to my generation (Y) and not really about my personal experience per se.


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## Powermetal101

The average american person is vain prideful and kind of a straight clown.


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## Anunnaki Spirit

I honestly don't like how this country has changed over the last couple of decades and worse still introverts are increasingly facing discrimination especially in education and employment. Extrovert cultures are pressure cookers due to lack of balance and never ending social problems for which America is a world class example but one of the worst by far is India.


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## VoodooDolls

big generalizations u r making but ok i'll join the game:

architecture - less space in europe - intellectualism, 3rd world problems, etc
cold in russia
heat and bombs in mid east

africa seems very extroverted to me
chaos in laos, samba in uganda, only banana in ghana, coca cola in angola and pogo in togo







let's not talk about japan


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## Judson Joist

So we really are Alfred F. Jones!


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## Monadnock

The question of American Extroversion has been occupying me for awhile now. The explanation I find most persuasive: 
One of the most basic brain differences between Introverts and Extroverts is the Introvert usually wants to reduce stimulation to avoid becoming overstimulated, the Extrovert usually craves additional stimulation to avoid becoming bored. It makes sense that the people who immigrated to America over the last 4 centuries would have disproportionately been Extroverts because crossing an ocean to a new continent, adventuring further and further west into the frontiers, etc. would be most appealing to people who crave the stimulation of adventure, in fact I'd guess migratory populations in general are more Extroverted than the rest of their tribe. Meanwhile the Introverts stayed home in Europe reading their books. I'm not sure if Introversion and Extroversion are hereditary but if it is, that's one reason why America has idealized Extroversion for so long, Extroverts begetting more Extroverts. I'd expect the same in Canada and Australia, also "nations of immigrants". 

So that IMO is how things got this way, and we've had to live with it ever since, but I do think things are improving for the American Introvert though. Susan Cain in her book "Quiet" mentions alot of manuals from the 20th century and even the early 21st century where Introversion was outrageously dissed. The provosts of both Harvard and Yale made harsh rejections of Introversion. They wouldn't be able to get away with that today, they'd be forced to apologize within a week of making remarks like that. Because the reality that we need Introversion is never going to go away, so it's an important idea. And you can't stop an idea whose time has come.


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## Sidhe Draoi

I dunno. 
Americans arent as warm, outgoing or helpful as the Brits Ive spoken to. Its enough to make me cry.
We are expected to have social skills, yes, but its robotic and cool instead of genuine curiosity and meaning well for other people. 
Cheerful.. thats what the British are. I wish more Americans were cheerful. 
Its embarrassing to me when they come over here, and we are all pretty much dead inside, comparatively speaking. Lol.

What Im trying to say is, Americans have a lot of social obligation, can be loud and obnoxious, but their actual interest in other people is shallow. They will keep to themselves until they are in a social situation.
but the Brits I spoke to treated everyone as a friend, or maybe a potential friend, and it was so refreshing.

I hope to make strangers feel included and liked like they did for me. I hope to be cheerful.


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