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Introverts treat human faces like inanimate objects...

SilkRoad

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I really hate this "introverts are people who don't like people" thing. It's just crappy.
 
G

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I feel you, yeah.

'Offensive' studies aren't necessarily wrong. But if the results of studies don't jive with our intuition and experience, though--especially in matters as "soft" as psychology--they ought to be examined for internal consistency ("it makes sense") and external validation ("yes, it's flippin' true").

Part of the problem is that scientific studies use language such as "x this suggests that y" and the media touts it as "Holy shit, x is y!! Forever!! Protect your kids!! Kill everyone of a different ethnicity!" Since our scope gets blown up, we've been told at least a few times that we can't predict some of the things that we've purported to predict, that we're part of a government conspiracy, etc.

LiveScience is mostly on track here, but some of the other articles are embarrassing as hell in their interpretation of this work. Then again, Fishman is the one making pretty bold claims in that interview--look at that paragraph about what the study "supports."

And here's Fishman et al. At first glance, it seems that it's mostly misinterpreted--the study is mostly claiming that introverts aren't as stimulated by human faces, not that they can't tell the difference between a damn face and a flower.
 
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Tyrinth

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I didn't catch it saying that introverts don't like people, just that they are more indifferent when it comes to people, which I think is true in some sense. I could have missed something though.

I dislike generalizations in general though. :laugh:
 

UniqueMixture

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I believe the same thing is true of children who are reared not facing their mother in the stroller.
 
R

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The article sounds about right to me. I can meet someone new and talk to them for 10 minutes, and then when I turn away I can't remember their face, their name, or what they were wearing. But I remember everything we talked about. So I always just figured that I'm more about ideas rather than appearances.

In order to try to pay more attention to people, these days I deliberately make a point of examining someone when I talk to them and inventorying their looks, their clothing, saying their name a couple times, etc. Otherwise it's awkward when they come up to me a couple days later and I don't even recognize them. :)
 

Santosha

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This is interesting. I do tend to pay alot more attention to people than inanimate objects, but I kinda attributed this to being a feeler. I also merge with an object quite a bit (especially humans) but I do not recall the sensory experience of it either, after I leave It is very difficult for me to conjur up a perfect image of it.. and even while I merge and take information in, it is not (pure) sensory info... it's more conceptual connections. I honestly think this has far more to do with sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling. MHO.
 

Mal12345

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RaptorWizard

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wow peeps here b takin bout seein faces, well i purposefully dont wear glasses in public just so i dont see peoples faces in hd lol
 

Viridian

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What, so now all introverts suffer from prosopagnosia?

(The mention of the Big 5 and the "extroversion = greater happiness" thing also raise my heckles, but I have no counter-argument...)
 

Mal12345

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What, so now all introverts suffer from prosopagnosia?

(The mention of the Big 5 and the "extroversion = greater happiness" thing also raise my heckles, but I have no counter-argument...)

I've suffered from prosopagnosia all my life. In public places, people I know pass me by and all I see is a stranger. They feel snubbed by me, and that sucks because I'm not intending to do anything at all.
 

SilkRoad

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The article sounds about right to me. I can meet someone new and talk to them for 10 minutes, and then when I turn away I can't remember their face, their name, or what they were wearing. But I remember everything we talked about. So I always just figured that I'm more about ideas rather than appearances.

In order to try to pay more attention to people, these days I deliberately make a point of examining someone when I talk to them and inventorying their looks, their clothing, saying their name a couple times, etc. Otherwise it's awkward when they come up to me a couple days later and I don't even recognize them. :)

To be honest, I can relate to being bad with faces and names. I can meet someone once or twice and have a hard time remembering them when we meet again (though when reminded I will probably remember a lot about the convo or tone of voice). But it just seemed like the article suggested we don't like people or can "take or leave" human relationships. If you saw me with a good friend you wouldn't say that...

/offended INFJ :D
 

Rail Tracer

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I didn't catch it saying that introverts don't like people, just that they are more indifferent when it comes to people, which I think is true in some sense. I could have missed something though.

I dislike generalizations in general though. :laugh:

Yeah, I don't think it was necessarily offensive. The way that I took the article was that we are just indifferent to people and that extroverts NEED people (emphasis on the bold.)

[MENTION=7063]SilkRoad[/MENTION] So, the article can really be spun in a number of ways.
 

SilkRoad

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Yeah, I don't think it was necessarily offensive. The way that I took the article was that we are just indifferent to people and that extroverts NEED people (emphasis on the bold.)

[MENTION=7063]SilkRoad[/MENTION] So, the article can really be spun in a number of ways.

I guess it varies, though. I'm definitely an introvert. And I definitely need people. No, I don't need them around all the time, that would even be bad for me. But I would definitely describe myself as someone who "needs people".

Maybe I felt "offended" partly because it seemed like a real blanket statement about introverts.
 
R

RDF

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To be honest, I can relate to being bad with faces and names. I can meet someone once or twice and have a hard time remembering them when we meet again (though when reminded I will probably remember a lot about the convo or tone of voice). But it just seemed like the article suggested we don't like people or can "take or leave" human relationships. If you saw me with a good friend you wouldn't say that...

/offended INFJ :D

Yeah, maybe the author(s) of the article should have noted that there are many more ways to relate to people than just visually, and that introverts may develop strong connections with others based on other senses or other modes of interaction.

I just read the article in the narrowest sense: Introverts apparently aren't visually oriented: They don’t pay much attention to appearances. And that’s certainly true of me.

/apologetic INFP :puppy_dog_eyes:
 

Rail Tracer

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I guess it varies, though. I'm definitely an introvert. And I definitely need people. No, I don't need them around all the time, that would even be bad for me. But I would definitely describe myself as someone who "needs people".

Maybe I felt "offended" partly because it seemed like a real blanket statement about introverts.

Yes, most people will need some human contact. Though, I don't know, I just took it as I am adaptable.

I can spend a whole day with little contact with others and get by fairly well. Though, just because I can handle myself really well, it doesn't mean I don't have a need for people.... it is just that I can spend time alone and come out just fine.

Others I know of (who is a lot more extroverted,) on the other hand, would complain about being bored to no end.

THOUGH, the part they talk about comparing inanimate objects to faces can strike a cord.
 

SilkRoad

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Yes, most people will need some human contact. Though, I don't know, I just took it as I am adaptable.

I can spend a whole day with little contact with others and get by fairly well. Though, just because I can handle myself really well, it doesn't mean I don't have a need for people.... it is just that I can spend time alone and come out just fine.

Others I know of (who is a lot more extroverted,) on the other hand, would complain about being bored to no end.

THOUGH, the part they talk about comparing inanimate objects to faces can strike a cord.

Yeah, I hear you, I do relate to a lot of that. I can certainly spend a day or two happily, sometimes more, with little or no human contact. I guess for me what is essential is knowing I have close supportive human relationships in my life. I also tend to have IxxJ friends and we can quite happily not see each other for quite a long time. But I may think of them every day or almost.

It's a different approach to extroverts. I mean, there are obviously extroverts who have close significant relationships of different sorts. There are also extroverts who don't really "like people" in that they have contempt for many people and just use them...etc. And there are introverts who love people and introverts who seem to cultivate a dislike for the human race.

I guess it's obvious though that my hackles rise over a sort of "introverts are stunted and aren't normal people who like other people" sort of suggestion.
 

Joehobo

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"This supports the claim that introverts, or their brains, might be indifferent to people — they can take them or leave them, so to speak. The introvert's brain treats interactions with people the same way it treats encounters with other, non-human information, such as inanimate objects for example,"

Almost tarnished the validity of the entire article reading that segment, but I guess that's me being biased.
I cannot relate to it at all, I usually always remember faces, and remember details about people which they themselves have forgotten.
Definitely suck at remembering what people wear though unless it's something distinct like an accessory.
 

Mal12345

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The article is not talking about MBTI introverts. If only you would simply click the link where it says "introvert." http://www.livescience.com/6291-study-sheds-light-people-shy.html

Wow look at that, even the link to the other page has the word "shy" in it.

It pisses me off to have to explain this after mentioning it above once already.

"Socially shy" is not an acceptable definition of "introvert" IN MBTI TERMS. You know this to be true. And yet you continue to berate the author of that page on the basis of your OWN idea of what an introvert is.

And in fact, your (or our) idea of what an introvert is really isn't generally accepted by psychologists.
 
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