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What percentage of the population is introverted?

Aleksei

Yeah, I can fly.
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If its 50:50 why then is Extraversion so much more accepted? Who would make so big pressure on 50% of population?
As mentioned by Edgar, we're fundamentally a social species, and as such social relations and social networking are fundamental to society's well-functioning. However, introverts have many socially useful advantages over extroverts (generally speaking introverts are more efficient workers, can learn more of a given subject in one sitting, etc.), and as such introverts who can learn interpersonal skills (which isn't that difficult) tend to be more useful to society than extroverts. 45% of senior executives in the US, for example, are INTJ or ISTJ (a further 37% are ENTJ or ESTJ), and by necessity all have excellent social networking skills.
 

wildcat

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Aren't introversion and extroversion often viewed as more of a scale than two distinct categories? In that case, I think most people probably land around the middle somewhere and will seem extroverted to a more extreme introvert.

There are different ways people define E & I though, and based on Jung's definition, it seems to me that true introverts are the minority. I think when people think of an extrovert, they think of the extreme version, and so they cannot see themselves in it. I wonder how many people who test I are highly introverted or actually near the middle mark...
The distinct category is the other end of the scale.
 

DomNi

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No such thing as introverted and extraverted *people*

Big, big difference between the possession of introversion/extraversion skills, and functional extraversion as conceptualised in Jung-based typology. Most tests (and arguably MBti to a far greater extent than it should) assess Extraversion/Introversion purely as behavioural traits (and therefore skill usage) - which since they are acculturated social norms, are not going to tell you anything beyond the obvious about the prevalence of these traits in any society you look at.

Unless it's absolutely clear which type of introversion/extraversion is being referred to, which type the tests are measuring, and whether they're set up to do so effectively, it's hard to see anything interesting coming out of this...

Excellent point, Ragashree. Jung never meant those terms to apply to people. This video explains it better than I can:
YouTube - Introversion-Extraversion Primer
 

Queen Kat

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According to my study book it's 50/50.
 

CrystalViolet

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Just reading this, and thinking about my own personal experience. I think people think I'm far more extroverted than I am, and I'm a very confirmed introvert, .
but when I'm out and about and comfortable, I don't shut up. It would be easy to assume I'm extroverted if you didn't know me well enough.

Also I believe people confuse introversion with shyness.
 

wildcat

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I've seen different things:

Just under half
About 35%
"a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population."

Any thoughts on what statistics are the most reliable?
There is no such figure.
The center is not a permanent commodity.
 

guesswho

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My country is more extraverted than US I think, Mediterrenean countries are known to be obnoxiously loud, like Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Croatia... Only Croatia is very very T country, we dont like each other very much but still talk to each other all the time, The Balkans. US seems way more F. Also, we are waaay less N than US, whole Europe is! I think here it's 30:70 I to E.

I have been to Greece and it didn't really seem loud. At least on the seaside.

How do you actually type countries?

Each country has certain values which are promoted, traditions and stuff like that, philosophies.
And some of the values can be typed, but that doesn't mean that the people living there are that way.

In the end we can't really know exact percentages, unless they give an MBTI form when the population is counted to each invididual lol.
 

HotpinkHeatwave

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I think it's pretty even. Maybe a little more extroverts than introverts - in this world, you need to be extroverted.

I know that in the northwest states, the extroversion rate is very high, where as places with little population in the desert/mountains, the introversion rate is very high.

I come from the NW. I definitely can't deny the extroversion here.
 

Patches

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in this world, you need to be extroverted.

....Why?

Especially given the prevalence of computers/internet - you can accomplish almost anything online without ever interacting with people. What about our world make being extroverted a necessity at all?
 

skylights

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....Why?

Especially given the prevalence of computers/internet - you can accomplish almost anything online without ever interacting with people. What about our world make being extroverted a necessity at all?

agreed.

introversion/extraversion doesn't really matter, imo. in fact, its usefulness would simply seem to correlate to whether paying attention to conditions within yourself (Xi) or conditions around you (Xe) is more beneficial at the time.

being social is another matter entirely.
 

Aleksei

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....Why?

Especially given the prevalence of computers/internet - you can accomplish almost anything online without ever interacting with people. What about our world make being extroverted a necessity at all?
The success of skilled and career-based workers and entrepreneurship both require social networking, and are basically the engine of any given economy. Social safety in general greatly benefits from social networking as well. Note that this requires socialization rather than extroversion, but extroversion makes it easier on people (though that may not necessarily be so -- Ne-doms are usually quite picky about whom they socialize with).
 
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