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Introverts, were you more outgoing as a child?

Oaky

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I was very introverted as a child. I was described as calm, shy and easy to deal with by my mother. I would hate meeting new people and would be very upset if I was left with any sort of stranger to me.
 

Andy

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Intresting thread idea.

Back a very long time ago there was a clear distinction between social introversion and introversion in mbti terms on typelogycentral that was debated and often referred to in posts. The main idea was: is a person, who was born at the north pole and lived alone there for 30 years ever able to be an assertive E type in mbti terms ?

I liked that question and it did add some new dimensions to the perception of the term introversion.

That is an interesting question, and I'd be inclined to say the answer is yes, as being an extrovert doesn't actually require people in all cases. An isolated extroverts nature appears as a great deal of activity with less contemplative moments. Such a person probably couldn't be an Fe, but I could still see them as an Se (most of all), Ne or Te.
 

Lacey

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I've always been an introvert. My mom said I was always always always off by myself reading books when I was little, even before I could read properly. I was always in my own little world.

However, I guess I was still "outgoing" for a short time. Up until the 3rd grade, I was loud and obnoxious. I'm not really sure what changed that...I think I was too young to remember. I just know that I got in trouble for talking too much in the 2nd grade and immediately went to being (mildly) picked on in the 3rd grade for being so quiet.
 

BlueSprout

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I was always shy and self-conscious even when I was very young. I still liked people, but I wasn't sure they would like me. I also just liked wandering off into my own little world. I probably fantasized more than I ever interacted.
 

Eckhart

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I think I was far more outgoing as a child, but there was still enough indications for being more introverted I think. Later it became less and less.
 

Totenkindly

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I was shy around adult strangers, but less shy around my peers than I am now. I was definitely an introvert already, but I was much more talkative.

I was the opposite.

When I was four, I remember crawling behind the dryer in the backroom and hiding because visitors showed up. As I got older, it wasn't atypical for me to avoid social situations due to the crushing social anxiety, or try to attend the event and then change my mind right before I got there.

Still an introvert, but I can handle myself in a room just fine and even look very sociable sometimes depending on who is there... regardless of how I might be feeling inside.

The issue: Generally I like people, but they do drain me... and until I know the parameters (limitations, expectations, various forms of appropriate interaction), I always feel like I'm stepping on toes. It wasn't instinctive for me. Getting more life experience gave me the social training I needed to feel more comfortable over time.
 

Kaveri

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I was much shyer as a child. The thought of having the courage to go and talk to other kids was very distant for me. Now I can go and talk to people my age.
 

Lightyear

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Nope. I enjoyed my own company and don't recall having any true childhood friends. I think now I am more outgoing since I have been around people so much in the last few years and actually like people very much, I just need to cut myself off from them after too much interaction. I am also much better in smaller groups than in a big crowd, I feel extremely self-conscious talking and being the centre of attention in a big crowd.
 

CuriousFeeling

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When I was a child, I was a bit in the middle in terms of introversion and extroversion. Some situations I was more outgoing in, but there would be moments where I'd be shy around some people. Now I've gotten a bit more introverted.
 

Trentham

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No, I have never been outgoing. As a young child (say, age 4-8), I was probably more outspoken, but I never preferred to be the center of focused attention
 

sleepy

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I've become more introverted as I've grown up. I was far more on the surface and shallower while younger.
 

Polaris

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For most of my life, I've taken turns leaping to either side of the fence. There were people who knew me as a chatterbox--these were mostly my classmates--and there were people who knew me as a wall of impenetrable silence. As I've gotten older, I've bottled myself up a lot more; I barely talk at all except to a tiny handful of people, and even then, very little.
 

teslashock

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I'm an extrovert, but I was a lot more introverted as a child. I just felt pretty outcast from the normal social scene while I was growing up. I didn't get along with many children, so that caused me to turtle up a bit. Now I've figured out which sorts of people I get along with, and I tweak my social surroundings accordingly. Around people that I believe won't tolerate/like my personality so well, I become a lot more introverted still, but it's not nearly as bad as when I was a child, and I know how to turn on the Fe a bit to make myself fit in and be accepted.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Always shy and introverted, but more outgoing and louder around people I knew well. I felt pretty comfortable speaking out in class, and sometimes got in trouble for talking. I can be outgoing for short periods of time, especially when I have something to contribute.

This is what I remember from grade school/intermediate school. In 4th grade I had to sit in the corner for acting out too much. That was very humiliating. It wasn't until 7th grade that a drama teacher took me aside and spent a very important 5 minutes with me telling me that I was basically acting like an ass for me to see that I was. For me I think it was the severe isolation of not having any true friends in school, plus my parents split that made me act out so much (estp shadow). Definitely not my true nature.

Nope. I enjoyed my own company and don't recall having any true childhood friends. I think now I am more outgoing since I have been around people so much in the last few years and actually like people very much, I just need to cut myself off from them after too much interaction. I am also much better in smaller groups than in a big crowd, I feel extremely self-conscious talking and being the centre of attention in a big crowd.

This too. I finally made some good long-term friends in 7th grade, which I kept, but I didn't like being in groups, and I remembering pondering even back then about why people liked the 'popular' people who, to me, acted obviously superior. Always wondered what people got out of immature relationships at the age of 13+, wondered what I was missing. Maybe we all felt that way.


But mostly I view introversion (and this goes back to Entropie's post on the first page) as your primary mode of either perceiving, or judging information. I prefer to turn inward to process information, so I am an introvert. I do like people a lot, but I remember mostly just liking to think in my own head, without a lot of external stimuli, even music. I don't have an ipod for this reason. When I run, when I hike, when I ponder, when I knit, I prefer the silence because my thoughts roar in my own head loud enough, and I do not want to be distracted in my thinking.

Extraverts look outward for information, or to figure things out. Fe doms, for example, put most of their energy into dealing with people, and the issues surrounding people. They like to think in their own head too, I'm sure, but it takes a back seat, usually. Same goes for the other attitudes of functions.

So, if I were an Fe dom at the North Pole, I'd 'manage' the people I lived with. People rarely live alone, especially at the North Pole! I'd probably be the mediator, making sure everyone got along and that we all had our roles delineated and validated neatly. If I were an introvert at the North Pole, I'd think about how thick the ice was in different places, the climate changes, animals' behavior, etc.
 

d4mselfly

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Nope. I went out and caught snakes and bugs. The girls in the neighbourhood weren't interested in doing much outside and the boys just wanted to kill things. I mostly kept to myself at school, too, and read and/or drew on my own... I did have a rare moment of boldness when I went around and told a couple of people other kids that was no Santa, though. Hehe. I think I was 6 or 7.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Nope. I went out and caught snakes and bugs. The girls in the neighbourhood weren't interested in doing much outside and the boys just wanted to kill things. I mostly kept to myself at school, too, and read and/or drew on my own... I did have a rare moment of boldness when I went around and told a couple of people other kids that was no Santa, though. Hehe. I think I was 6 or 7.

how horrible.....a little intj bubble-burster. :huh: Isn't that kinda young to quit believing in Santa?
 

d4mselfly

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how horrible.....a little intj bubble-burster. :huh: Isn't that kinda young to quit believing in Santa?

I think it came about from me asking my mother about the toy donation boxes at the mall and why we needed to donate presents if Santa could just bring them for everyone. She figured I could take the truth, I guess. :devil:
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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I think it came about from me asking my mother about the toy donation boxes at the mall and why we needed to donate presents if Santa could just bring them for everyone. She figured I could take the truth, I guess. :devil:

she sounds intj too.....;) my intj son (the eldest of my kids) was relentless about finding out about how babies were made. He was only 5 at the time, so I could see that an intj could find out about santa at 6.......

intj son: how are babies made?
me: mommy and daddy love each other so much we make a baby

intj son: but HOW do you make a baby?
me: well, we snuggle and it happens

intj son: how?
me: when daddy and mommy snuggle it just can happen

intj son: but how?
me (exasperated by this time): daddy's sperm and my egg join together

intj son: but how do they join?
me: there is a place inside me where it just happens

intj son (relentless!): but how does the sperm get to the egg?
me (resigned at this point): daddy's penis goes in my vagina and the sperm meets the egg.

silence.........

intj son: oh.

end of discussion. no other kids of mine has found out about the miracle of life at so young an age. gotta love intjs!
 

d4mselfly

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she sounds intj too.....;) my intj son (the eldest of my kids) was relentless about finding out about how babies were made. He was only 5 at the time, so I could see that an intj could find out about santa at 6.......

intj son: how are babies made?
me: mommy and daddy love each other so much we make a baby

intj son: but HOW do you make a baby?
me: well, we snuggle and it happens

intj son: how?
me: when daddy and mommy snuggle it just can happen

intj son: but how?
me (exasperated by this time): daddy's sperm and my egg join together

intj son: but how do they join?
me: there is a place inside me where it just happens

intj son (relentless!): but how does the sperm get to the egg?
me (resigned at this point): daddy's penis goes in my vagina and the sperm meets the egg.

silence.........

intj son: oh.

end of discussion. no other kids of mine has found out about the miracle of life at so young an age. gotta love intjs!

Haha, she's definitely an F, but I think maybe she recognised my INTJ-ness even if she didn't understand it at the time. And your son sounds great, haha... I didn't ask so much as try to read about it on my own, so she just got me some books instead of trying to pussyfoot around it or wait for me to stumble upon something really inappropriate during my searching. lol. :popc1:
 

Chunes

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I was much more outgoing as a youngster. That changed at about 12 years old drastically.
 
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