Question on extroversion

[Infinite Bubble]

This may seem slightly amateurish, but I've picked up on something and hopefully it can be cleared up here. A lot of people, when talking about extroversion, they will say it is when one gets most of their energy from other people. The emphasis, I find, when they are talking about it, is on people. But it is to my knowledge that extroversion encompasses gaining energy and focusing on the external environment, and in this sense, objective factors. Social interactions and other people are of course part of the environment, but what I am saying is that an extrovert may not be bothered at all about interacting with people and may keep their distance most of the time, and they will still be extroverted because of the focus on other external factors that may have nothing to do with people whatsoever. They might even find a loss of energy with interacting, because of their own subjective reasons such as finding it tedious, boring etc. Am I correct with what I'm saying?

 

[INTP]

First of all, this energy(or libido as jung called it) is basically the electrical impulses that our brains function with. Energy coming from external world basically means that our parts of our brains gets activated via senses or things triggered by sense perceptions. Now there is another source of activation aswell, which has internal source and not (at least directly) triggered by external sources. Now these are not two totally separated systems, but they interact with each others. For example there might be a weak signal coming from external source, which will gain energy on some specific area of the brains, because it releases something within. Si is a good example of this, while being dependent on sensory stimuli, the determining factor is still what the external thing releases within, and this inner experience caused by the external stimuli will be the determining factor on where consciousness is directed. With Se, the determining factor is the intensity of the sensory stimuli itself. With Ne, its sort of like chain reaction caused by perception of something external which will make many different brain areas to offer their interpretations. Ni on the other hand is not so dependent on the external stimuli, but looks more like meditative state, where many different areas gets activated, but not so chaotic and in more calm way really digging deep within all different areas. With Te, its about trying to organize the perceptions in rational manner and trying to fit some rationality to what has been perceived. Ti on the other hand is more independent and detached from the external stimuli and sort of tries to understand the issue in more abstract type of way(rather than concentrating on the concrete). Fe aswell is triggered and/or modified by the external matters and tries to get a sense of value based on concrete matters. While Fi sees things in more abstract way and compares the inner ideals and values to what ever issue is at hand(let it be internal or something going on in the external world).

 

[skylights]

I think yes, absolutely.

Personally, I identify as a strong cognitive extravert but a social ambivert, even a weak introvert. As a cognitive extravert, I love the mental stimulation of having another person around, because they're constantly providing new external information. And as a Fi type, I love empathizing and emotionally reacting to another person. However, interacting with people can be tiring for me - particularly with formal groups - in the sense of knowing how to interact appropriately, keeping the right social tone, saying acceptable things, and dealing with unpleasant people. I tend to be more of a social responder and less of an initiator, and I love to be around lots of people, but not necessarily actively interacting with them.

 

[Glycerine]

I would consider myself a "social introvert" but always want/need something to stimulate my senses... like music in the background, people talking around me, physical activity, etc. For the most part, my Fe isn't focused all that much on people (I guess more the idea of "people").