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Can an extrovert turn into an introvert?

phoenix31

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Is it possible that someone could be extroverted as a child and then turn introverted as an adult?
 

morganelise48

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I believe that if you are introverted as an adult, you were always going to be introverted in some degree. Unless the theory in MBTI about types being unable to change is false. Or maybe it isn't predestined by birth, but formed through very young childhood? Nature, or nurture and nature? Hm..
Anyway, my brother was an extrwamly extraverted child. I remember playing with him every single day after school, and the way he use to talk my ear off. Playing with toys every time he was inside, and making games our of organizing his pez despse collection. My parents have told me story's about him randomly trotting up to other little boys and girls with a big smile on his face saying, "Hi my names Ian! Do you like Pokemon??" Now, he is one mild mannered guy. I believe ISTJ. Even less then me, he barely talks in groups. Always alone. Never doing physical things. He works, plays videogames, reads, and that's about it!
So, I guess I would say that yes it's true from a traditional sense. But to look at it from that standpoint might make the concept a little rocky. Most kids do act extraverted. And some days they may seem extraverted, while other days they don't. But that makes sense, because their cognition is just forming! I think it may be a hit or miss, maybr unless it's overly obvious. But hey, I could just be talking out of my ass! Lol Besides, I could, in no universe, imagine that my boyfriends nephew will be introverted!! Haha.
 

Kullervo

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I don't know if your actual personality can change in that way. After all we are all born with certain tendencies - nobody is a blank slate.

What I can say is that changes in your environment could mask your true personality. I am an (admittedly mild) extrovert who thought I was extremely introverted for many years because of my social anxiety.
 

phoenix31

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I know someone who really enjoyed playing with other kids as a child and being with other people as a teenager but seems tired out being with people now. It's interesting to try to figure out whether she's a born introvert or extrovert. I don't think she has any social anxiety, at least not that I know of.
 

Kullervo

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I know someone who really enjoyed playing with other kids as a child and being with other people as a teenager but seems tired out being with people now. It's interesting to try to figure out whether she's a born introvert or extrovert. I don't think she has any social anxiety, at least not that I know of.

Depression maybe? You say she's tired out of being with people. Losing pleasure in things you used to love doing is a big red flag.
 

miss fortune

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personally, I don't think that anything is really fixed personality-wise

we're dynamic creatures and to think that our type would remain static is kind of dumb, in my book :shrug:
 

phoenix31

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Depression is a good thought, but no, from all outer appearances she seems like a happy, healthy person. That's why it kind of intrigues me.
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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Lately I have been pondering a little bit whether I was really supposed to be an enfj. Most people think I am an extravert because I am engaging and chatty. I also am quite loud. I have a booming voice, booming manner (I stomp, not walk), and I can talk someone's ear off (and have--I have a jar of ears in my bedroom).

But then when I ponder my childhood, I don't think there is really any way. See, I favored Ni over Fe and Te, even when I had the choice to do the extraverted thing. Oftentimes I did not have the choice, per se, because my neighborhood kids were mean to me (older than me and picked on me, though I did fight back) or because I just did not have many friends. I had friends in school, just none outside school until I got on a sports team in 7th grade. Then I started hanging out with girls and spending the night and stuff. Trying to remember how I was in the crowd.....:thinking: I would hang with the group, but I can't remember much about it at that age, except that I usually felt a bit on the outside looking in; I felt like I saw things in a different way than others but just wouldn't talk much about it. And I realized my separateness from a very young age also. The things I liked weren't always the things others liked. I loved nature and horses, being outside with my dog, etc. I went to the mall a lot, but not really with people, more alone. As far as school goes, I always hated group projects, largely because the loud members would all agree on this one certain way and I'd be thinking it was stupid lol and yet I'd have to go along with it because I could not fight the mob. From puberty on I preferred to be alone unless I was hanging out with my basketball friends. But I distinctly remember feeling out of place at slumber parties, and even having to leave a few early because girls would be mean. Which is strange because I've always been big for my age. I think usually the culprit would be older girls, who seemed to terrify me when I was young. I think kids in the 70s were meaner than they are today? Not sure.

When I think of being in the woods alone and how I could not wait to hike every day on nature trails (behind my mom's apartments) there, pick berries, watch tv, explore, get lost on my horse, sneak into the pool, etc., it was usually alone that I did these things and I remember being happy in that moment. I also wished I had more friends I remember. Maybe I am stuck right in the middle of i/e. I know I am stuck right in the middle of t/f and j/p. The only thing I seem way more one of is my N.

So, I dunno. I'm a potentially loud, fun-loving, solitary, weird kind of gal who is happy with people (for a while) and happy by myself (for a while). Isn't that how most people are?


Thanks for reading, if you got this far. :)
 

Kullervo

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OK two things:

1. Something we should all remember is that with the exception of Sensing vs iNuition (you process information one way or the other), you can't be put into a box that easily in MBTI. If your I preference is only 10% you're not very introverted at all, but technically you're still an introvert. Of course some INFJs are going to be more outgoing than others; this is just what we should expect.

2. You have an unusual Enneagram type for an INFJ, and 7s tend to be active, pleasure-seeking people. That may contribute to the sense that you don't fit in.

Type 7 Enneagram Type Description |9types.com (the whole site is awesome, so do explore it)
 

AphroditeGoneAwry

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I think that might be the site (no, it was a different site) I realized I was a 7 sx, yeah. And that could very well explain my outgoing style.

However, if could also be argued that perhaps I was 'really' supposed to be an enfj and that is why I am a 7sx...:)
 

ugamuga

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No usually if you were outgoing as a child, you would probably still be an extrovert when you got older, same as being an introvert. You don't just wake up one day and say ya know what, I think I'm introverted now. I feel like a lot of people confuse an introvert with someone who is shy. Your level of shyness can change over the years. You may have turned into a shy extrovert as an adult from certain things you've had to experience in life, but I'm sure if you overcame your shyness, you'd still get your energy from the outside world. It's also possible you were always an ambivert, which can be confusing since you would have qualities of both introverts and extroverts.
 

Doctor Cringelord

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No person can be defined by absolute values, no matter how tempting it might be.
 

ZNP-TBA

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Is it possible that someone could be extroverted as a child and then turn introverted as an adult?

The short answer is yes, kind of. Someone can appear or seem to be extroverted as a child but then can seem introverted when they are older. Several factors can influence someone's behavior that isn't directly related to cognition. For example, the person in question can be from a family or community that either encourages or discourages introverted or extraverted behavior.

Cognitively I think it seems pretty fixed ( though I have no definitive evidence of this). According to the axis theory of functions every I-E function has an E-I counter part e.g. Introverted thinking - Extroverted feeling. An extraverted person is primarily stimulated by the objective world rather than their own subjective impressions/musings even if they are very quiet with their behavior.

Side note: People used to think I was an INTx because I wasn't the loudest kind of person and seemed private to them. However, my draw is to the external more than the internal.
 

Hawthorne

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What do these words mean?
 

five sounds

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No I don't think so
 

Forever

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They can't turn into one but they can be introverted.
 

her-space-holiday

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I've always needed me time, but I've had a rough couple of years and have been kind of depressed, and I will isolate the fuck out of myself during the rough periods.

When I feel okay, then I still need me time, but my friends will see me more than once or twice a month, and when I am feeling pretty good I can actually maintain a pretty active social life as long as I give myself some time to come up for air and unwind in my house alone at the end of a long day or night and take sunday off.

As a kid I was a little less shy. Still needed time alone, loved to hog my own imagination and play by myself for hours - but I was also the annoying younger neighbor who was always ringing the doorbell asking to play. It was more acceptable to do that then. I'm much less likely to take the initiative to introduce myself and form a friendship...either people befriend me or we both mutually kind of befriend each other - sometimes I'll be the bolder one if I sense the other person wants to hang out too. My extraverted best friend all but forced me into our platonic life partnership.
 
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