Are Eurasians more introverted?

[Ganbare!]

I'm quite emotionally-independent, I have a decently-sized social circle or so says facebook but I never relied on friends much nor grew excessively attached either. I spend a lot of time interacting with people but essentially for fun or work nevertheless I also spend a great deal of my time on solitary activities, so I'm definitely ambivalent.

I think EAs are generally more introverted than average because they tend to be more self-aware and this leads them to be more observant, more distant from the crowd.

Are you more extraverted, introverted or both? Has your identity gradually changed your personality type?

[naix]

I am going to say.... yes.

[tbw]

My brother is definitely not introverted, other EAs I know are pretty out there too!

[Ganbare!]

The few I know fit the 'false extroverts' bill, I used to be one younger too but I've become more outgoing since I moved out from home a couple years ago.

[FreckleFoot]

My brother and I both fit the description, but can become very open with those we know well (but if in the presence of strangers we tend to clam up again).

[Ganbare!]

^My older brother, my sister and I are pretty much alike in this respect. Outside we're assertive, outgoing, high careers people but indoors we're more calm, introspective and private, our mother is like that as well just even more extreme.

In 2005, my family and I went to a bar to celebrate my university admissions, everybody was having fun until an aggressive guy started throwing racial slurs at us for no reason, we tried to change seats but he tagged along threatening us with a glass bottle, sadly for him he wasn't fast enough, my mother smashed the bottle of beer she was drinking a few seconds prior on the guy's head, needless to say he apologized in tears. My mother is a petite, 5"1 woman but she never took s*** from anybody, outside of the house she's an alpha female but at home she's the typical sweet attentive homemaker cooking meals for hours, pretty unrecognizable.

In the terrible places we lived in, we had no other choice but to be lions outside of the house if we wanted to achieve anything. However, I still cannot tell which one between extraversion or introversion is my real personality.

[palavore]

Asians are generally more introverted (the population lacks the thrill seeking gene). However, I've met quite a few extroverted Eurasians. One was the rare: shy extrovert.

[toyomansi]

In the West, people would after befriending me and having a long conversation with me all of a sudden comment that I'm a quiet person. I don't understand what they mean, since I have then been talking to them just as much as they have been talking to me... An African guy after getting to know me said I'm shy, but later changed his mind saying I'm not shy after all, and that he can't figure me out, when seeing me interact with other people. I get annoyed that people have to put the "shy/quiet" label on me, when they later are proven wrong (or that I then need to prove them wrong). I don't think I'm a quiet person, I like befriending people. But perhaps when meeting someone for the first time, I'm a little more tactful until I figure them out.

In the West, people had for years tried to encourage me to be what they define as extroverted, which to me is being loudmouthed and attention seeking. The need to fight to get all the attention and enjoy heavy debating/ranting/arguing, to me it looks too undignified. Maybe my personality and way of being is much more Asian, since when I'm with Asians our ways of communicating and behaving match more.

[monroe]

Not sure if this belongs here, but I met another EA guy who was senior to me in many ways. Most everyone liked him and respected him, but he was very timid around females in anything other than official capacity.

I think, for some people the fear of rejection is enough to make them seem introverted when they might otherwise be outgoing. I believe, at least in the US, this is more common amongst males and minorities (and compounded if both apply). By minority, I mean something like an Asian or EA growing up in a primarily Caucasian area. Because, in a sense, an Asian growing up in an Asian neighborhood isn't really a minority (even if the group as a whole is). Though I suppose an EA is almost universally a minority.

I gave him some basic pointers and the opportunity to see them in action. If I remember right it went somewhat like this:

1. Engage in conversation

2. Seem (preferably be) interested, confident but not cocky and watch for returned interest

3. This is really where personal judgment comes in; when the time is right, ask. Thought up a line to use, "Hey, a couple friends and I are going out to dinner-you should let me take you."
Also gave him a speech on rejection and probability, etc.. the same on that was given to me way back and changed my life.

I ended up eating Greek that night. Freaking expensive, but on the plus side I learned a lot of interesting things about my coworkers.

He ended up getting hooked on some sweet thing and drifting away to a happier place. Now that I'm done with all this paperwork, I can follow suit.

[palavore]

^ Of all the personality traits, introversion is the most heritable, linked to genetics.

With saying too much of behavior--and introducing cultural biases--introversion/extroversion should best be understood as the sensitivity and attraction to external stimuli.

[catgirl]

I was introverted as a child and young teenager. I still have some traits left, but I feel it can be overcome. I dont think its related to my EAness because my white half siblings on mums side also are introverted:) My asian dad is the opposite of introverted though! ;D

[toyomansi]

May 10, 2010 1:51:05 GMT -5 monroe said:

I think, for some people the fear of rejection is enough to make them seem introverted when they might otherwise be outgoing. I believe, at least in the US, this is more common amongst males and minorities (and compounded if both apply). By minority, I mean something like an Asian or EA growing up in a primarily Caucasian area. Because, in a sense, an Asian growing up in an Asian neighborhood isn't really a minority (even if the group as a whole is). Though I suppose an EA is almost universally a minority.

I think this is the case with me. While growing up, I have taken too much social rejection among my peers in Norway. Even when schooling, I would many times join a group and try to befriend them, and they would totally ignore me and not acknowledge my presence at all. I think that's the explanation why I'm tactful when meeting groups of new people (one-on-one socializing feels easier, because the other person cannot ignore me then). When/if accepted by the group, I can let myself go.

[Ganbare!]

^I might be wrong but do minorities, Asians in particular feel stranded in Norway? It sometimes sounds like EAs in some countries feel uncomfortable and isolated in their location similarly to minorities in ethnically homogeneous towns.

The majority of Asians I know are extraverted so I believe the environment and education have more influence on introversion than genes.

[toyomansi]

^ Yeah, most minorities in Norway tell me the same thing, that they feel isolated. Most of them almost don't have any Norwegian friends (only friends with other minorities). Except those who are lucky to meet the very friendly ones, or those who manage to assimilate into the culture. In bigger cities like Oslo, minorities often feel more free and comfortable, since Oslo encourages ethnic and cultural diversity more.

[milkman's baby]

May 31, 2010 8:39:45 GMT -5 toyomansi said:

^ Yeah, most minorities in Norway tell me the same thing, that they feel isolated. Most of them almost don't have any Norwegian friends (only friends with other minorities). Except those who are lucky to meet the very friendly ones, or those who manage to assimilate into the culture. In bigger cities like Oslo, minorities often feel more free and comfortable, since Oslo encourages ethnic and cultural diversity more.

I've felt that way growing up in predominantly white areas of the US sometimes, but the biggest difference is that even those white people know that American is not an ethnicity (well, most but you always have idiots) and they didn't have this nationalistic sense of feeling that America is the white people's land. I have a few EA cousins in Germany and although I haven't spoken with them in years, I can't imagine what it's like growing up in a country where the majority of people living there have descendents FROM that very country and try to use it against minorities and immigrants. I doubt Norway is as bad as Russia in this sense, but I can just remember the idiocy I encountered there.

I wonder, though, is most of the hostility from these ethnic Norwegians a result of bitterness and nationalism? What I mean is, are they not welcoming toward minorities because they feel "their Norway" has been invaded or is it just that they're weirded out by people who look different than them? The feeling of invasion is usually the case for racism in Russia as I've found, so I'm trying to draw comparisons here.