The qualities I am referring to are encompassed by the overarching, stereotypical traits associated with Western culture: assertiveness and aggressiveness. We place value on the ability to establish and extend social networks, as well as the ability to articulate and force our opinions verbally, for social and institutional purposes. This valuing becomes reflected by those in positions of power, those who embody and perpetuate the normality that is favored by the “majority.”
If we did not have a difference in valuing, we would not see discrimination in our media, in our institutions, and in our culture. Discrimination may manifest in the form of favoring solely class discussions over small group discussions for assessment, in the form of maintaining relationships where you are expected to change your social identity or risk peer judgment, and in the form of career personality tests.
This difference in valuing sets up a system of inequality which perpetuates other forms of systems of inequality affectionately referred to as the “-isms,” including classism, sizeism, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, elitism, and adultism. I would argue that the relationship between introversion and extroversion does not fall under ableism because ableism implicates that introversion is in itself a disability which reduces the person who is “afflicted” with this to being someone who is reduced in function and capability. Who is to say that an introvert is emotionally and developmentally disabled? They are just as capable as extroverts when it comes to work performance and addressing the needs of society. This may come as a shock, but we also enjoy many of the leisure activities and hobbies that extroverts enjoy as well, just not to the degree of social stimulation that extroverts attain. You cannot address the dynamics between other systems of inequality without taking this into consideration.
Still not convinced that introversion is stigmatized and viewed negatively? For decades, introversion has appeared within the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association and in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the World Health Organization. Introversion was eliminated as a criterion for the diagnosing of mental disorders possibly with the publishing of DSM-IV in 1994 and as a disorder in itself with the endorsing of ICD-10 in 1990.
Curiously, the American Psychiatric Association wanted to reincorporate introversion into the upcoming DSM-V as a criterion for diagnosing mental disorders, which will be published in 2013. This certainly reflects something about the biasness that is currently held, not only by those who are constructing this manual, but those of society.
Here is what they listed verbatim for introversion before relabeling this as detachment in January of 2011:
“[Detachment] is characterized by withdrawal from other people--ranging from withdrawal from intimate, friendly, and social relationships to withdrawal from the world at large; by restricted affective experience and expression; and by having limited hedonic capacity.
Facets of [Detachment]:
Social withdrawal is characterized by a preference for being alone to being with others; by reticence in social situations; by avoidance of social contacts and activity; and by lack of initiation of social contact.
Social detachment is characterized by indifference to, or disinterest in, local and worldly affairs; by disinterest in social contacts and activity; by interpersonal distance; by having only impersonal relations, and being taciturn with others (e.g., having solely goal- or task-oriented interactions).
Intimacy avoidance is characterized by disinterest in, and avoidance of, close relationships, interpersonal attachments, and intimate sexual relationships.
Restricted affectivity is characterized by lack of emotional experience and display; by emotional reactions that, when evident at all, are shallow and transitory; and by unemotionality, even in normally emotionally arousing situations.
Anhedonia is characterized by lack of enjoyment from, engagement in, or energy for life’s experiences; and by deficits in the capacity to feel pleasure or take interest in things.”
Without the opposing opinions from organizations like the Association for Psychological Type International and the International Association for Analytical Psychology, we would have very likely seen the reintroduction of this in DSM-V. This reintroduction would have enhanced the stigmatizing of introversion, with the general population associating introversion not as a normal identity but as a criterion for mental disorders.
How would you feel if extroversion was made a criterion for mental disorders? We could say that it was defined by social addiction, social hyper-attachment, intimacy addiction, over-reactivity, and hyperhedonia. I would love to see someone try to propose extroversion as a pathological symptom for the DSM, with a whole set of mental disorders attributed to it. We can even introduce a “schizoid personality disorder, type II” just to accommodate all those “extreme” social addicts out there.
