Not All Introverts Are Happy Hermits

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Conventional wisdom holds that introverts are the solitude experts. After all, introversion was originally defined by Jung as the tendency to be more energized by one’s internal world than the external, and since then psychologists have shown that introverts are less sociable and more sensitive to stimulation in their environment compared with extraverts.

You would think therefore that introverts must love spending hours by themselves. They could teach us all a thing or two about how to be alone…right?

Not quite.

It's true that solitude helps introverts relax and recharge their batteries, but the psychological research simply doesn’t support the assumption that all introverts enjoy time alone or seek it more than extraverts.

These findings go against our intuitive notions about personality, which presume that extraverts are social butterflies and introverts are happy hermits. In an attempt to understand why not all introverts enjoy being alone, I conducted two studies that ended up providing some answers to this puzzle.

Are You a High- or Low-Functioning Introvert?

We asked college students to download an app that randomly pinged them several times throughout their waking hours for a week, each time asking them to record whether they were alone or with others (physically or virtually). At first, we found that introverts and extraverts did not differ significantly in how frequently they were “truly alone” during the day (defined as enjoying solitude without the distraction of texting or social media).

But when we looked more closely, we found there were actually two different types of introverts: a “low-functioning” group that was more lonely and less psychologically healthy than their “high-functioning” counterparts—a group that was just as introverted but who had a more solid sense of self and more positive relationships than others.

It was these high-functioning introverts who chose to spend the most time alone, while the low-functioning introverts largely avoided time to themselves—and when they were alone, they spent that time on social media instead of enjoying their own company.

This finding makes sense. When you’re an introvert who is lonely or depressed, solitude is rather cold comfort. Alone time feels empty and does not meet your psychological needs. In contrast, if you’re an introvert who feels secure in yourself and your relationships, solitude can be a space that is nourishing, creative, and restorative.

Your Position as an Introvert on the “STAR” Matters Too

This distinction between high- and low-functioning introverts piqued my curiosity further. In the next study, my team and I surveyed 400 adults between the ages of 18 and 89, asking them to keep a 10-day diary to track how often they chose to be alone during the day.

We also chose to go beyond the "Big 5" model of introversion that is conventionally used in psychology. Instead, we turned to the newer, multifaceted STAR model which describes four types of introverts, each with their own distinctive characteristics. Here is what we found:

• Social Introverts are defined as being ambivalent about social interaction; they enjoy spending time alone just as much as time with a few close friends. In our study, they sought solitude more frequently and for longer periods of time than any other introvert. They were also the only type to be motivated to be alone for both positive and negative reasons. They sought solitude for intrinsically enjoyable purposes but were also just as likely to be reactive—for instance, escaping into solitude to avoid an uncomfortable social sphere.
• Thinking Introverts, defined as introspective and imaginative, emerged as the most positive profile. They were highly self-determined in their solitude, seeking it for the purposes of creativity or insight rather than using it to retreat from social situations.
• Anxious Introverts, who are defined by their shyness and rumination, had the highest rates of seeking solitude for negative reasons, such as social anxiety or feeling like they didn’t belong. They weren’t seeking to be alone because they enjoyed solitude, but because they needed to avoid other people.
• Restrained Introverts, the deliberative and serious types, were fairly indifferent to solitude, showing the least motivation to be alone.

What we can learn from these studies is that it’s too simple to say that introverts like to be alone and extraverts don’t. Instead, it matters what type of introvert you are. And to make matters even more interesting, the need for solitude also depends on whether or not you are highly sensitive—a trait that can belong to both introverts and extraverts.

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