Upon researching my research paper topic for Psychology, “What makes people outgoing?”, I happen to stumble upon fasinating scientific evidence that supports some well known attributes of being adventuerous and outgoing. If ever there were better reasons to volunteer, perhaps reading these studies will inspire you to have a whole new perspective!
The result of the psychological study: Acting extroverted makes people happier!
According to a psychological study on the personality trait of expressing extraversion, researchers from the Wake Forest University have discovered that acting extraverted makes people happier. Participants were recruited, though the article did not mention the nature of their willingness, and participated in evaluations that examined different levels of expressing extraversion in relations to their emotions. Despite a person being more reserved or outgoing, being bolder, open to take risks and more assertive affects a person more positively.
Extraverted behaviour such as singing out loud to the radio when a song comes on, being able to voice one’s opinion and asking more questions in the classroom, all seem to have a positive impact on a person. During the lab experiment, subjects were asked to track their mood for a time period of two weeks , and researchers instructed the participants to act in different ways. First, the group of people were asked to act assertive and more energetic, and in a later group discussion talking about their experience, they said they had enjoyed the lab experiment. When the group of people were later asked to act passive and more reserved, the same subjects declared that they did not feel very happy, nor enjoyed the lab experiment as much.
Studying extroversion, The Wake Forest researchers also wanted to find a connection between acting extroverted and if the short term happiness that extroversion created, would last for long periods of time. Subjects were asked to record their behaviour over a ten week period, and the results seemed very conclusive: there is a very strong connection between happiness and acting extroverted. Does this mean we are in control of our happiness? The Wake Forest researchers seem to think so, believing that we are not only in control of our happiness, but also that a factor that contributes to happiness is personality, and to a certain degree, we are in control of our personality. The path to being happiness results in the ability of people to act more adventurous, bold, and outgoing, choosing to have the power to improve themselves, and the research supports the theory that being more outgoing can definitely cause happiness.
“Brains of outgoing people react more positively to happy faces than those of shy individuals, study shows.”
There are some traits that do not affect how our brains react to some stimuli- such as our reaction to something scary, which is also called a universal human characteristic of self- preservation. However, some Stanford researchers have revealed that the brains of those considered “outgoing” are more likely to react to positive stimuli, than their shy and more reserved counterparts. An article printed in the journal, Science, displayed their discoveries under the title “Amygdala Response to Happy Faces as a Function of Extraversion.” Located in the area of the brain associated with emotions and memory, the researchers have been imaging the amygdala, recording when it “lights up” or activates, when the subjects’ brains develop a socially and emotionally evoking image, in this case, the human face. The researchers had hypothesized that if a sample group of test subjects were inclined to be more outgoing, then their amygdala would more likely respond to positive stimuli. The researchers set out to test this theory, by recruiting 15 student volunteers, who were assessed for their tendency to be optimistic and sociable, and their tendency to be insecure and anxious – possessing both personality traits is possible, as they do not oppose each other at all. The results found that people that had a tendency to be more outgoing, indeed responded to happy faces with their amygdala “turning on” more than those who were not inclined to extroversion.
This article has certainly surprised and shown me some aspects of the personality, especially regarding a person’s tendency to be outgoing in correspondence to their lifestyle. Personality is a characteristic that is shared by all human beings, yet each human being possesses a wide variety of personality traits that make them unique. Regardless of whether a person is outgoing or shy, we do have common responses that we share, such as our universal survival instincts to fear. However, using an example of how the personality trait of being able to take risks corresponds to positivity, the article uses the example of the different perspectives regarding a party. Not everybody enjoys going to a party filled with unfamiliar strangers. Some may perceive the invitation to the party as an excellent opportunity to interact with everyone, while many may think it is a great chance to become excluded and lonely. However, extreme introversion can be a crippling condition for the affected, as it sometimes prevents people from creating meaningful and sociably interactions with others. It’s quite interesting to observe how different people may perceive this situation, studying to see different thought processes of what may have been a satisfying experience.
