BEH/225 Final Project
Michael J. Beard Jr.
BEH/225
06/05/2011
Tara Moser

Abstract “Bah, Humbug, another party?” or “Happy Holidays, another party!” Your choice of greeting that you exclaim during the holidays may have more to do with your genetic make-up than your mood. For introverts like my-self living in an extroverted culture, the holidays and all they entail can and most times are like fingernails on a chalkboard. For all those who are introverted, all that holiday socializing seems to be an enormous waste of time and energy. Rather than being out there mingling at parties, introverts would rather be snuggled up reading a nice, fat book.

Extroversion and introversion are terms used to gauge social styles. Extroverts like the person I am about to interview for this paper; are more comfortable interacting in groups and are more energized by being with others than by being alone. Introverts, on the other hand, are more at home with their own company than in throngs of interacting people. They are stimulated by private activities like reading, listening to music, or working on a hobby or project. The latter have to be dragged to parties, and the blizzard of festivities around Christmas and New Year’s ranks right up there with colonoscopies and root canals.

Three-fourths of all people are extroverts. And, unless they have mastered compassionate acceptance of all sentient beings, they think introverts are plain odd. Extroverts have little understanding of introverts. They assume the company, especially their own, is always welcomed and cannot imagine why someone would need solitude. Understandably, they have many friends and find it easy to strike up a conversation with strangers.

Not all introverts are as misanthropic as philosopher Sartre, who said, “Hell is other people at breakfast.” Some enjoy breakfast with people who have