Do all children begin life in extroversion? | INFJ Forum

Do all children begin life in extroversion?

Entyqua

Entyqua

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I am curious...I have yet to meet an introverted child...shy maybe, but always ready to open up and play with anyone...do we all start out extroverted, and grow into our roles later?
 
Adymus said:
That would have been me.

I literally freaked out if people got to close to me when I was in my "me time"
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hmmm interesting. I know I wasnt...but i started being abuse about 11 or 12 and i shut down completely...
 
well not necessarily introverted or extroverted but i'd say the majority of us start out with a more fluid approach to life regardless of mbti preferences which i see as predefined or what nature gave us to work with basically. probably sound like a broken record but according to enneagram the personality is what prevents us from continuing to live life this way, and that a balance does exist between the two. so although it may seem as though a more rigid approach to situations is if anything the natural evolution of the human mind, it doesn't need to stay this way, and there is a choice.
 
bagelriffic said:
well not necessarily introverted or extroverted but i'd say the majority of us start out with a more fluid approach to life regardless of mbti preferences which i see as predefined or what nature gave us to work with basically. probably sound like a broken record but according to enneagram the personality is what prevents us from continuing to live life this way, and that a balance does exist between the two. so although it may seem as though a more rigid approach to situations is if anything the natural evolution of the human mind, it doesn't need to stay this way, and there is a choice.
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hmmm interesting...so if it were not for personality types...we would all live life with a slight naivet
 
I believe I was an introvert from birth. I always wanted to be left alone to do my own thing. Sometimes I wanted people but not much and not for long.
 
I think, Enty, what we view as introversion for adults and/or teens is not the same definition of introversion for children. My mother could've told you that I was always an introverted sort. I would rarely cry, I always held back just a little, and I was pretty laid back. Sometimes I was shy, but sometimes I wasn't.

This is a good website to check to see if a child is an introvert (scroll a little down the page for key things to look for): http://www.theintrovertzcoach.com/understanding_your_introverted_child.html

And this is another one, which actually does the entire MBTI breakdown from age 2 to teen: http://www.personalitypage.com/html/kid_info.html.

It's hard to say if an infant is really MBTI ready. I highly doubt most are obvious introverts or extroverts, but some might have traits.
 
DoveAlexa said:
I believe I was an introvert from birth. I always wanted to be left alone to do my own thing. Sometimes I wanted people but not much and not for long.
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hmmm I had my moments like this too...but I always wanted to be active get out and play. always. (and all my friends were boys incidentally lol We chased frogs a lot!)
 
arbygil said:
I think, Enty, what we view as introversion for adults and/or teens is not the same definition of introversion for children. My mother could've told you that I was always an introverted sort. I would rarely cry, I always held back just a little, and I was pretty laid back. Sometimes I was shy, but sometimes I wasn't.

This is a good website to check to see if a child is an introvert (scroll a little down the page for key things to look for): http://www.theintrovertzcoach.com/understanding_your_introverted_child.html

And this is another one, which actually does the entire MBTI breakdown from age 2 to teen: http://www.personalitypage.com/html/kid_info.html.

It's hard to say if an infant is really MBTI ready. I highly doubt most are obvious introverts or extroverts, but some might have traits.
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That was a great article Arby...from that list my daughter is still inbetween the definitions...
 
I have seen all kinda through out my life, it's all possible:

Introverted children who grew up to be introverts.
Extroverted children who grew up to be introverts (this is me, and oh man was I an EXTROVERTED child).
Extroverted children who grew up to be extroverts.
and Introverted children who grew up to be extroverts.
 
[MENTION=86]Entyqua[/MENTION] You are dead to me. I was going to make this thread when I got back from running. This thread is now made, and so is your death bed.
:m144:
:m140:
:m180:
:m180:
:m076:

I am thinking the same thing, and I think for the main part yes children are born as extroverts. They require human connection as a way to understand and comprehend their world. They share stories, and rumors, as their mind tries to grasp what lies beyond the hedge their eyes can't see through. Now, I'm not sure when introversion sets in, it could be caused by a traumatic event, or it could just be the person's MBTI coming out.
 
Urtehnoes said:
[MENTION=86]Entyqua[/MENTION] You are dead to me. I was going to make this thread when I got back from running. This thread is now made, and so is your death bed.
:m144:
:m140:
:m180:
:m180:
:m076:

I am thinking the same thing, and I think for the main part yes children are born as extroverts. They require human connection as a way to understand and comprehend their world. They share stories, and rumors, as their mind tries to grasp what lies beyond the hedge their eyes can't see through. Now, I'm not sure when introversion sets in, it could be caused by a traumatic event, or it could just be the person's MBTI coming out.
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well since NAI already made that bed, i cannot sleep in yours...so take it up with him lol

This makes sense to me...and i think by about 5 or 6 when a child begins developing this personality do the introverted signs become apparent. I mean My daughter is 10, she seems very extroverted, has for ever! But she reads a lot. her favorite thing is to get lost in a book. she loves to just spend time alone with me. It makes her sad when shes too busy to stay home. Some signs but who knows what the future will bring.
 
bagelriffic said:
haha this is an interesting question, kinda like if we were all intelligent would any of us be? according to iq no, apparently they keep raising the numbers to keep up with the general population's rising intelligence.

but you could call it naive' in the sense that it allows you to not only enjoy the moment or live in the hear and now, but eliminate preconceived bias thus allowing the more comfortable approach. this entails trusting oneself to handle any given situation that may arise with the resources (or mbti) that were given to them as opposed to the personality which tells us who and what we are, what we like what we don't like all that jazz.

it's a long road and i wonder how many people if any have actually achieved the ability to do this, but the good news is that its effects and gravity can be felt whether or not you reach the level of true nature or not. but ya know i think people naturally gravitate to those they believe are closer to their true nature whether they realize it or not bc it implies that one is comfortable with any given aspect of themselves. according to diamond approach our personalities are actually built to mimic/compensate for true nature depending on which angle we are sensitive to, thus the reason some see the beauty in one personality over another though the motivation behind it was the same as any other.
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I quite like that...its almost like the notion of a Utopia of sorts!
 
My mom told me I was quite withdrawn and quiet when I was young. My sister was horribly extroverted though, so perhaps that lent itself to my being more quiet.

My sister actually grew up to be introverted.
 
cool cool glad to hear it. i'd suggest sandra maitri; spiritual dimensions of the enneagram for you or anyone else interested in learning more about it, pretty in depth stuff and not for the faint of heart as it gets pretty personal, but necessary none the less i'd imagine.
 
I was an introverted child. I had friends who I liked to play with, but none of which were at school. I remember spending a lot of time playing by myself and doing my own thing. I didn't make a lot of new friends and still have many of the same friends now as I did when I was a child. I was very in my own world growing up.

I also developed an anxiety disorder at 11/12 as well which added to the introversion. I think that I am almost 50/50 sometimes but I prefer my alone time. I can have fun being around other people but only for short periods of time before it exhausts me and I want to go be by myself.
 
I've never been totally un-extroverted, but even as a kid I've always leaned towards introversion. I was an only child and played by myself A LOT, and still had to get to know other kids before I could show my true colors to them. Once I got into school I had a lot more play dates, but I always appreciated time to myself even back then.
 
I have no personal experience in the matter, but I do remember discussing this in intro psych. Its generally held that I/E is temperamentally based, which means its generally stable, and preservers. There are thoughts that it may even be genetically based, due to several twin studies.

It could be that children who are introverted but not so much just become close to people faster than they would as an adult. Maybe they haven't experienced the hurt others can deal us, and so they're simply more trusting. Maybe they don;t realize how complex a person can be, and therefore believe they can know someone well enough to be close with less experience. Maybe they're intuitively better at getting to know better in full and therefore trust the trustworthy easier than otherwise. I don't know.
 
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