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Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by vinceguidry on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:01AM (#16060998)
I have a theory that introversion and extraversion don't really exist as personality traits, and that we build up preferences out of existing culture about how much social interaction we want in our daily lives.

If the culture changes, then so will our preferences.

I can easily imagine a world in which I'm gregarious and fun all the time. Making that world happen on the other hand...

Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by c8d3f7b49897918 on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:50AM (#16061379)
Extraversion/Introversion is one of the big five personality traits and is ~50% heritable:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits#He...

That's not to say introversion/extraversion wouldn't manifest differently in different contexts, but the trait does exist (as much as any personality trait does) and appears to have a large genetic component to it.

Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by jcranberry on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:05AM (#16061502)
Heritable doesn't necessarily imply genetic. Culture is heritable. Traits can propagate through generations memetically.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by jhbadger on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:17AM (#16061616)
"Heritable" definitely means genetic when used in a technical rather than a casual sense, though. Studies control for environment by looking at, for example, identical twins adopted by different families.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by rcacho on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @01:05PM (#16063320)
Heritability refers to trait variation due to genetic variation within a population.

This is different than the amount genetics actually contributes to a trait.

While you are controlling for environmental factors in heritability studies you are still referring to a specific population. It can be the case that two identical genotypes across two different populations show two different phenotypes.

Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by temp-dude-87844 on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:55AM (#16061425)
Isn't "~50% heritable" a different way of stating that the results are indistinguishable from a coin flip? That doesn't sound too hereditary.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by an3waccount on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:16AM (#16061603)
No? Lets say we intro-/extroversion is either heritable (with prob .5) or random(with prob .5). If both of your parents are introverted you have a 50% chance of inheriting the introversion of your parents or a 50% chance at a coinflip, which gives us 75% for introversion and 25% for extraversion.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by nils-m-holm on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:10AM (#16061547)
I'd rather interpret it as "50% are fixed (nature) and the other 50% are a coin flip (nurture).
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by c8d3f7b49897918 on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:08AM (#16061521)
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by extra88 on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:07AM (#16061516)
No, because it's not a binary choice. There are degrees to which people are open to new experiences or extraverted.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by aaron-santos on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @10:25AM (#16061701)
I took it to mean a covariance of 0.5.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by noelwelsh on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:33AM (#16061231)
Having seen how much more sociable the Spanish are compared to the English I'm inclined to agree there is a significant cultural component here. This could be just genetic, but I believe it isn't. A very quick search suggests this is something that academia is considering and has not answered definitively.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by narag on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @12:41PM (#16063042)
Having seen how much more sociable the Spanish are compared to the English

I can atest that there are many Spanish introverts. In a very open society you must make an extra effort to fit, but that doesn't change such a traits. My father used to push me very hard to go out and meet people. Annoying at the time, but I'm happy he did.

Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by arethuza on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:42AM (#16061314)
Almost certainly purely cultural - look at the huge difference in reputations between how friendly places like Glasgow and Edinburgh are even though they are actually ~75km apart.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by toasterlovin on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @01:25PM (#16063544)
My experience has been that people sort themselves into different cities according to their preferences, so there could very well be a genetic component as well.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by apohn on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:31AM (#16061219)
I'd recommend searching for "Introversion and extroversion brain differences" and similar topics in your favorite search engine. There's evidence that there are physical differences in the brain.

Hopefully somebody with a background in medicine or neuroscience can provide a more comprehensive answer.

Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by dougmwne on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:41AM (#16061300)
And if someone has neuroscience background, maybe they can tell us if that difference is present from birth or if these changes to the brain are environmental based on our social experiences.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by dougmwne on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:44AM (#16061330)
I think we are incredibly adaptable and applying a label to ourselves can easily be self-fulfilling. New environment, new you.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by kenning on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @12:30PM (#16062937)
I don't believe that, I'm a Skeptic.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by yojex on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @02:24PM (#16064161)
I consider myself a skeptic in the sense that I won't believe that any part of my personality is _permanent_ unless proven irrefutably.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by JoeDaDude on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @06:00PM (#16066265)
In Susan Cain's book about introversion "The Quiet Revolution", she speculated that introversion could become a cultural norm, pointing towards Asian nations as an example.
Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by have_faith on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:23AM (#16061147)
> I can easily imagine a world in which I'm gregarious and fun all the time

Must be an overactive imagination.

Re:Teens Aren’t Partying Anymore by vinceguidry on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @09:24AM (#16061152)
Think "8 year old boy in the 1800s." Castles, dragons, kings, jousting. My mind just doesn't know how to quit.