Research indicates they enjoy a distinct edge over people who are primarily introverted or extroverted.
However, many fall on the continuum between introversion and extroversion.
Known asambiverts, they can be extroverted introverts orintroverted extroverts, depending on the primary trait.
Tom Werner/DigitalVision/Getty
What Is an Introverted Extrovert?
Introverted extroverts also have traits of both introversion and extroversion, but they’re primarily introverted.
What Is an Ambivert?
Both introverted extroverts and extroverted introverts are ambiverts.
Depending on the circumstances, they might prefer to spend an evening aloneorbe the life of the party.
They can be reserved when the situation calls for it, and gregarious when anoutgoingmanner is more suitable.
Although psychologists have used the term ambivert since the 1940s, it remains largely unfamiliar to the public.
The prefixambimeans both, andvertmeans to turn.
Extroverts turn outward; introverts turn inward.
Ambiverts turn both inward and outward, depending on the situation.
How Common Is This Personality throw in?
He estimates that more than half of the population are ambiverts.
People dont consciously choose to be a particular personality throw in.
Instead, personality develops as early as infancy and doesnt change significantly with age.
Neither introversion nor extroversion fully dominates the behavior of ambiverts.
Theyre not party animals or wallflowers, but have shades of both.
Grants research on the topic indicates that it’s not extroverts who excel as salespeople but ambiverts.
He identified these workers as ambiverts because their personality test scores fell in the middle of introversion and extroversion.
So, why were the ambiverts so successful?
They need to be self-aware to determine which side of their personality to bring out in a particular situation.
Another challenge ambiverts face is that some people might struggle to read them correctly.
Are You an Ambivert?
Grant AM.Rethinking the extraverted sales ideal: The ambivert advantage.Psychological Science.
Bernstein E.Not an introvert, not an extrovert?
You may be an ambivert.Wall Street Journal.
Published July 27, 2015.
2007;37(6):601-606. doi:10.1007/s11055-007-0058-8
