[dcbell]

"On a day-to-day basis, it is suggested this could mean that social contact leads to 'over-stimulation,' explaining why introverts would withdraw or shy away."

Anyone else feel like this? I come alive in small groups and one-on-one, but at some threshold (10+ people or so), I feel like there's just too much complexity flying around. Note that I'm pretty sure it's the complexity thing---a group of 300 people all listening to a lecture is easy to deal with, but 40 mixed singles all trying to meet/impress each other seems as complicated as this (http://xkcd.com/173/) would be with 40 people.

[j_baker]

Introverts tend to be much more polite in terms of giving people space in comparison to extraverts. They wait their turn to speak and don't interrupt others. Extraverts have a tendency to just jump in and listen to whoever is the loudest. Us introverts tend to get confused by this because we're looking for clear delineation between one speaker and the next that simply doesn't exist.

[cracki]

Well, I've learned to be impatient and not wait my turn, when a discussion requires it. That kind of social interaction tires me out though. I like calm. Excitement only prevents rational thinking.

[silentbicycle]

Definitely. My wife and I both find socializing with large groups of people to be exhausting. The amount of social cues, body language, personal spaces, etc. to follow scales exponentially with the number of people, unless/until they split into smaller groups.