[TelmoMenezes]

> The difference is really about how you "recharge".

This is a very recent Internet cliché.

I believe that the terms were introduced by Carl Jung about one century ago, and they refer to the dominant focus of one's mental life. Introverts dominant focus is on their internal worlds, while extroverts dominant focus is on the external world.

[war1025]

A helpful explanation I found recently on the "Personality Hacker" podcast [1] for the Myers-Briggs types is this:

Introvert / Extrovert: Introverts consider their mind as the "real world", whereas Extroverts consider the external world as the "real world". Everything that takes place in the "not real world" has to be processed and rooted back in the "real world", which is why there is the stereotypical "Introverts need to be alone" / "Extroverts need to be in a crowd"

Intuitive / Sensing: Intuitive means you think about what is "behind the curtain", Sensing means you mainly consider what is right in front of you

Thinking / Feeling: When making decisions, Feelers take personal relationships into account. Thinkers are much more "fact based" and don't consider the social dynamics as much.

Perceiving / Judging : The way they explained this one is that people tend to want to organize either the outer world or their minds. Judgers want the external world to be organized and make sense, so that they can let their internal mind wander. Perceivers want their minds to be organized so they can play with things in the external world.

I think I got that all mostly correct. They have a series they did on Myers-Briggs that I thought was really interesting.

They also talk about one called the "Enneagram", which found to be really interesting. [2] I'm a "Self-Preservation Three" in that system.

[1] https://personalityhacker.com/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality

[Litost]

Did Jung mention anything about alternating between both? Am I right in thinking this is a spectrum so it's perfectly fine/possible to be somewhere in the middle or is the argument this really is an either/or?

[kochikame]

According to the MBTI it is not a spectrum; you have a preference for one or the other.

This doesn't mean you can't or don't behave in ways outside your preference; we all do, everyday. It just means that, all other things being equal, you will lean toward extraversion or introversion.

Also, please note that MBTI E/I does not equate to extraversion/introversion as it is known and understood by society at large.

[DanBC]

But MBTI is bollocks and people do test equally strongly for different aspects on different days.