“I like being at home” Are extroverts happier? Researchers reveal the ‘unexpected formula for happiness’ - 경향신문
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An extroverted person who often makes plans with friends and enjoys meeting new people, and an introverted person who feels comfortable spending time alone. It is easy to assume that the former will lead a more active and positive life. Indeed, psychological research has consistently identified a fairly steady link between extraversion and happiness. However, a closer look at the studies tells a slightly different story. While extroverts tend, on average, to feel happier, the factors that determine happiness cannot be explained by extraversion alone.
A representative example is a study jointly published in 1992 in the journal ‘Journal of Research in Personality’ by researchers at the University of Missouri, the University of Illinois, and the University of Washington. Using a nationally representative probability sample of the United States, the team analyzed the relationship between extraversion and subjective well-being. Comparing data collected a decade apart, they found that extroverted people reported, on average, higher levels of happiness than introverted people whether they lived alone or with others, in big cities or rural areas, and whether they held jobs with frequent social contact or not. Similar patterns appeared across gender, age, and race. In other words, it was difficult to explain extroverts’ happiness simply as being “because they meet a lot of people.”
So is extraversion the most important personality trait determining happiness? In 1998, Christina DeNeve and Harris Cooper revisited this question in a meta-analysis published in ‘Psychological Bulletin’. Synthesizing existing studies, they analyzed the relationships between 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. The results were striking. When personality was grouped into the five-factor Big Five, the strongest predictor of life satisfaction and happiness was not extraversion but Neuroticism. High neuroticism indicates a tendency to experience negative emotions such as anxiety, worry, and emotional instability. Put differently, emotionally stable people tended to report higher life satisfaction and happiness. Extraversion was particularly related to positive affect, but it was not the sole core factor that explains happiness as a whole.
In 2001, Peter Hills and Michael Argyle in the United Kingdom posed a more direct question in a study published in ‘Personality and Individual Differences’: “Do happy introverts exist?” The researchers surveyed more than 270 adults aged 18 to 83 on happiness, extraversion, neuroticism, and more. As expected, there was an association between extraversion and happiness. However, other characteristics related to happinessparticularly attitudes toward life, self-esteem, and emotional stabilityshowed stronger relationships. Most notably, the team observed that a considerable number of people who were not extraverted could still be classified as happy. Examining these ‘happy introverts’ separately, some showed little difference from happy extroverts in preferring time alone, in how they make friends, or in solitary reflective activities.
Studies focusing on Koreans similarly found that it is merely the ‘color of happiness’ that differs. Eun-Mi Park and Tae-Yeon Jeong of Chung-Ang University published a 2015 study in the ‘Korean Journal of Social and Personality Psychology’ analyzing the situations in which extroverted and introverted people feel happy. They asked 121 undergraduates to keep a diary of happy moments for two weeks and then analyzed the content. The researchers categorized happy situations into interpersonal relationships, leisure activities, self-improvement, prosocial behavior, religion, and more.
The results showed that extroverts experienced emotions such as cheerfulness, euphoria, affection, and pride more often in interpersonal contexts. They tended to gain strong positive emotions from meeting and mingling with people. In contrast, introverts experienced comforting emotions such as ‘coziness’ more frequently even in the same interpersonal situations. Differences also appeared in leisure. Extroverts experienced relatively more positive affect and values, whereas introverts more often engaged in quiet activities or those that brought physical and psychological calm and pleasure. In self-improvement, extroverts more often engaged in performance-oriented activities, while introverts more often encountered situations related to self-exploration and self-growth.
In other words, the very ways of feeling happiness differed. For extroverts, happiness did not necessarily mean ‘greater happiness’ but often took the form of enjoyment and vitality gained through socializing, whereas for introverts, the comfort and self-reflection felt in time alone or quiet activities could be important elements of happiness.
Large-scale recent research also continues to find that extraversion is related to happiness. In a 2020 meta-analysis published in ‘Psychological Bulletin’, researchers from Deakin University in Australia, the University of La Laguna in Spain, and the University of Melbourne in Australia synthesized data from 334,567 people and 462 correlation analyses. Using personality models such as the Big Five to examine life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect, and psychological well-being, they found that neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness showed important associations with well-being.
Even so, these findings should not be accepted simply as “extroverts are happier than introverts.” What most studies show is a ‘correlation’ between personality and happiness, not a causal claim that acting more extroverted will make you happy. A person’s happiness is shaped by many factors alongside personality, including relationships, economic circumstances, health, life events, and self-evaluations.
Ultimately, the difference between extraversion and introversion may be closer to a difference in the pathways to happiness than in its amount. One person may feel “I was really happy today” on the way home after chatting late into the night with friends, and another may say the same after spending the weekend reading at home or taking a walk. This is precisely what the research shows. Extroverts do indeed tend, on average, to experience positive emotions more often, but that does not mean those who prefer a quieter life fall behind in happiness.
You do not have to be a ‘social butterfly’ to be happy. What matters may be finding activities and relationships that actually generate positive emotions for you, rather than forcing yourself to meet people or chase stimulation in ways that do not fit your disposition.
