I Know Who You Really Are
Hither is the full transcript of Cambridge research professor Brian Little's TED Talk: Who Are You lot, Really? The Puzzle of Personality at TED Conference.
Listen to theMP3 Audio hither: Who are you, really – the puzzle of personality past Brian Little at TED Talk
Brian Little – TRANSCRIPT
What an intriguing group of individuals you are — to a psychologist!
I've had the opportunity over the last couple of days of listening in on some of your conversations and watching you interact with each other. And I remember it'due south fair to say, already, that there are 47 people in this audience, at this moment, displaying psychological symptoms I would like to discuss today. And I thought you might like to know who you are.
But instead of pointing at you, which would be costless and intrusive, I thought I would tell you lot a few facts and stories, in which you may catch a glimpse of yourself. I'grand in the field of research known as personality psychology, which is role of a larger personality science which spans the full spectrum, from neurons to narratives. And what we try to practise, in our ain manner, is to make sense of how each of us — each of you — is, in certain respects, similar all other people, like some other people and like no other person.
Now, already yous may be saying of yourself, "I'yard not intriguing. I am the 46th most boring person in the Western Hemisphere." Or yous may say of yourself, "I am intriguing, even if I am regarded past nearly people equally a keen, thundering twit." But it is your cocky-diagnosed boringness and your inherent 'twitiness' that makes me, as a psychologist, actually fascinated past you. So let me explain why this is so.
One of the most influential approaches in personality scientific discipline is known as trait psychology, and it aligns yous along five dimensions which are normally distributed, and that depict universally held aspects of divergence between people. They spell out the acronym Body of water. So, 'O' stands for "open to experience," versus those who are more airtight. 'C' stands for "conscientiousness," in contrast to those with a more lackadaisical arroyo to life. 'E' — "extroversion," in contrast to more introverted people. 'A' — "agreeable individuals," in contrast to those decidedly not agreeable. And 'N' — "neurotic individuals," in contrast to those who are more stable.
All of these dimensions have implications for our well-being, for how our life goes. And so we know that, for instance, openness and conscientiousness are very practiced predictors of life success, but the open up people achieve that success through being audacious and, occasionally, odd. The careful people achieve it through sticking to deadlines, to persevering, too equally having some passion.
Extroversion and conjuration are both conducive to working well with people. Extroverts, for example, I detect intriguing. With my classes, I sometimes give them a basic fact that might exist revealing with respect to their personality: I tell them that information technology is virtually impossible for adults to lick the outside of their own elbow. Did you know that? Already, some of you lot accept tried to lick the outside of your own elbow. But extroverts amongst you are probably those who take not only tried, only they have successfully licked the elbow of the person sitting adjacent to them. Those are the extroverts.
Let me deal in a scrap more detail with extroversion, because it's consequential and it's intriguing, and it helps united states of america understand what I call our 3 natures. Showtime, our biogenic nature — our neurophysiology. Second, our sociogenic or 2nd nature, which has to do with the cultural and social aspects of our lives. And third, what makes you individually you — idiosyncratic — what I telephone call your 'idiogenic' nature.
Let me explain. One of the things that characterizes extroverts is they need stimulation. And that stimulation can be achieved by finding things that are heady: loud noises, parties and social events here at TED — you see the extroverts forming a magnetic core. They all gather together. And I've seen yous. The introverts are more than likely to spend time in the tranquility spaces upwardly on the second floor, where they are able to reduce stimulation — and may exist misconstrued equally being antisocial, but you're non necessarily antisocial. Information technology may exist that y'all simply realize that you do amend when you have a run a risk to lower that level of stimulation.
Sometimes it'south an internal stimulant, from your trunk. Caffeine, for example, works much better with extroverts than it does introverts. When extroverts come into the office at nine o'clock in the morning and say, "I really need a loving cup of java," they're not kidding — they really do. Introverts practise non do as well, particularly if the tasks they're engaged in — and they've had some java — if those tasks are speeded, and if they're quantitative, introverts may give the appearance of non being especially quantitative. Just it's a misconstrual.
So here are the consequences that are really quite intriguing: we're not e'er what seem to be, and that takes me to my side by side signal. I should say, before getting to this, something virtually sexual intercourse, although I may not have fourth dimension. And so, if you would like me to — yes, you would? OK.
There are studies done on the frequency with which individuals engage in the conjugal human activity, as broken downwardly past male, female; introvert, extrovert. And then I ask you: How many times per minute — oh, I'thou lamentable, that was a rat written report — How many times per month do introverted men engage in the act? 3.0. Extroverted men? More or less? Yep, more. 5.five — well-nigh twice as much. Introverted women: three.one. Extroverted women? Bluntly, speaking as an introverted male, which I will explain later — they are heroic. 7.5. They not just handle all the male extroverts, they pick upwards a few introverts besides.
Nosotros communicate differently, extroverts and introverts. Extroverts, when they interact, desire to accept lots of social meet punctuated by closeness. They'd like to stand up shut for comfy communication. They similar to have a lot of eye contact, or mutual gaze. We establish in some research that they use more diminutive terms when they encounter somebody. And so when an extrovert meets a Charles, it rapidly becomes "Charlie," and then "Chuck," and so "Chuckles Babe." Whereas for introverts, it remains "Charles," until he's given a laissez passer to exist more intimate by the person he's talking to.
Nosotros speak differently. Extroverts prefer black-and-white, concrete, elementary linguistic communication. Introverts prefer — and I must over again tell you lot that I am as extreme an introvert as yous could possibly imagine — nosotros speak differently. We adopt contextually complex, contingent, weasel-word sentences — more than or less. As it were. Not to put also fine a point upon it — like that.
When we talk, we sometimes talk past each other. I had a consulting contract I shared with a colleague who'due south as unlike from me as two people can possibly be. Offset, his name is Tom. Mine isn't. Secondly, he's six foot five. I have a trend not to exist. And thirdly, he's as extroverted a person as you could notice. I am seriously introverted. I overload so much, I can't even have a cup of coffee after iii in the afternoon and expect to sleep in the evening.
We had seconded to this project a fellow called Michael. And Michael almost brought the projection to a crashing halt. So the person who seconded him asked Tom and me, "What exercise y'all make of Michael?" Well, I'll tell y'all what Tom said in a minute. He spoke in archetype "extrovert-ese." And here is how extroverted ears heard what I said, which is actually pretty accurate. I said, "Well Michael does have a tendency at times of behaving in a way that some of united states might see equally maybe more believing than is normally chosen for."
Tom rolled his optics and he said, "Brian, that's what I said: he'due south an asshole!"
Now, equally an introvert, I might gently allude to certain "assholic" qualities in this man's beliefs, but I'g not going to lunge for the a-discussion. But the extrovert says, "If he walks similar one, if he talks like i, I phone call him one." And we get by each other.
Source: https://singjupost.com/brian-little-who-are-you-really-the-puzzle-of-personality-at-ted-talk-transcript/
0 Response to "I Know Who You Really Are"
Post a Comment