Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2012

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Part 1, Chapter 3

Part 2, Chapters 4-7

Part 3, Chapter 8

Part 4, Chapter 9-Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The Power of Introverts

The author’s main goal is to redeem introverts and showcase their talents after a century of the Extrovert Ideal in America. She explains how and why extroversion became the standard in American society and then proceeds to poke holes in the myths that have placed it above introversion. Cain cites study after study that show the advantages of introversion. She also gives examples of historical figures whose significant actions stem from their qualities as introverts.

One example of the research indicating introverts’ strengths is what has become known as the orchid hypothesis. This holds that kids who are high-reactive—that is, have an introverted nature—are sometimes less robust than low-reactives, or extroverts. One writer compared extroverts to dandelions, hardy enough to live in any given environment, and introverts to orchids, prone to wilting when circumstances are less than ideal. However, when introverts are supported and nurtured properly, they can flourish above and beyond extroverts. Thus, while their strengths appear within a narrower spectrum of conditions, they have the potential to soar to great heights.

Studies have also shown that, contrary to popular belief, creativity flows more from solitary work than from collaboration. For decades, brainstorming in groups has been held up by workplaces and schools as the gold standard for mining ideas, but research does not support this. The best results come when people get the time and space to work alone—the preferred conditions for introverts. Cain also points out the valuable input of introverts that was ignored in the run-up to the 2007-2008 financial crash. In the preceding years, extrovert voices came to the fore in many companies and industries. This is because extroverts are more reward-sensitive than introverts, leading them to take greater risks. Risky behavior in the market was rewarded for a while, despite the red flags that more circumspect introverts noted. Had introverts been brought more into the decision-making of firms, the effects of the crash could very well have been mitigated.

Finally, Cain discusses famous introverts who have made their mark in history. The epigraph to Chapter 3 quotes Albert Einstein, in the pantheon of top scientists of all time, commenting on his propensity towards introversion: “I am a horse for a single harness, not cut out for tandem or teamwork … for well I know that in order to attain any definite goal, it is imperative that one person do the thinking and the commanding” (71). Two other luminaries, Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks, led with quiet fortitude. Their convictions—and thus their causes—were all the more powerful, Cain writes, because of their introverted demeanor. Gandhi turned his introversion into a method of protest, now known as passive resistance, which was used to great effect in the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Gandhi preferred the term satyagraha, which means “firmness in pursuit of truth.” The word “firmness” highlights Cain’s point that introverts have power.

The Genetic Origins of Introversion

Throughout the book, Cain places much emphasis on evidence that being introverted is not a choice or the result of upbringing. Of course, heredity and environment work together in a complex way to shape personality, but researchers have found that the seeds of introversion are definitely present in a person’s genetic makeup. This is important because it means that introversion is part of one’s identity, like race or gender, and not just a choice that one can “un-choose” to fit the Extrovert Ideal in America. As Cain writes about herself, “introversion is an essential part of who she is” (9-10).

Part 2, which presents research about introversion’s hereditary origins, is the longest part of the book, comprising four chapters. Cain begins with the work of Jerome Kagan, who studied infants as young as four months. Some responded more animatedly than others when new stimuli were introduced, which Kagan called a high-reactive response. The study followed the children as they grew up, testing them in new ways at various points in their lives. The results showed that high-reactives overwhelmingly exhibited qualities of introversion when they were older. To further buttress this idea, a protégé of Kagan’s, Carl Schwartz, used brain scans on the same group of subjects as adults. The amygdalae of high-reactives lit up more than those of low-reactives during the experiments. This is significant because the amygdala is the part of the brain that controls emotions. High-reactives by definition are affected more by the amygdala, as it controls outward signs of anxiety or distress such as a high heart rate and dilated pupils.

The author also examines introversion from the perspective of evolutionary biology. If introversion is in fact rooted in genetics, she wonders, why did it survive the process of evolution? The traits associated with extroversion—sociability, assertiveness, risk-taking—would seem to be more suitable for continuing the gene pool. She presents research to contradict this, showing that the traits of introverts are also valuable in certain circumstances. At the most basic level, being less likely to take risks can further survival in the wild when the risk involves a deadly predator. In short, introverts and extroverts complement each other, so their respective qualities become important in different situations.

The Extrovert Ideal in American Society

The backdrop against which the author discusses introversion is what she terms the Extrovert Ideal, which has long held a strong grip on society in America. This ideal is such a prominent aspect of our culture that Cain necessarily spends a lot of time dealing with it. The book’s first section is about how the Extrovert Ideal arose at the turn of the 20th century, while in the rest of the book, the Extrovert Ideal is never far away as Cain writes against the grain, describing the genetic origins of personality types and explaining why introverts deserve a seat at society’s table as much as extroverts do.

The rise of the Extrovert Ideal is explained in the early chapters. Cain connects changes in American society in the early 1900s, most notably a shift to urban living and the rise of corporations, with an increased emphasis on the qualities associated with extroversion. More and more, people had to sell themselves to fit the social and business climates of the day, so the traits of extroverts became highly valued. She also notes some historical reasons why American society is so extroverted. America is a nation of immigrants, a self-selecting demographic that is by nature full of risk takers and outgoing individuals. As psychologist Kenneth Olson put it, “each succeeding wave of emigrants to a new continent would give rise over time to a population of more engaged individuals” (29) than those left behind in the mother country.

With repetition and reinforcement, extroversion became the new norm, a standard everyone was encouraged to strive for. Likewise, modes of interacting that were geared to extroverts were pushed as best practices. Hence the rise of the open office plan in the workplace and constant group work in the classroom. After showing how these came about, Cain applies recent research to question their efficacy. For example, recent studies show that creativity requires privacy at least as much as collaboration. In reality, collaboration and privacy can be effective in different circumstances. The perfect combination for the workplace seems to be a loose structure of voluntary collaboration: Productivity and creativity peak when people are free to work how they need to, and there should be no shame in retreating to one’s office behind a closed door. Cain is not trying to substitute an Introvert Ideal for the Extrovert Ideal. Instead, her argument is that both styles are necessary and valuable.