What is an ambivert?

Love partying and adventure? You’re probably an extrovert. Prefer quiet time to read and reflect? You’re more likely an introvert. If you’re somewhere in the middle and like a mix of these experiences, you might be an ambivert.

First proposed by the US psychologist Edmund Smith Conklin in 1923, the idea that some of us are ambiverts fell out of favour in personality psychology, which today sees the main personality traits (including extraversion) as dimensions rather than types.

However, the concept captured the popular imagination – and inspired a thousand online quizzes – in 2013 after another US psychologist, Adam Grant, published research suggesting that people with a mix of introverted and extraverted tendencies have an adaptable interpersonal style that helps them to excel in sales.

Read more:

• Is there any link between handwriting and personality?
• Which is better: optimism or pessimism?
• Are our sleeping positions linked to our personalities?
• What’s the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath?

Asked by: Frankie Brown, London

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