Today's Monday • 5 mins read
Straight up, the answer is Yes. Because, excuse the jaded phrase, the research says that extrovert wives are more satisfied in their marriages.
Introverts and extroverts are different. However, they’re not entirely opposites; there are aspects of each personality in the other.
Ambiverts are a distinct group; they are introverts who acquired extrovert-like skills to adapt to a largely extroverted world. So, while they may appear as raucous extroverts to the world, deep down they may be “quiet” introverts.
Let’s jump back to our primary question:
Do Extroverted Women Have More Satisfying Marriages?
Psychologists from two Iranian universities decided to find out how personality types (introvert-extrovert) and perfectionism relate to marital satisfaction in women.
The Research
Researchers Tahmasebi & Maleki (2016) randomly selected 92 married working women from the Shiraz Welfare Organization, aged between 25 and 45, all with no history of divorce or separation. And gave them a test with four sets of questions:
- Demographic Information: Age, salary, education, years of marriage, and number of children.
- ENRICH (Evaluating & Nurturing Relationship Issues, Communication, Happiness) Inventory: An extensive set of 125 questions on 14 different scales, measuring marital satisfaction, financial issues, personality, sexual relationships, friends and relatives, and conflict solving. The ENRICH inventory can differentiate between happy and unhappy married couples with an accuracy of 85-95%.
- Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ): This 57-question set evaluates extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability, providing insights into emotional stability and its impact on relationships.
- Ahvaz Perfectionism Scale: With 27 questions, this scale was included to assess how perfectionism influences marital satisfaction, a factor highlighted in this study.
The Results
The researchers found “a significant positive relationship between extrovert personality and marital satisfaction of women employees.”
So, the more extroverted women reported a higher satisfaction in their marriages. Those with lower extroversion levels reported decreased marital happiness.
These findings align with previous research:
- An earlier Iranian study also found extroverted personality traits could predict marital satisfaction (Shakerian, 2011).
- A 2010 study published in The Arab Journal of Psychiatry emphasized that personality traits, including extroversion, “are still the most important factor in determining marital adjustment” (Ghaemian & Gholami, 2010).
What Makes Extroverts Different From Introverts?
It was Carl Jung who coined the terms introvert and extrovert in the 1920s.
Extrovert Features
Extroverts tend to talk and laugh more, often surprising us with their enthusiasm. They are friendly, thrill-seeking, and tend to act on impulse, seeking instant gratification.
They easily open up to others, sharing their thoughts and feelings, and are rarely found alone. People are their lifeblood; the outer world is their source of energy.
Interestingly, research shows extroverts are generally happier than introverts, and this trend persists over decades.
Introvert Features
Then there are the introverts. They are that ‘wallflower’ friend, the thoughtful classmate, or the person who enters the party late and quietly slips out early.
Described as private people, introverts can be found engrossed in their mobile screens instead of chatting with someone. Instead, they might be reading or playing a game, as small talk tends to frustrate them.
How Do Extroverts & Introverts Differ
Carl Jung said extroverts draw their energy from social interactions and stimulating environments, and often feel uneasy and anxious when alone. In contrast, introverts feel overstimulated and drained by socializing and busy environments, so they choose quiet settings to refuel their mental energy.
One major difference between introverts and extroverts is how their brains respond to the chemical dopamine. When dopamine is released, we become more alert, more talkative, and more motivated to undertake risky activities.
Introverts and extroverts have equal amounts of dopamine in their brains. But the dopamine network is more active and dynamic in an extrovert’s brain. When an extrovert anticipates a social event, for example, they feel good and energized, whereas the introvert will feel overstimulated.
In 1997, British psychologist Hans Eysenck suggested the key difference between introverts and extroverts is how their brains respond to stimulation.
Introverts can process a lot of information, but only for a short amount of time.
The brains of introverts process more information per second, so they can be stimulated with minimal effort. But their brains can only handle a finite amount of input at a time. So when there is too much noise or other stimuli to process, introverts often retreat to recharge and focus inward.
Extroverts cannot process a high volume of information at a time, often requiring constant stimulation.
The brains of introverts process less external data per second, so they do not spark up fast. They need more stimulation to feel energized, so they seek environments with abundant stimuli to feel alive. Places filled with voices, music, and chatter keep them engaged and energized.
The Lemon Juice Experiment
A famous lemon juice experiment in 1964 showed introverts salivated more than extroverts when their tongue was exposed to a few drops of lemon juice. Psychologists concluded, introverts get more aroused with the same load of stimuli than extroverts.
Final Words
Adjustment in marriage may be an exercise of extroversion that is played out by the two partners. If two people in a marriage do not talk or share their interests, how much happiness can there?
An earlier version of this article was originally published on Lifehack on August 21, 2016. Here’s the Web Archive link to the article. Lifehack removed the post from their site, likely because they decided to delete dated articles from their site.
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√ Also Read: How Men vs. Women Define Success in Life: What Science Says
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