quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-cant-stop-talking-susan-cain

high-reactive nervous system. One theory,
based on the writings of the sociobiologist
E. O. Wilson, holds that
when our ancestors lived on the savannah,
being watched intently meant only
one thing: a wild animal was stalking
us. And when we think we’re about to
be eaten, do we stand tall and hold
forth confidently? No. We run. In other
words, hundreds of thousands of years
of evolution urge us to get the hell off
the stage, where we can mistake the
gaze of the spectators for the glint in a
predator’s eye. Yet the audience expects
not only that we’ll stay put, but that
we’ll act relaxed and assured. This conflict
between biology and protocol is
one reason that speechmaking can be
so fraught. It’s also why exhortations to
imagine the audience in the nude don’t
help nervous speakers; naked lions are
315/929