quiet-the-power-of-introverts-in-a-world-that-cant-stop-talking-susan-cain
just as dangerous as elegantly dressedones.But even though all human beingsmay be prone to mistaking audiencemembers for predators, each of us has adifferent threshold for triggering thefight-or-flight response. How threateninglymust the eyes of the audiencemembers narrow before you feel they’reabout to pounce? Does it happen beforeyou’ve even stepped onstage, or does ittake a few really good hecklers to triggerthat adrenaline rush? You can seehow a highly sensitive amygdala wouldmake you more susceptible to frownsand bored sighs and people who checktheir BlackBerrys while you’re in midsentence.And indeed, studies do showthat introverts are significantly morelikely than extroverts to fear publicspeaking.316/929
Kagan tells me about the time hewatched a fellow scientist give a wonderfultalk at a conference. Afterward,the speaker asked if they could havelunch. Kagan agreed, and the scientistproceeded to tell him that he gives lecturesevery month and, despite his capablestage persona, is terrified eachtime. Reading Kagan’s work had had abig impact on him, however.“You changed my life,” he toldKagan. “All this time I’ve been blamingmy mother, but now I think I’m a highreactive.”317/929So am I introverted because I inheritedmy parents’ high reactivity, copiedtheir behaviors, or both? Rememberthat the heritability statistics derived
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- Page 325 and 326: According to Jay Belsky, a leadingp
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- Page 355 and 356: To solve Esther’s problem, let’
- Page 357 and 358: they’re constricted, so the brain
- Page 359 and 360: personality psychologist David Fund
- Page 361 and 362: also underperformed—taking an ave
- Page 363 and 364: state lasts only until your friend
- Page 365 and 366: alert, active, and energetic). Drow
Kagan tells me about the time he
watched a fellow scientist give a wonderful
talk at a conference. Afterward,
the speaker asked if they could have
lunch. Kagan agreed, and the scientist
proceeded to tell him that he gives lectures
every month and, despite his capable
stage persona, is terrified each
time. Reading Kagan’s work had had a
big impact on him, however.
“You changed my life,” he told
Kagan. “All this time I’ve been blaming
my mother, but now I think I’m a highreactive.”
317/929
So am I introverted because I inherited
my parents’ high reactivity, copied
their behaviors, or both? Remember
that the heritability statistics derived
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