The will-temperament and its testing / by June E. Downey.

  • Downey, June E. (June Etta), 1875-1932.
Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The will-temperament and its testing / by June E. Downey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    does not touch them. Their serenity and invulnerability in certain cases are little short of miraculous. The introvert furnishes a contrast in every particu¬ lar. Let us quote Nicoll again. Interest persistently turns inwards, away from the con¬ tact of the world, and finds its easiest and most natural utilization in thought. The introvert type, in its most characteristic expression, is reserved, outwardly cold, guarded, watchful, and difficult to understand. Unlike the extrovert, who hides little, the introvert hides every¬ thing because he dreads the exposure of his emotions, be¬ cause they are too raw and intense. . . . Thus the introvert tends to be helpless when in an atmosphere of strong feel¬ ings. He is thoroughly aware of his inner life, and is a keen and serious critic of himself. . . . His plans are ex¬ haustive and cast with an eye continually fixed on the possibility of failure. In this his organizing powers ex¬ ceed those of the extrovert, who rushes into plans confident of success and impatient of the suggestion of failure. The extrovert will exist happily in positions of great danger, serenely conscious or serenely confident, seeing only the omens that herald success; the introvert sees the danger- signals to the exclusion of the possibilities of success, unless he is well-balanced. . . . The introvert who has learnt his weakness and balanced his fears may be as daring and original a leader as the high type of extrovert; indeed, he may far surpass him, as in the case of Napoleon. But the point of importance to remember, in contrasting him with the extrovert, is that he knows himself, if he knows nothing else, whereas this is one of the last things that the extrovert learns. ... To the introvert the extrovert is a source of amazement; while to the extrovert the introvert is an object of impatient speculation and uncertainty.