USING PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPE TO CREATE AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS THAT RESONATE WITH THE AUDIENCE: Focus on Extravert/Introvert

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Using Psychological Type

TO CREATE AUTHENTIC CHARACTERS THAT RESONATE WITH THE AUDIENCE: Focus on Extravert/Introvert

Jung coined two words that are now common place in most people’s vocabulary. Introvert and Extravert. What most people think of these words is an extravert like to talk a lot and an int rovert is quiet and shy. That ay be true, most of the time, but in the sense that Jung meant it, it is much more than than.

The extravert (Jung’s spelling) gets energy from the outside world. The introvert gets energy from their inside world.

The energy, in other words, charges their batteries externally, doing things with others. The introvert wears down their battery in that outer world of action and being in the company of others. The introvert needs to be quiet reflective to get energized.

To check your preference for extraversion or introversion, do section One from the attachment marked OPTIONS.

I ask you to do this because even though I am writing this with characters in mind, it is also useful for you to think about yourself as you read. We learn best when things are relevant to us. Learning by thinking about yourself is a very relevant way to look at this handout.

Characters are sometimes described as being flat or round. Round characters are just that, rounded out, complex, and they have character arcs. They change in the course of the story telling. Antagonists, protagonists are always round characters.

But sometimes we want a character to play a lesser role. These characters we call “flat”. They are used for various background purposes and they don’t have to change, and are certainly rarely complex.

At this point, I am suggesting you start with just one aspect of a flat character’s personality. You might decide your character is an extravert, for example. That alone would give the character life and authenticity. Until you are very familiar with type theory, it is best to think about one trait at a time.

For comedy and mystery, exaggerated characters are often what the audience expects. Drama often demands more subtlety.

In describing the various “traits” available to us in creating simple characters, I will share with you the eight choices made concrete and readily available to us when Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs developed the MBTI. They made it possible for the lay person to determine preferences on all the scales of extraversion, introversion; sensation, intuition; thinking, feeling; and judging, perceiving.

Let’s look at each of those characterisitgics separately: This attachment will focus on Extraversion and Introversion.

Extraversion:

What is extraversion: Extraversion is an outward focusing of energy which causes the character to seek outside influences as a source of energy and pleasure and satisfaction.

How does extraversion influence the way a character behaves?

It causes the character to enjoy other people, to be active, restless, prone to moving from activity to activity. Extraverts enjoy such a wide variety of activities and people that they can be seen as fickle, especially by introverts.

Extraverts give and get energy from the external world around them. They get their batteries charged at parties, social gatherings, outdoor events. Because this range is so broad, the writer has a huge range of activities for the extraverted character to enjoy and excel in.

It is difficult for the extravert to enjoy an event alone. There is a great desire to share with others. What a waste to see a glorious sunset alone. Is a sunset not meant to be shared with a friend, a loved one, a daughter?

The writer can use this fact to show an extraverted character’s longing when suddenly forced to experience something alone that they had once enjoyed with others. It is a simple way to create sympathy that will resonate with three quarters of the audience, as three quarters of the world is extraverted.

Extraverts tend to share a good deal about their personal lives. They might tell “secrets” on friends, without ever thinking a betrayal is happening. If you want an extravert to keep a secret, you must tell the extravert that it is a secret. A serious secret, whether the extravert considers it such or not. The running mouth of the extravert can be a great source of humor or conflict for the writer to use.

Extraverts like to talk. They often feel “left out”, “bored”, ”isolated” if they are not engaged actively in a conversation. They can seem to be a bit scattered as they can talk just to hear their own voices because they think out loud. In fact, as I’ve said, extraverts don’t usually know what they are thinking until they talk it out.

Extraverts have a generally low locus of control. That is to say, they like to check things out with other people. What is everyone doing? What is expected? What are the norms? These things are important to the extravert who so wants to belong.

Extraverts crave feedback. If you like them or something about them or something they’ve done – tell them. It is a great source of frustration for extraverts to have to make assumptions. They will often make negative assumptions if you give them no response. It is quite typical for an introverted husband not to feel the necessity to tell his wife that he loves her. He thinks his actions should make that obvious. However, she may feel his lack of response indicates a lack of love and may brood and suffer terribly because of it.

This terrible need for feedback and assurance can be a feature that makes your character either pathetic or sympathetic, depending upon how you handle it (and upon how sympathetic you are yourself.) Of course, we tend to be more sympathetic to our own types.

The extravert is pretty easy going about space and possessions. They trade, loan, let others “into” their stuff and their spaces and they expect to be let into the spaces of other people. They know few boundaries. If you want to instantly create sibling tension, have an extraverted sister borrow or even worse, loan to others, her introverted sister’s things.

The extraverted character can also be counted on to unload emotions as she goes and can provide ample opportunity to reveal sadness, happiness, worry, fear whatever response might be happening, but might not be evident until the extravert lets loose. The extraverted character can often be counted upon to be over the top and inappropriate in these emotional responses in almost any setting.

If you have tried to guess your own type, but are not quite sure about extraversion and introversion, see which list of words feels the most comfortable to you. Here is the extraverted list. I’ll do the introverted later when I explain what introversion looks like.

Descriptors for the Extraverted Character

• Active
• Outward-bound
• Sociable
• People-oriented
• Many
• Expressive
• Breadth
• Talkative
• Boisterous
• Forward
• Initiating
• Energetic
• Open
• Daring
• Adventuresome
• Interactive
• Accessible
• Impassioned
• Expansive

Typical Words that you might hear the Extraverted character use:

Hurry up
Listen
This is what I think about that
Let’s just try it
Let me come
Come with me
Co-operation is necessary
How do you want me to ..
Can I see how you’ve done it?
What’s expected here?
Follow me
My personal experience is ..
This may shock you, but
Let me tell you
Let’s size up the situation here
Let’s talk it out
I’m just thinking out loud
Let me see
Show me
Help me
I want to . . .
Rock on
Was that a secret?
I didn’t mean to . . .
You should have told me
And then I . . .

Some typical “Extraverted” characters might be: (I have guessed from reading their work what some non-fictional characters might be.)

Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Maud Montgomery
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Roseanne Barr
Trilby in the story of Svengali
Lady Macbeth
Richard III
Drew Barrymore
The “left out” man in Station Agent
Donald Sutherland (father) in “Ordinary People”
Marisa Tomei (girlfriend) in “My Cousin Vinny”
Jo in “Little Women”
Theodore Roosevelt
Bill Clinton
Oprah
Elizabeth Taylor
Tom Sawyer
Alice in Wonderland
Marlow in “Heart of Darkness”
Nora in “A Doll’s House”
Scout in “to Kill a Mockingbird”
Freud
Darwin
Davy Crockett in The Alamo (2004)
President Bartlet in The West Wing

How might Extraverted characters act in certain settings?

I like to use the classroom setting because I have been a classroom teacher and a university professor for so many years. But the same characteristics will play out for these characters in any setting. Especially offices. In a classroom, the happy extravert will be talkative, cooperative, craving a variety of simultaneous activities, exuding energy, excitement, enthusiasm, sharing personal stories. Extraverts like group sports, enjoy debate, discussion, activities where interaction is possible and natural.

If unhappy, the extravert can be a trouble maker, disruptive, moving around restlessly, always on the move, always interrupting, not focused.

Extraverted students or office workers or parents wanting a family event….can annoy teachers, or bosses, or family members with their focus on external stimuli. They cannot resist it. The teacher is in the middle of a lecture/a recitation/ a demonstration that she has prepared carefully, thoughtfully. She has the class in the palm of her hand when a siren sounds, a fire truck drives by and all the extraverts dive for the window.

Extraverts always clarify by thinking out loud. This, too, can be an annoyance. It can also be a great device for the writer. In school, home, office, whether appropriate or not, the extravert doesn’t really know what she’s thinking until she’s said it. In the saying comes a sense of reality, a grounding as the extravert clarifies, “thinks through” the idea, and may easily change her mind.

In the classroom, even before the teacher has finished asking the question, up go the extraverted hands. “Pick me, pick me,” the extraverts plead. Some may even begin to shout out answers, guessing at the question. In the saying comes a sense of reality, a grounding as the extravert clarifies, “thinks through” the idea, and may easily change her mind.

Does this mean the extravert knows the answer? Not at all. What the extravert knows is that he must speak to clarify, to get energy, to learn.

“Mista Kotta, Mista Kotta,” shouts Horschack, who even when he has nothing to say, says it, so all will notice.

In the office, the extravert has a high tolerance for noise, is good at brainstorming, enjoys an open area environment, vocalizes ideas readily, may ask for changes in agendas right before starting a meeting, high readiness for co-operation and participation.

Extraverted characters are likely to network with other departments. They are good at promoting ideas and products and themselves. Want a successful salesman, make him an extravert. Want a lost salesman, give him a personal crisis that steals his natural extraverted energy and leaves him no resources to fall back on. This can be a tragic character, as we see in “Death of a Salesman”. It is interesting to have the extraverted character “use up his own energy” and have nothing but a shell left.

Your extraverted characters can be the most easily liked, and the most annoying in the office setting. The gossip, the busy body, the person who wastes a lot of time around the water cooler is your over the top extravert. He may also be the go-getter, the one who motivates and encourages others, who gives lavishly of time and energy. The fine spirit folks gravitate toward.

Often accused of superficiality, the extraverted character may be almost forced to take on the role of the office “dumb-guy” who is trusted to organize the party but not lead the problem-solving discussion. This can lead to deep feelings of inadequacy, and a false front that makes for interesting characterization: The extravert who is seemingly happy at the office, but recognizes he is not really valued and goes home alone, unloved and desperate

In the home, the extravert likes to have a noisy environment, TV going, radio playing, background noise paradoxically to soothe and get the extravert feeling “being ok to be alone at home”.

The extravert likes to have friends over to share in food, has rumpus rooms, rooms for dancing, for playing music, sports, sewing, any of several activities that the extravert might enjoy. The phone is often ringing and the extravert enjoys calling others and can chat while working on other tasks, with background noise going on in the background. Seldom do extraverts live in quiet, highly controlled environments. There needs to be room to do. The extraverted character, especially in youth, cannot seem to get enough stimulation and is busy and playful with friends at home or goes out frequently. Sometimes they do both. This can leave parents wondering when the child ever sleeps.

Extraverts can wear introverts out pretty quickly. Just being around them can be exhausting for the introvert, and of course, can be a good source of humor or conflict for the writer.Seldom do extraverts live in quiet, highly controlled environments. There needs to be room to do. The extraverted character, especially in youth, cannot seem to get enough stimulation and is busy and playful with friends at home or goes out frequently. Sometimes they do both. This can leave parents wondering when the child ever sleeps.

Your extraverted character loves to be visited. Unannounced visits can be especially pleasurable, giving unexpected energy even when the extravert is tired and would say she doesn’t want any visitors. Once the visitor arrives, and tea is put out and chatting begins, fatigue fades. The home is often thought of as a meeting place.

An introverted child or mate may feel it is more like a hotel or “grand central station”. Visitors give energy to the extravert; steal it from the introvert.

Extraverted parents may become very concerned if a partner or a child does not speak up, share secrets, actively participate in conversation. The extravert may misread this action and attribute all sorts of false reasons for the silence. It may be read as anger, mistrust, illness.

I even had one very extraverted parent once ask me if I thought his son should have counseling to help him deal with being gay. “What makes you think he needs counseling for being gay?”

“He’d rather sit quietly in his room than play football with his brothers. He MUST be gay.” It can often be a great source of anxiety and opportunity for the writer when extraverted parents worry about introverted children. The situation can be filled with humor or pathos.

At a party, the extravert will be the one who can move about, seemingly easily, getting to know a variety of people, meeting up with old friends, carrying on conversations with strangers.

Because the extraverted character is so outwardly directed, gets such energy from the world around her, you can see her getting more and more energized as the party continues. It provides humor when the introverted husband is ready to go home, is almost sleeping in the corner, waiting in the car, or has already walked home.

There is also lots of room for tension, when the extravert at the party is telling “secrets” that the introverted partner can’t stand. We saw that in Ordinary People when the husband (Donald Sutherland) confides in a woman friend that the son is going to see a psychiatrist. The Mary Tyler Moore character will never forgive her husband for such a betrayal.

Such betrayals often happen at parties. The rides home in the car can be filled with guilt and betrayal and angry accusations with the introvert not wanting to talk about it, and the extravert needing to.

What’s worse for the extravert is that the introvert forbids the extraverted character to talk about it to anyone else, and won’t discuss it until days of brooding have passed. In fact, she may never talk about it, and may always resent it and may even lose trust in the partner.

Another source of tension and interest can be when a shy extravert comes out of her shell. The whole area of shyness and extraversion is an interesting one. Bridget Jones is a nice example of this.

What a great opportunity for the writer – create a shy extravert. One that is too shy to overcome it. One who can’t go to the party. An extravert with agoraphobia. What tension, what fear, what need is there?

INTROVERSION:

What is introversion?: Introversion is an inward focusing of energy which causes the person to look inwardly as a source of energy and satisfaction and safety.

How does introversion influence the way a character behaves?

It causes the character to enjoy intense, focused relationships and events.

Cautious, considerate, thoughtful, introverted characters prefer a well ordered life where there are as few surprises as possible.

Introverts give and get energy from their own internal world around them. They get their batteries charged by meditating, taking long walks, listening to music, thinking their own thoughts.

Introverts enjoy solo sports, or such sports as golf, swimming, hiking, where individual effort is the norm.

Introverts have high tolerance for solo work and play. They can lose themselves in the beauty of a sunset, the sound of sweet music.

Introverts tend to not share a good deal about their personal lives unless they feel a need to do so. Why give personal information, or any information when not necessary? “Silence is golden” was a motto invented by the introvert. You can trust an introvert with a secret, though many probably wish you hadn’t. “I didn’t need to know that,” is usually an introvert speaking to an extravert.

Introverts like to talk only when they feel confident that they have the knowledge, have an interested audience and that talk is what is called for. However, once on a roll, they may surprise you with just how much they can talk.

Introverts have a generally high locus of control, unless their self-confidence has been severely eroded. That is to say, they don’t need to check things out with other people. They work independently and don’t like anyone “looking over their shoulder”. This is true in a classroom, the office, at home, in a library, any work setting or where the introvert might be writing or creating.

Introverts resent too much praise or feedback. Actions speak louder than words. Pay attention to the introvert, be considerate of her likes and dislikes, be respectful of her space and she will feel comfortable and safe.

Introverts don’t like their personal things touched. They may be extremely generous, but don’t want to loan their things, for they know the things will never come back to them exactly as they were before.

Leave the introvert’s private papers, drawers, rooms, alone. “Keep out” was written by an introvert, and meant for a snoopy extravert. Extraverted teenagers will often put such signs on bedroom doors, but the introvert needs seclusion, especially in a busy house. Or if they work in a busy office.

It is important to realize that for introverts, all important matters are first resolved inside the head, governed by subjective values, before they are ever put out for public scrutiny. That makes the introvert a mystery character, very introspective, with lots of inner stuff going on This makes it hard work for the writer to show this character. The Gene Hackman character in The Conversation riding on the bus, reacting with horror to someone telling stories of his successes, smashing up his precious Virgin Mary statue when he thinks there’s a bug in it, are examples.

What the introvert never does is think out loud. Unless of course, the playwright is Shakespeare, and the character is giving a soliloquy. You can give your introverted character one distinct advantage, a deep sense of inner continuity, independent of outer stimulation. Introverts have a strong sense of who they are and what they stand for. This trait can provide the writer with an opportunity to give the audience a real surprise if the introvert suddenly bursts out of that continuity. This would only happen under severe pressure or stress.

If you are unsure if you, yourself are introverted or extraverted, look at the list of words and see which h makes you feel best, the extraverted ones I wrote earlier, or these.

Descriptors for the Introverted Character

Reflective
Independent
Solo
Self-disciplined
Cautious
Intense
Thoughtful
Considerate
Careful
Private
Controlled
Focused
Preventative
Observant
Patient
Self-protective
Secretive
Silent
Still
Peaceful
Introspective
Inward
Reserved
Deep
Self-motivated
Territorial
Listeners
Subtle
Impenetrable
Shy
Taciturn

Typical Words that you might hear the Introverted character use:

Give me some time to think about this
I hear you
Quiet
Sshh
Reflection is essential
No surprises please
Introspection is . .
Privately
I’d rather not say
I’m thinking
Why would I tell him that?
Ah, peace and quiet
Considering . . .
Let’s look more carefully,
Wait
Haste makes waste
Bug off
Why tell her?
You don’t need to know
That’s private
Don’t touch my things
Don’t loan my things
Don’t borrow my things
Don’t mess with my stuff
Keep out of my desk
Don’t look
I need my space
I’d enjoy doing it by myself
I just need to be alone
Don’t crowd me

Some typical “Introverted” characters might be:

Gandhi
Al Gore
Laura in “The Glass Menagerie”
Emily Dickinson
Johnny Carson (surprised? What do you know about his private life?”
Boo Radley in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
Clara played by Jodi Foster in “Hannibal”
Celie played by Whoopi Goldberg in “The Color Purple”
The character who falls in love with the girl in ”The Station Agent” If you want to really understand E and I as it is played out in a movie, rent this movie. It’s a great movie and it makes such good use of E/I differences.
Mary Tyler Moore (mother) in “Ordinary People”
Carl Jung
Albert Einstein
Abraham Lincoln
Greta Garbo
Toby in The West Wing

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

by JK Rowling Harry is an orphan who lives with his horrible Aunt, Uncle and cousin…the Dursleys… He lives under the stairs and is about to find out something they don’t want him to know…Harry is a wizard and has been accepted into Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is also going to find out the truth about the evil wizard Voldemort who murdered his parents, but was unable to kill Harry…

How might Introverted characters act in specific settings?

In a classroom, as in the office, the family study, the library, the happy introvert will be quiet, self-motivated, appreciating a quiet workspace where he can concentrate and do his work without interruption.

If unhappy, the introvert can be a trouble maker, sulky, uncooperative, not getting work done, not paying attention, working on things other than what the teacher wants. He may ‘hide’ in a comic book, a book on inner space, a computer game, a headset of music. Husbands can be known to do that too. Today managers complain about generation Z hiding or not engage at work. I think that is another issue. Remember, there are many issues that affect behavior. I am isolation introversion as though it alone affected a character, but that is not the case. It is one very prominent and common factor. Other issues are more background related, responding to the understory of a character’s life.

Extraverted students and teachers often are amazed at the introvert’s ability to ignore distraction and sit in quiet concentration, even at a very early age.

Co-operative learning is the introvert’s least ideal way of learning. Private space, lots of opportunity to work deeply on a subject is very important to introvert’s success. If forced to do group work, the introvert resents the wasted time and wants to escape to do his “part” on his own as quickly as possible.

However, it would be a mistake to think that the introvert is always quiet and focused. A writer can have fun with the introvert in the classroom who can be very quiet and seemingly shy in the classroom or office or family dinner, but come alive at a party where he feels safe among friends.

Extreme introverts, too, can provide great drama as they internalize and internalize and fret and then burst out, sometimes guns blazing. Beware the quiet storm of introversion. What you see is often only the tip of the iceberg. When you crash into the huge wall of ice, it can be a huge surprise. We all know that surprise is the friend of the writer.

In the office, as in the classroom, the introverted character has a high tolerance for solo work, is good at concentrating, enjoys a quiet, private environment, away from distractions such as phones and other people’s voices. She wants time to think and plan and prepare, and prefers to focus on one thing at a time.

Extremely independent, the introvert does not require a lot of supervision and appreciates a chance to work at home. E mail is a wonderful device for the introvert who can often work from home and can avoid the telephone. Horror stories often use the Introvert. It adds to the mystery of the piece. But introverted characters are not limited to horror shows. A famous cartoon character, Lisa Simpson of the Simpsons is a loveable and very smart character.

You can create interest by having your introverted character demonstrate a practiced ability to be non-public in public; to remain at a vantage point relative to others. Most introverts feel disadvantaged when their extraverted colleagues are so easy with small talk, dating, schmoozing. Introverts can make extraverts, normally the comfortable ones, very uncomfortable by simply, quietly, watching them. Both of these situations can put the introverted character in the cat bird’s seat. House a character who is a brilliant doctor, capable of solving almost impossible cases of strange illnesses is very introverted.

At the opposite end of this spectrum, the introverted character can provide humor and conflict when forced into a noisy environment with phones ringing, lots of interruptions, desks back to back, side to side, which is exactly what many introverts have to live with in today’s office environment.

Want a tense scene? Put a group of introverts into a high pressure brain-storming session with a new boss where there is a lot at stake! The introvert prefers the opportunity to put things in writing where ideas can be checked and re-checked before any public scrutiny happens. Walter White is an introvert who can act swiftly in a crisis. See him as a powerful drug kingpin.

On the other hand, the extravert can wear himself out chasing so many projects and trying to please so many people, while the introverted character saves her energy and survives overwhelming external demands because she can ignore many that are not that important.

There is plenty of opportunity for swings of “who is winning” when the extravert and introvert are competitive at work.

In the home, the introverted character likes to have a quiet, peaceful environment where she can escape from the rest of the world. The home is the introvert’s safe haven and she doesn’t want it invaded. Having guests pop in unexpectedly is not pleasant. Such events need to be planned and prepared for.

The introvert likes an environment that soothes and comforts. The phone ringer is often turned off, and the answering machine turned on so that the introvert can screen the calls. A hilarious scene could be the introvert and his relationship with the answering machine.

The introvert likes to “prepare” for the day by reflective repose, drinking his coffee, reading the paper alone, and needs to “unwind” after a day’s work by lying on the couch, TV surfing, etc. Woe by the person who tries to interfere with that down time.

When the introvert says “I need to be alone”, she is not saying “I don’t want to be with you,” but most extraverts only hear the rejection. My daughter, Mickey, the sweetest introvert who ever drew breath, would say to me, “Is there a movie you don’t want to go to?” If I named one, she’d say, ”Oh, I thought I’d have a Mickey day and go down town and take in a movie. That one sounds right up my alley.” It was her loving way of saying, “I’d like to go alone” without hurting my feelings. I, as an extravert would never go to a movie alone. Ever.

At a party, the introvert will be the one who sits quietly until a friend or small group of friends with a common interest can be found. Large gatherings of people with whom the introvert must make “small talk” is very tiring for the introvert and he will avoid it whenever possible.

The introvert can enjoy structured events, such as dancing, card playing, things that occupy the space and give the initi ative to events. This is especially true when the introvert is among friends and is good at dancing or card playing.

The introvert tires easily at gatherings where a lot of energy is expended, and little chance to charge the batteries is offered. Jung claimed that the introvert is always protecting herself from the external world.

One Sunday morning, we were all reading in bed, and I asked my very introverted daughter if she agreed with Jung’s claim about the introvert protecting herself and she nodded a very definite “yes”.

“Can you describe what that feels like?” I asked. She pulled her quilt up over her head, hid herself completely and began to shake. She pulled the blanket down, grinned at me, and said, “Do you get it?” I guess I did.

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