Susan Cain's Use of Carl Jung's Theories in The Power of Introverts in a Worl That Can't Stop Talking

Susan Cain, a well known and appreciated writer from America in the field of psychology, recently held a speech on one of the famous TED talks and entirely captured me by trying to give the audience an understanding of introversion.

Carl Jung (1875 – 1961) was a one time friend and colleague of Sigmund Freud, who initially held similar views to Freud. He started to feel dissatisfied with Freud’s ideas though and broke away from that school of thought in 1913. Jung also had a great interest in mystical and magical subjects, Buddhism and Hinduism, which influenced Jung’s own ideas on a theory of personality. He too, suggested there were 3 parts; the conscious mind (or ego), the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious. ‘The main point of difference between the two men (Jung and Freud) was Freud’s definition of sexuality and libido. Although Jung conceded the importance of the

Susan Cain’s “Power of Introverts” talk was all about the importance of people who are considered introvertly inclined in our society. In her talk, she described first how her family influenced her in being an introvert. Reading is her family’s social activity and that one can roam around through his or her own imagination. She also discussed about her memorable summer camp story where she has discovered the way extrovert people live and tried to shift in this kind of life. With all these changes in her life she never left her introverted life and espoused the ideas that when it comes to creativity and leadership, the society needs introverts and the things where they excel most. She explained that introversion is how one responds to stimulation including social stimulation which is different from a person being shy – the fear of social judgment.

When people hear the word introvert, they usually think of someone who is quiet, shy and keeps to themselves. The word introvert generally has a negative connotation associated with it, but Susan Cain argues in a Ted talk called “The power of introverts” that being an introvert is actually a good thing. In her argument, Cain uses ethos, logos, and pathos to appeal to her audience and this essay will analyze how she does so.

She gives an example of inferiority complex, people who were looked upon as insecure and no good. She then lists all of the names of the inferiority people such as Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Shakespeare who were successful introverts. Hoping to then again gain the attention of people with a personal story by using pathos, by doing so she also tells the readers about men who have done extraordinary, ethical advancements for the country. Abe Lincoln, freed slaves; Teddy Roosevelt, loved and protected nature; and Shakespeare wrote plays to distract people from horrible events going on around them, Cain provided ethical examples of men who were successful introverts and still accomplished many achievements. Cain goes on to talk about how the president of Yale said that to be at this school you do not have to an outstanding but be a well-rounded person. This basically meant that to attend a high-class university you are not required to be an extroverted or introverted person, but a good citizen overall. She does well with this by giving hope to those who do not know whether they are introverted or extroverted, they just have to be a good person. Another topic Cain hits strongly is the story of how Dale Carnegie was a shy introvert who became rich with public speaking, writing a book and creating his own institute. Cain does this to convince the audience that introverts are as capable to

Cain writes about shyness, introversion, social anxiety disorder, and extroversion. She compares introversion to extroversion. We need equally kinds of people in society. In my experience, people display both characteristics at the same time. The article shyness and evolutionary tactic is an interesting article because the current social judgment favors extroverts but does a disservice to introverts who also make important contributions to sociality.

She utilizes her time spent at Robbins’ seminar to demonstrate the shift in the Culture of Personality, and how society sees the ideal confident extrovert as a successful leader. People at the seminar were all trying to be enthusiastic and energetic to reach their ideal self, and Cain used this to support her claim. She then utilized her time at Harvard Business School to show that extroverts control social networks, and are highly favored in society, including the business world. She added Chen’s interview to give input on how an introvert feels, and how many great ideas and concepts could be left out in favor of the ideas of those who speak first and control the discussion. This contributes to her derived argument that introverts can make good leaders and be successful, much like extroverts. She uses examples of introverted CEOs such as Bill Gates to prove this point. Cain includes these experiences to illustrate her argument and develop her point of extroverts being highly regarded as successful, and introverts being deemed as

Part one is “The Extrovert Ideal” Cain is focus on the view of extroverts being more outgoing and how they are praised, seen as the alpha and also speaks on the historical culture of personality which makes us think differently of people and how we view them; cain goes on using examples such as the harvard business school, and talks about how a person can be surrounded by many people who are extroverted and can still continued to be an introvert; also how they try to turn an introverted person into an extrovert and it can’t work just through performance. Cain doesn’t only focus on the extroverted side in part one she goes on to speak positive

In her Ted Talk, The Power of Introverts, Susan Cain speaks at a TedX convention to highlight the extraordinary talents that introverts can bring to a society. She also speaks on how the United States as a whole has shifted from valuing introverts to valuing them less than extroverts, claiming that this should not be the case. Cain claims that introverts should be encouraged and celebrated for the power that they can bring to a society instead of having to force themselves into the extrovert mold that American society promotes.

While most businesses look for an extroverted leader, Susan Cain has a very different perspective. She presented her speech, “The Power of Introverts”, where she explained how introverts are often underestimated. She talked about students who prefer to be alone are seen as an outlier or a problem and that surveys found that teachers feel the ideal student is an extrovert. She does not understand why teachers prefer extroverts since introverts often get better grades, and explains why introverts should not be looked over. Susan Cain’s goal is to inform the audience of the power of introverts, through her personal experiences, humor, emotion and statistics on the subject, and hopefully change the way society thinks of introverts. Cain is an

What is your Jungian Typology? What do these four Typology letters mean? What does the designation mean to you? How do you feel about them?

Jung, C.G. (1968). Psychology and alchemy: The collected works of C.G. Jung, Volume 12. (2nd

Introversion was defined as “withdrawn and often shy, and they tend to focus on themselves, on their own thoughts and feelings” (Jung, 1923) Therefore focusing on this personality trait can help to better understand why people tend to be reserved and withdrawn from everyday life. Carl Jung was the creator of the neopsychoanalytical approach, which focused on psychic energy. While Gordon Allport and Hans Eysenck contributor to the trait theory, focused on biology and individualized traits. Jung, Eysenck and Allport focused on extrovert vs. introvert, yet had completely different ideas of how introversion is seen in everyday life. Personally believeing this trait is one I carry, focusing on completely different approaches will bring light to many explanations of why people act the way they do, including myself. By using both case studies and personal work from the works of Jung, Eysenck, and Allport researching introversion should not be a an issue. Although there is a lot of work to do with introversion, through this research one can get a better overview.

In the 1920’s, a Swiss psychologist named Carl Jung devised a theory. Jung didn’t accept the idea that the behaviors of people were random. Instead, he was a firm believer that the differences between individuals were a result of how people use their brains. Jung claimed that “what appears to be random behavior is actually the result of differences in the way people prefer to use their mental capacities.” (The Myers & Briggs Foundation). Jung realized that people typically function in one of two ways, take in information or make decisions, and that people usually are more comfortable alone or around others. With all these observations, Jung wrote a book titled Psychological Types, which introduced the idea of personality and psychological

Carl Jung was a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist born in 1875 in Switzerland. He worked with Sigmund Freud for a while but branched off because he disagreed with him about the “sexual basis of neurosis”. Jung believed that there is a collective unconscious that is connected to everyone. God is included in this collective unconscious. His theory included what he called archetypes; pathways of energy (not things) that are shared in the collective. four main archetypes are: The Self, The Shadow, The Anima/Animus, and the Persona. The Self is the combination of the conscious, and the individual’s unconscious. the self is usually represented by a square or a circle. The self tries to make itself known. The shadow is made up of our sexual desires or instincts, and is credited with being the darker side of our personalities. The Anima/Animus are the masculine and feminine of our psyche. There are traces of each found in both women and men. The Persona is the face that people put on for others. The word “persona” comes from the Latin word for mask. This is the personality the world sees. (Carl Jung Archetypes) Jung coined the word