Parties and the Self-Conscious Dysfunctional Extrovert

Barbara wrote an interesting post recently about introversion, linking to an article in Psychology Today entitled, "It'll Be Fun!" and Other Extrovert Lies.   Both were very interesting reads for me because I feel like I understand both sides of the fence.

The manfriend and I were discussing this introversion/extroversion thing yesterday while driving to the 40th birthday party of one of my closest friends.  I was dreading attending, as I always do these sorts of social occasions.  Parties are occasions of silent almost-torture for me.  Which I guess doesn't necessarily make me an introvert, though.  Possibly I am simply a self-conscious, socially dysfunctional, introspective extrovert :)  But I do feel like I can understand the terrain a little, given my personality inadequacies :)   The manfriend, being a true introvert and shy to boot, and knowing absolutely nobody at the party we were going to, was dreading it even more than I.

As we drove in the rain he was wondering what a social get-together of a bunch of true introverts would look like.  I wonder about that too.  What do you guys think?  

As Barbara mentioned in her post, there is a real tendency for extroverts to think that introverts are shy, arrogant and unsociable.  Some introverts may be any or all of those things, but to confuse those traits with introversion is really rather arrogant, when you think about it.  What extroverts are actually suggesting by that statement and others like it is that introverts are simply extroverts gone a little wrong somewhere, with a few minor personality disorders.  The comments in this article here are a real eye-opener about how irritating the misconceptions of extroverts can be :)

I would guess that the true-introverts-only social occasion would contain a pretty low incidence of small talk.  Introverts hate small talk, generally, and so do I.  And yet, despite that fact, the manfriend has informed me that I am not a true introvert, and as such will not be gaining an invite to the true-introverts-only social occasion.  And so all I can do is imagine how much more delightful and deep socialising with introverts would be, while not really having the right gear to be in the gang ;)  I do imagine, however, that a heavier dose of philosophy would go a long way toward making a night spent in a pub listening to people murdering karaoke songs next door just that little bit more palatable.