I Look Back On My Years As

Schwartz's Research Suggests Something Important: We Can Stretch Our Personalities, But Only Up To A Point. Our Inborn Temperaments Influence Us, Regardless Of The Lives We Lead. A Sizeable Part Of Who We Are Is Ordained By Our Genes, By Our Brains, By Our Nervous Systems. And Yet The Elasticity That Schwartz Found In Some Of The High-reactive Teens Also Suggests The Converse: We Have Free Will And Can Use It To Shape Our Personalities.

Introverts .. May Have Strong Social Skills And Enjoy Parties And Business Meetings, But After A While Wish They Were Home In Their Pajamas.

We've Known About The Transcendent Power Of Solitude For Centuries; It's Only Recently That We've Forgotten It.

Introversion- Along With Its Cousins Sensitivity, Seriousness, And Shyness- Is Now A Second-class Personality Trait, Somewhere Between A Disappointment And A Pathology. Introverts Living In The Extrovert Ideal Are Like Women In A Man's World, Discounted Because Of A Trait That Goes To The Core Of Who They Are. Extroversion Is An Enormously Appealing Personality Style, But We've Turned It Into An Oppressive Standard To Which Most Of Us Feel We Must Conform.

Every American Was To Become A Performing Self.