Introversion vs. Social Anxiety
What’s the actual difference?
Answering questions submitted to me in my “Ask Me Anything” segments on my Instagram account.
This is an important question to consider because many people may not be clear on the distinction between these two concepts. The simplest way to differentiate between the two is to understand that introversion is a personality trait, whereas social anxiety is an emotional response that is specific to aspects of how we might feel in a social setting based on what we fear others may think about us. For clarity, let me expand on this.
Introversion
Introversion is a personality trait and falls on a spectrum, with extroversion being on the other end of that spectrum. Extroversion is one of the “Big Five” personality traits, including Openness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Agreeableness, all of which sit on their own spectrums. The theory goes that we all have aspects of the Big Five traits as part of our personality profile, but equally, we may slide up and down these trait spectrums at certain times, in specific contexts, and around certain people, AND we also have stable personality traits, that is there are some traits that are consistent across all contexts. Our personality influences our thoughts and beliefs about how we see and make sense of ourselves, others, and the world in general. Our personality can also inform our preferences for things we like to do (or not do). In terms of introversion, it is “basically a preference for solitude or more intimate settings, reflection, and needing time alone to ‘recharge’.” Intro- and extroversion are considered in terms of how we like to socialise, or what charges up our “social battery” as it were. While extroverts enjoy the company of others, and in fact their social battery may be charged by being around others, introverts feel the need to be alone and have peace and quiet in order to be re-energised. For the most part, people aren’t “pure” introverts or extraverts. We all move up and down the spectrum, which, as noted earlier, can also depend on who we are around. For example, a person might be more extraverted around their friends while more introverted around strangers because it may take more energy to get to know people you don’t know very well and engage in small talk to find common discussion points, whereas around your friends, because you already know each other so well, you may be able to put more energy into just being with them and their company.
Social Anxiety
Before we delve into social anxiety, it’s important to first touch on anxiety in general. Anxiety is an emotion that falls within the broader spectrum of fear. It’s generally accepted that there are six core emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise, and all other emotional experiences fall along the greater or lesser extremes of these six. For example (and relevant to this discussion), anxiety falls on the spectrum of the core emotion of fear, with worry and nervousness sitting on the lower end of the emotional experience, and terror sitting on the more extreme end. Anxiety is a fear-based emotion that revolves around the anticipation of a threat. It exists because we anticipate something bad happening, which may be based on previous experiences or an assumption that something might happen, which is not necessarily based on the facts of the present moment. Like all emotions, anxiety serves a purpose and can be helpful in anticipating potential problems, allowing us to prepare for those situations or keep ourselves safe (safe here is a relative term, it is not always about literal physical harm as you’ll see when we move onto social anxiety). However, anxiety becomes problematic if it starts to interfere with our day-to-day functioning, prevents us from living a happy and fulfilling life, or leads us to avoid situations due to anticipation of potential issues.
Social anxiety is a specific type of anxiety that revolves around worries about being in social situations and concerns about how others perceive us. One of the main challenges with social anxiety is the assumptions we make about what others think of us, and how that impacts our self-esteem and sense of self-worth. This anxiety is essentially trying to protect us from the perceived threat of negative judgment from others. For example, someone with social anxiety might worry that others will see them as foolish or uncool, and as a result, they might avoid social situations altogether. However, these assumptions are not always true, and by avoiding these situations, those with social anxiety reduce their opportunities to have their assumptions and beliefs disconfirmed. Now, there is a level of reasonable and expected social anxiety. It is quite normal for us to worry about how we are perceived by others. We all have varying levels of self-confidence, or doubts about ourself, or issues with our self-esteem, etc.
Yes, but you have not answered the question...
The main difference between introversion and social anxiety is based on our thoughts and beliefs about why we are choosing to spend time alone. As noted above, an introverted person’s social battery is recharged by solitude, and they don’t have negative judgments about themselves based on what others might think of them. They are content to be alone but can also be sociable when needed before retreating back to solitude. On the other hand, someone with social anxiety may want to be around others but the urges to avoid judgments are so strong, leading to feelings of sadness and isolation. Introverts find solitude fulfilling, while those with social anxiety may view it as isolating or negative. Another contradiction is that those who are socially anxious may present as socially confident as a means of overcompensation. For example, for a while in my youth, I had a lot of anxieties about not being seen as a “fun party guy”, so I used to overcompensate by very rarely turning down an invitation to night out.
At this point it is worth highlighting the difference between social anxieties and social anxiety. Everyone has anxieties about things, and some of those anxieties may shape aspect of your personality or how you are viewed by others. Having concerns about life is perfectly normal and happens to everyone now and then, and some more so than others. As noted earlier, when our anxieties become a clinical and pathological form of anxiety – which hinders and restricts your life to the point where you feel unable to do anything for fear of the anxious worry coming true, or feeling completely unable to relax or feel at peace when doing something because your just so certain your anxieties will come true – that is when things may have tipped into something to be concerned out.
Added to this, it is very possible that the anxieties people feel about potential judgments from other may lead them to become more introverted and to prefer time by themselves. It’s not necessarily as clear cut as I’ve made it out to be. Being a human being is very messy and sometimes the line between our preferences and our anxieties can be quite fuzzy.
However, the key indicator leaning more towards social anxiety (whether mild or pathologically severe) would be intentional avoidance of (or thoughts or urges to avoid) others based on worries and assumptions you fear others may make of you, which is then related to negative self-evaluation. If these thoughts, urges, and avoidant strategies are present then it is a stronger marker that your introverted tendencies might be influenced by your social anxieties. A Very Well Mind article discussing this offers these points to consider when trying to differentiate between introversion and social anxiety:
You actively avoid social situations
Your fear of judgment or humiliation keeps you from going out in public
Your anxiety feels uncontrollable
Your anxiety makes it difficult to function the way you would like to
You are having difficulty at work because of your anxiety
Your anxiety is impacting your ability to maintain relationships
Your anxiety makes it difficult to carry out basic and necessary tasks (e.g., going to the grocery store)