Extroverts, on the other hand, possess lower mental arousal levels, so they tend to be relaxed, easy-going, calm, and laid-back. They seek more stimulation from the external environment to compensate for their low levels of cortical arousal. They “feel more alive” in the company of other people. They are sensation seekers and often desire thrill and adventure, such as engaging in dangerous sports. Sometimes they seek negative emotions, such as fear, which explains why horror movies are so popular. Extroverts need to work harder to stimulate their minds than an introvert. This leads extroverts to seek novelty, adventure, or highly stimulating environments to supplement their lack of mental arousal.
These differences in personality have been illustrated in countless studies. One such study was conducted at the University of Missouri where researchers asked 70 extroverts and 70 introverts which music volume they preferred while learning a task. They found that extroverts consistently chose significantly louder music than introverts, which supports the idea that they seek more sensory stimulation. When the researchers switched the music levels so that the introverts now had the louder music and vice versa, the extroverts became bored and the introverts became upset and needed more time to perform the task. You know you are an extrovert if you are able to work better with music or the TV in the background, or an introvert if you find it too distracting. 91
A large number of studies have shown that the brains of introverts and extroverts are really quite different. In one study, scientists used positron emission tomography (PET) scans to measure the amount of blood that flows into the brains of introverted and extroverted people. They found that introverts have more blood flow in their frontal lobes, which are brain regions involved in recalling events, making plans, and solving problems. Extroverts, on the other hand, have more blood flow in brain areas involved in detecting sensory information. This suggests that extroverts tend to focus their attention outwards, while introverts focus their attention inwards.
Another indication of the level of extroversion is the amount of saliva you produce when putting a drop of lemon on your tongue. In an interesting “lemon juice experiment,” scientists confirmed that introverts salivated more than extroverts in response to a drop of lemon juice, because of their higher level of mental arousal and more sensitive response to stimuli, in this case, the lemon juice.
Scientists have confirmed a direct link between the level of introversion and the subjective speed of time. Studies have shown that, because of their higher levels of mental arousal, introverts can detect higher fusion frequencies for flickering lights than extroverts. Higher levels of mental arousal in introverts also means faster processing of sensory information and faster recording of mental snapshots which, as we saw earlier, implies a fast-ticking internal clock. In contrast, extroverts have intrinsically lower levels of mental arousal and, therefore, their internal clock ticks at a slower rate.
In a 2001 study, researchers tested undergraduate students from the psychology department at the Louisiana State University to see how accurately they could reproduce one minute in their mind. For introverted students, their faster internal clock led them to estimate that one minute has passed in 58 seconds. While for extroverts, 77 seconds passed before their internal clock measured one minute of real time. 92 This 17-second difference for every passing minute is quite substantial and can add up over time. In one hour, an extrovert would be 17 minutes late. According to this study, extroverts’ internal clocks tick up to 30 percent slower than introverts.
Understanding where your personality lies on the spectrum of extroversion-introversion will allow you to appreciate how fast or how slow time runs in your mind, as compared to the real flow of time. You can then make adjustments in your daily life to compensate for that speed difference. Let us look at a few practical examples.
An introvert and an extrovert both watch a one-hour movie. They are not aware of the passing time and have no prior knowledge of the movie’s duration. If you ask how long they thought the movie was, the introvert’s faster internal clock will cover a longer duration of around one hour and 18 minutes. He will over-estimate its duration and will feel that the movie dragged. Whereas, the extrovert’s slower internal clock will cover a shorter duration, of say 43 minutes, so he will underestimate its duration and feel that time flew. The same duration perceived retrospectively will expand in an introvert’s mind and shrink in the mind of an extrovert. Introverts’ brains will count more time within a fixed duration when compared to extroverts’ brains, who will count less time.
This difference in time estimation is one of the reasons why extroverts are generally happier than introverts. We saw in the previous chapter how time flies when you are having fun and drags when you are bored. We also saw that people tend to judge activities as more pleasant if they felt that time flew, and unpleasant if they felt that time dragged. Since time tends to fly for extroverts, they will retrospectively perceive their activities to be more fun in comparison with introverts, who perceive time as dragging. The extrovert will tend to enjoy the movie more than the introvert.
This effect applies to activities where one is not intentionally keeping track of time, but instead judging the length of an activity after the fact. This is the type of retrospective time estimation that we saw in Chapter 1. This differs from prospective time estimation, where one is intentionally keeping track of passing time. As we shall see next, this effect of retrospective time estimation produces contradictory results in activities that involve a prospective experience of time. These activities rely on guessing when a certain time duration will be over. Let us look at an example.
Imagine an introvert and an extrovert each cooking a roasted chicken that requires one hour in an oven. This does not involve estimating time that has already elapsed, like in the movie example (retrospective time estimation), but involves guessing when one hour will elapse in order to switch off the oven (prospective time estimation). The main difference between the two is that while watching the movie, they were both unaware of the passing time, while in the cooking example they are fully conscious of its passing. The introvert’s internal clock is faster and so he will guess that one hour has passed before the hour is up. He will switch off the oven too early and chicken will be undercooked. The extrovert, on the other hand, because of his slower internal clock, will overestimate the hour that has passed and switch off the oven too late, resulting in an overcooked chicken.
The prospective time experience implies that when introverts are involved in activities where they are aware of the passing time, they will view time as limited and valuable. This explains why they tend to be in a hurry. According to the Louisiana study, one hour will prospectively feel 15 minutes shorter when introverts are planning the duration of events in their day, and so their day ahead will feel shorter. This means that they tend to be more conscious of how they manage their time. For extroverts, their slower internal clock will, cause them to feel as though their day is longer, and they’ll feel they have an added 17 minutes to every hour. That is why extroverts are more laid-back and see the time ahead as more abundant (prospectively). They take their time in almost everything they do and are rarely in a rush. An extrovert’s slower internal clock also explains why they tend to miss appointments! So, if you are constantly late and cannot figure out why, you are most likely an extrovert and it would be wise to give yourself 20 to 30 percent more time to meet a deadline or to get to an appointment.
“Extroverts’ internal clocks tick up to 30% slower than introverts”
How Quickly Do You Get Bored?
Another trait that affects our perceived speed of time is how easily we get bored. We have all experienced a lazy, boring Sunday morning that crawls or a busy Monday morning that passes in a flash. Ask any elderly person living in a care home how he feels about time. He will tell you it is passing very slowly due to the monotony of days. 93 Boredom is a transient, unpleasant emotional state that is experienced when you are left without anything in particular t
o do or when you lose interest in your surroundings.
Existential philosophers, like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, claim that boredom is just a human response to the meaninglessness of life. They assert that no matter how much enjoyment you get from something, sooner or later you will get bored with it and start looking for something new. No matter how many new experiences you engage in or how many interesting things you are able to buy, you will eventually get bored. This urge to keep busy with novelty and to escape the present is our greatest source of unhappiness, argues the distinguished Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard. According to these great thinkers, boredom is essentially a part of life, an inescapable aspect of the human condition.
Today's teenagers, in particular, are more vulnerable to boredom due to a combination of overstimulation from TV, computers, tablets, mobile phones, and a lack of coping skills when the action dies down. If you asked teenagers in the 19th century what they did in their free time, they would probably talk about helping their parents at work. If you ask the same question to teenagers in the mid-1990s, you might get an answer related to baseball, football, or the latest playground craze. But nowadays, most teens would say they spent their free time playing video games or scrolling through social media. Studies reveal that American teenagers spend an average of 6.5 hours a day focused on electronic devices. This invasion of electronic products into children’s lives causes over-simulation. They are in constant search of more stimulation and when that is not found, they are bored. For many teenagers, being bored seems to be the new cool. This is reflected in clothing that suggests a bored blasé attitude to life is far cooler than the usual enthusiasm that characterizes young children. This effort to curb enthusiasm is also seen in many adults. We seem to be living in an age where it is trendy to look perpetually bored, dissatisfied, and uninterested! But is there a scientific basis for this boredom syndrome? And how does it affect our perception of time?
One aspect of Dr. Eysenck’s arousal theory is that we all seem to have a basic boredom threshold, and this is unique to each of us. It is defined as the amount of stimulation we must receive before we feel mentally aroused, and it determines our innate vulnerability to boredom. Introverts generally have a lower boredom threshold, so are bored less often and need little stimulation to keep them entertained. Extroverts, on the other hand, have a higher threshold and require greater mental stimulation, so they tend to be impatient and easily bored. Extroverts also tend to have a shorter attention span so they are therefore easily distracted by external events. As a result, they are unable to maintain the necessary motivation to complete that activity and become more aware of the passing of time. As we saw previously, this prospective experience of the time-in-passing causes time to run slowly.
In the United States, statistics indicate that people are split 50/50 between introverts and extroverts. However, society is biased towards extroverts. The education system, by its nature, favors extroverts because it requires children to learn in big classrooms, which provide a high-stimulation environment. Group activities, “show and tell,” and speaking in class all favor the extrovert. Introverted and reclusive children would prefer one-on-one schooling, away from group learning. But since this is not economically viable, schools teach introverted kids to act like extroverts. Similarly, businesses that involve sales and marketing favor the outgoing extrovert, which is why many introverts tend to feign extroversion to get ahead. This might explain why looking bored and disinterested seems fashionable these days.
Men are, generally, more likely to get bored than women and this is why they are more inclined towards high-risk lifestyles. They tend to be impulsive, restless, and impatient with routine. They seek exciting activities like mountain climbing and bungee jumping. If you know what a person does for fun, you can easily tell how prone to boredom he or she is and to what extent he or she is introverted or extroverted.
Our perceived speed of time depends on how easily we get bored. Imagine a quiet day spent relaxing at home. For an introvert, this would be comfortable and the day passes swiftly. But, for an extrovert this would be unbearable; he would be restless and the day would drag. Imagine a day at the office. An introvert can socialize but can withdraw into his office when he needs some quiet time. The extrovert is only slightly better off here and would probably still be restless. For the extrovert, time would still drag but not as much as the day at home. Now move into a crowded pub and the extrovert might find just enough stimulation to feel right. Time is now moving at a speed that is fast enough to make the experience entertaining. But for the introvert, this is slightly above their boredom threshold and the night will feel stretched. Even worse would be a loud night club. It goes well beyond the introvert’s comfort zone. But, for the extrovert, they are in their element, charging up their batteries, and deriving immense pleasure from that level of stimulation. For them, time flies and the night is over in a blink.
The good news is that boredom is among the emotions that we usually do not experience for very long. That said, there are ways to make time seem like it is going faster on a dull day. Some people seek thrilling or exciting experiences, such as rollercoaster rides, learning to ski, rule-breaking, or drug use. Such activities provide the brain with a surge of dopamine that produces ecstatic sensations. But no matter how novel an activity is, when done regularly it will become familiar and boring. When the action fades away, the dopamine levels quickly drop back to normal, producing a greater feeling of emptiness than before. An example could be base jumpers who strive for harder and more dangerous jumps each time to keep up their dopamine levels.
Another trick we all use to kill boredom is distraction. When standing in a queue or sitting in a waiting room, most of us reach for our smartphone to check our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts; anything to distract us from the passage of time. When bored at home, distractions could be watching TV or preparing a tasty snack, (which we might later feel guilty about)! At work, we may look outside the window, take breaks, chat with some colleagues, surf the internet, or daydream; anything that diverts our attention from the slow passage of time. But these, too, are temporary. Distractions seem great when we have time to kill, but if they become addictive, the effects could be damaging. We end up feeling that time has been wasted since it was not used to pursue meaningful goals.
The best strategy for dealing with boredom is to make use of your time in a meaningful way. When you feel that time has been spent efficiently, you will feel it is running faster. The best thing you can do is to perform the boring task in the mental state of “flow,” which we explored in Chapter 5. This means focusing on the task itself rather than on the time it is taking and requires understanding the challenges and mustering the motivation to meet those challenges so that you’ll feel rewarded for that achievement.
Another aspect to consider is whether you are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to push through a boring task. If you are intrinsically motivated, you read books for enjoyment, whereas if you are extrinsically motivated, you read for the purpose of passing your college exam. Intrinsic motivation makes you more creative and holds your interest for longer periods of time. But when you are extrinsically motivated, you do not get direct satisfaction from the task. Instead you consider your work only as a means to an end, and you’ll likely be checking the clock more often. Your awareness of the passing time makes time drag.
One last thing to keep in mind is that boredom can be a beneficial feeling. Without boredom, there would be no daydreaming and no room for reflection. Without reflection and contemplation, there is no imagination and creativity, and without creativity, no inventions, art, or progress. Boredom is just the dark side of fun, for they both share the same brain circuitry. Life would not be fun at all without a little boredom!
Night Owl or Morning Lark?
If you work in a large company, you may have noticed how at the beginning of the day, sleepy people queue up at the coffee counter to get their morning fix of caffeine. These
people describe themselves as not ‘morning people’ and it is hard to engage them in any meaningful conversation before they have consumed at least one cup of coffee. Towards the end of the working day, you will notice another queue building up at the coffee counter, but this time it is a different crowd. These are the ‘morning people’ who wake up early for a workout at the gym or a quick run. By mid-afternoon, their energy levels have dropped and so they are in need of a quick boost of caffeine.
Everyone has a noticeably different rhythm of sleeping and waking—known as circadian rhythm—which is why psychologists divide people into two general chronotypes: morning larks and night owls. Morning larks rise early, are most active in the morning, grow tired more quickly by late afternoon, and go to bed early. By contrast, night owls need a few hours to be fully awake in the morning, become active in the evenings, and sleep late. They tend to be novelty seekers and have personalities that are consistent with outgoing extroverts. Most children start out as morning larks. When they turn into teenagers, they become night owls, going to late-night parties. As adults, they will either turn back to morning larks, or stay as night owls.
Personality chronotypes depend on how alertness and concentration levels vary during the day, or what is known as the concentration curve. Concentration is defined as the amount of time you can focus on a single thought or mental activity. Concentration levels vary depending on who you are with, what you are doing, how interesting it is, and whether you had a nice bottle of wine for lunch. But, more importantly, concentration and alertness depend on the time of day. For morning larks, alertness and concentration levels start high and decline as the day progresses, while for night owls, this happens in reverse: alertness and concentration levels start low and rise steadily with the passing hours. So, how does our personality chronotype affect our perception of time?
The Power of Time Perception Page 13
