ambivert

English edit

WOTD – 3 July 2019

Etymology edit

From ambiversion, modelled after extrovert and introvert.^[1]

Pronunciation edit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæmbɪvɜːt/, /-vəːt/
- Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæmbəˌvɚt/
Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t
Hyphenation: am‧bi‧vert

Noun edit

ambivert (plural ambiverts)

(psychology) A person who is neither clearly extroverted nor introverted, but has characteristics of each.
- 1923 January–March, Edmund S. Conklin, “The Definition of Introversion, Extroversion and Allied Concepts”, in Morton Prince, Floyd H[enry] Allport, editors, The Journal of Abnormal Psychology and Social Psychology, volume XVII, number 4, Albany, N.Y.: Published by Boyd Printing Company, Inc. […], →OCLC, page 377:
  Many there are, as I have already shown, whose life can not be readily described by either the definitions of extroversion or introversion. [...] It is these I have called ambiverts. With them, extroversion or introversion are but passing states of mind, whereas with the extrovert extroversion is the dominant condition and with the introvert introversion is the dominant condition.
- 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 27, in Ada, or, Ardor: A Family Chronicle, Harmondsworth, London: Penguin Books, published 1970, →ISBN, part 1, page 132:
  [‘]We are not in the same class, in more ways than one’ (laughing), ‘she's a little genius, I'm a plain American ambivert, but we are enrolled in the same Advanced French group [...].’
- 1995, W[illard] Cleon Skousen, “The Problem of Building Balanced Personalities”, in So You Want to Raise a Boy?, Orem, Ut.: Ensign Pub., published 2016, →ISBN, pages 297–298:
  Whenever parents are successful in this process of building a balanced personality from an introvert or an extrovert, we call the finished product an ambivert. An ambivert can move into a social situation and be a hearty, outgoing, gregarious participant. Or he can pick up a book and start the mental processes going like a regular introvert.
- 2004, Jean-Marc Dewaele, “Individual Differences in the Use of Colloquial Vocabulary: The Effects of Sociobiographical and Psychological Factors”, in Paul Bogaards, Batia Laufer, editors, Vocabulary in a Second Language: Selection, Acquisition, and Testing (Language Learning & Language Teaching), Amsterdam, Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 144:
  Ambiverts use even fewer colloquial words than the introverts, but the extraverts use clearly more of these words than the two other groups. [...] The global image that emerges is that differences are limited between ambiverts and introverts but that the extraverts stand out. They use many more colloquial words which could be the result of their lower levels of foreign language anxiety, less inhibition, and less fear of punishment.
- 2012, Adrian Furnham, “Intelligence and Intellectual Styles”, in Li-fang Zhang, Robert J. Sternberg, Stephen Rayner, editors, Handbook of Intellectual Styles: Preferences in Cognition, Learning, and Thinking, New York, N.Y.: Springer Publishing Company, →ISBN, part IV (Intellectual Styles in Relation to Allied Constructs), page 187:
  [A] bright (high fluid intelligent), stable ambivert from a middle-class home that provides and values education may be encouraged to develop a deep approach to learning and an analytic, or Type I, intellectual style.
- 2013, Daniel H. Pink, “Attunement”, in To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth about Persuading, Convincing and Influencing Others, Edinburgh: Canongate Books, →ISBN:
  Selling of any sort—whether traditional sales or non-sales selling—requires a delicate balance of inspecting and responding. Ambiverts can find that balance. They know when to speak up and when to shut up. Their wider repertoires allow them to achieve harmony with a broader range of people and a more varied set of circumstances. Ambiverts are the best movers because they're the most skilled attuners.