extroversion

See also: extroversión

English

Alternative forms

• extraversion

Etymology

From extrovert +‎ -sion, a variant of extraversion popularized in psychology by Phyllis Blanchard's use of the variant (then nonstandard) spelling extrovert in her 1918 "Psycho-Analytic Study of August Comte".

Noun

extroversion (usually uncountable, plural extroversions)

1. The state or quality of being extroverted or an extrovert, particularly:
   1. (religion, obsolete) Consideration of the material world as an aid to spiritual insight.
      • 1656, Thomas Blount, Glossographia, s.v. "Extroversion":

        in mystical Divinity... a scattering or distracting ones thoughts upon exterior objects.

      • 1788, John Wesley, Works, volume VI, page 451:

        The turning of the eye of the mind from [Christ] to outward things [mystics] call Extroversion.

   2. (medicine) The condition of being inside out, especially in relation to the bladder.
      • 1835, Robert Bentley Todd, editor, The Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, volume I, page 391:

        In extroversion of the bladder the anterior part of this organ is more or less completely wanting.

   3. (informal psychology) A personality orientation towards others and things outside oneself; behavior expressing such orientation.
      • 1920, Arthur George Tansley, The New Psychology and Its Relation to Life, page 88:

        Extroversion is the thrusting out of the mind on to life, the use of the mind in practical affairs, the pouring out of the libido on external objects.

      • 1999 October 29, Ben Brantley, “‘The Dead’: a Musical That Dares to be Quiet”, in New York Times:

        In a genre characterized by brassy extroversion, The Dead is a quiet revolutionary: a musical that dares to be diffident.

Usage notes

Technical papers in psychology overwhelmingly prefer the form extraversion used by Carl Jung, although the variant extroversion is more common in general use.

Synonyms

• (medicine): exstrophy
• (psychology): sociability

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “psychology”): introversion

Related terms

• ambiversion
• extroversive
• extrovert, extroverted

Translations

concern with or an orientation toward others

• Czech: extroverze f
• Finnish: ulospäinsuuntautuneisuus, ekstraversio
• German: Extraversion f
• Irish: eisdíritheacht f
• Italian: estroversione (it) f
• Japanese: 外向性 (ja) (gaikōsei)
• Lithuanian: ekstravertiškumas m
• Persian: برون‌گرایی (borun-gerâyi)
• Romanian: extraversiune f
• Serbo-Croatian: екстровертност f (ekstrovertnost)
• Vietnamese: hướng ngoại

References

• “extroversion, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1894.
• Scott Barry Kaufman, "The Difference between ExtrAversion and ExtrOversion", Beautiful Minds, Scientific American, Springer Nature America, 2015.