Do all children begin life in extroversion?

I have known very young children who seem to be naturally and happily introverted. Also, naturally and not so happily shy.
 
I'd read an article that our personalities are kinda fluid till about 1st grade level, after which we're basically set. I wouldn't be surprised if bullying by other kids can have a dramatic influence, but who knows for sure. Worth studying.
 
I think we keep adapting along the way, there's no fixed beginning either. Also, if your own experience with little kids is that they all react extroverted to you, it could be because you are so stimulating for them with your well developed introvertness. They can feel it better than anyone.
 
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I was extremely introverted as a child. I'd even say it was one of the most prominent characteristics of my personality.
 
I think I started introverted, became extraverted, then hit introversion again as soon as I started school.
 
Peppermint said:
They didn't show that crap on the TV when I was little!

I think you meant to say Power Rangers. ;)
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I'm pretty sure care bears was about when you were little, but you'd probably have had to have been really young. Now Power Rangers, that was a show! I was always the black ranger (who convieniently was black, now isn't subliminal racism wonderful).
 
Ahhahaa, I was the red ranger until the green ranger showed up, because you know, Green + Evil was just my thing.
 
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[MENTION=649]shannishannon[/MENTION]; How old were your daughters when they took the MBTI?
 
21, 19, 16 respectively.
 
I was extremely introverted until about the sixth or seventh grade.
A lot of my teachers thought I was being anti-social, especially my kindergarten and first grade teachers. And that actually ticked off my parents. My brothers Enoch and Gershom were the same way.

It wasn't that I was anti-social or anything, it was that I liked to draw and read and feed my wild imagination. Trivial things like dosgeball bored me.
 
I've gone through periods when I was more extroverted than others, but I've always been an introvert.

My parents told me that on my first birthday, I got freaked out about how many people were coming to my party. I always was extremely shy around people, and liked to spend hours focused on something that caught my interest. I was very type 5 until I was around 5 years old; isolating myself from others learning everything I could. Instead of talking to people, I'd spend time in my imagination or reading a book or drawing. When I was about 6, though, things changed drastically. I suddenly felt the need to crawl out of my shell and show people how much I cared about them. I'd play all sorts of games, and started becoming quite loud at times, making up games and sharing ideas like crazy, but I'd always go back to hours of contemplative silence.

Then I was bullied a lot in public school, and became very much a type 4 introvert. I would often be of the mindset that nobody understandood me, and became quite emotional, much to my own embarassment. I seemed somewhat extroverted, because I wanted to make people like me, but I still had a thirst for quiet and privacy. This led to a time of extreme introversion, and I didn't become a stable 4w.5 INFJ introvert until around grade 10.

So, I think you're pretty much born one way or another, but events in your life cause you to adapt toward the opposite temporarily, especially as a child who is learning about how they fit into the social world.
 
I was very introverted as a kid, I didnt make many friends, I was always off on my own hiking in the woods, when the other boys were playing with their star wars action figures I was alone with my coloring book, There was never really a time when I was extroverted until I learned how to force myself into it, that didnt happen until my mid 20's.
 
I was an extrovert as a kid. A very bossy one at that. lol.
 
Entyqua said:
I am curious...I have yet to meet an introverted child...shy maybe, but always ready to open up and play with anyone...do we all start out extroverted, and grow into our roles later?
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i was definitely introverted as a kid, and am slightly less introverted now. the influence of extroverted friends & my lovely boyfriend (who i sometimes tease about having verbal diarrhea xD he talks ALOT) has brought me out of my shell a bit, but i still strongly need my privacy and alone time. i feel overwhelmed when i'm around people for too long, regardless of how much I like them.
 
I was introverted and fearful of strangers even as a baby. My mom said I would turn away from strangers and scream and cry if anyone other than my parents or grandmother tried to hold me.
 
My daughter is an ENTJ and my son is INFP (healing subtype). Both are adults now but they expressed different interaction styles from an early age. As a newborn, my daughter would try to mimic conversation. In fact, she would verbalize when no one else was in the room. Her brother never did that. He seemed to be a contented baby but did not speak fluently til he was 3 years old (my daughter was conversational at 18 mos).

In terms of the home environment, the younger child should have been more extroverted. By the time that he was born, we lived in a neighborhood with lots of small children, his sister always had friends in the house, he went to preschool for 2 years, etc. Although he liked to play with other children, he also needed alone time. That pattern has continued throughout his life.

Entyqua said:
i started being abused (sic) about 11 or 12 and i shut down completely...
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Don't assume that people develop an introverted personality as a result of dysfunction or trauma. The E/I preference is part of the continuum of human diversity. There are negative manifestations of introversion just as there is unhealthy extroversion. Extroverts are held up as the social norm in Western culture. If you prefer to spend time alone then there is something “wrong” with you.

toska said:
I was introverted and fearful of strangers even as a baby. My mom said I would turn away from strangers and scream and cry if anyone other than my parents or grandmother tried to hold me.
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I used to joke that my son was surgically attached to my neck.
 
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