Happiness, introversion-extraversion and happy introverts

Some 270 mature participants completed the Oxford happiness inventory (OHI) , the extraversion and neuroticism subscales of the Eysenck personality que stionnaire and measures covering several cognitive and other aspects of ind ividual personality. Extraversion was associated with happiness as is usual ly found, but the correlations of other personality differences, particular ly those related to life satisfaction, were greater. These variables were s ubstantially independent of extraversion but other variables such as empath ic and affiliative tendencies were not. Extraversion is primarily a measure of sociability, and social relationships are a self-evident source of happ iness. Nonetheless, a substantial minority of the participants could be cla ssified as happy introverts. In terms of preference for solitude, relations with friends, and taking part in potentially introspective activities, the behaviours of happy introverts and happy extraverts were virtually identic al. It is suggested that the mechanism by which introversion-extraversion a ffects happiness is different from that of the other variables, and might b etter be considered as an instrumental variable that mediates the ways indi viduals choose to achieve their own happiness. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.