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 questionnaire and measures covering several cognitive and other aspects of individual personality. Extraversion was associated with happiness as is usually found, but the correlations of other personality differences, particularly those related to life satisfaction, were greater. These variables were substantially independent of extraversion but other variables such as empathic and affiliative tendencies were not. Extraversion is primarily a measure of sociability, and social relationships are a self-evident source of happiness. Nonetheless, a substantial minority of the participants could be classified 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 identical. It is suggested that the mechanism by which introversion–extraversion affects happiness is different from that of the other variables, and might better be considered as an instrumental variable that mediates the ways individuals choose to achieve their own happiness.