Do you have a "nerdy dopamine pathway"?

On the phenomenon of the "Wild Introvert"

Dear You,

Do you find that you get very happy and excited about ideas, thoughts, creative projects, etc., but not so much about social situations like parties and networking events?

One frustrating aspect of contemporary discourse on intro/extroversion is the idea that extroverts are - by virtue of having stronger dopamine pathways - just naturally happier and more exuberant than introverts.

And the truth is that the data’s pretty clear on this. Extroverts do have more easily activated dopamine pathways.

At the same time, I’ve scratched my head over this conclusion because I know how happy and exuberant I get about ideas, creativity, music, art, beauty, etc. In fact I am happy and excited as I type these words to you, even though to the outside observer, I’m sure I look like a solitary woman frowning at her laptop at a cafe table.

And I know that I’m not alone.

Which brings me to today’s Kindred Letter, on the “nerdy dopamine pathway” - a term coined by my friend, the great psychologist, Scott Barry Kaufman, who has also given us today’s guest post. (This post first appeared on SBK’s Substack, which is well worth checking out!)

Here’s SBK:

“Do these statements resonate with you?

• I don’t tend to show enthusiasm in social situations, but when I am genuinely passionate about something creative I light up like a firecracker on the 4th of July.

• From the outside it may seem like I’m boring and vanilla, but inside my head there is a rich, vibrant imaginative world that is beyond wild.

• I have a ravenous desire to learn things that are novel and complex but can’t stand “networking events” where I am forced to meet lots of new people.

• I love going on adventures but I like them to be safe and I like to make sure I have lots of time for deep reflection about how the adventure contributed to my personal growth and development.

• I may not seem assertive in social situations but get me creating something beautiful and meaningful and you can’t stop me from taking charge of my own creative process!

• I prefer quiet and low stimulation in general, but when I can have some control over the environment and feel safe I am actually a big sensation seeker!

If you nodded your head vigorously to most of these statements, then guess what? You might be a wild introvert! In a tweet from 4/14/22, I wrote:

“I’ve come to the conclusion I’m a ‘wild introvert’. I’m an introvert who scores extremely high in openness to experience. I love adventures and sensory seeking but then need about a week to recover. Where my fellow wild introverts at?”

There are so many misconceptions about introversion. In general, all introversion means is that you have a preference for quiet. Modern-day psychologists measure introversion as the opposite pole of extraversion, comprising two main aspects:

*Enthusiasm: Being expressive in social situations, making friends easily, showing feelings when happy, warming up quickly to others, and always seeming to have fun in social situations.

*Assertiveness: Taking charge, having a strong personality, knowing how to captivate people, seeing oneself as a good leader, and being the first to act.

From a modern personality science perspective, the extent to which you score low on these two aspects is the extent to which you are more on the introverted side of life. The extraversion-introversion dimension of personality has been linked to dopamine and the reward value one gets for primal rewards that are tied to things like social status, drugs, and risky sex.

One of the strongest primal rewards throughout the course of human history has been social attention, which explains why research has found that extraverts get so energized and excited about opportunities to receive positive social attention. Introverts just don’t get so worked up about this.

From a dopamine perspective, you can say that it takes introverts more “work” to get excited by networking events than extraverts, who naturally have more dopamine pumping through their more primal dopamine systems. But that does not mean that the dopaminergic system of introverts is kaput.

Here’s the thing: Dopamine isn’t only related to extraversion. It’s possible to be an introvert and to have an overactive “nerdy dopamine pathway”!

Let me explain. Dopamine is not only tied to the reward value of positive social attention. In recent years, other dopamine pathways in the brain have been proposed that are strongly linked to the reward value of information.

People who score high in the nerdy dopamine pathway tend to get energized (and yes, show ENTHUSIASM) by the possibility of discovering new information and extracting meaning and growth from their experiences. These “cognitive needs”, as the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow referred to them, are just as important as the other human needs of becoming a whole person. [Bold-type added by Susan because I think this paragraph is so important!]

Here are a few statements that will give you a sense of how active your nerdy dopamine pathway is:

• I love spending time reflecting on things.

• I am full of ideas.

• I have a vivid imagination.

• I am interested in abstract ideas.

• I am curious about many different things.

Don’t understand why everyone else around you is so interested in networking events, social status, power, and money, and why you get so much more turned on by stimulating ideas, learning new and interesting things, and going on wild adventures in your head? Now you have a potential answer: You may be a wild introvert!

I hope this article helped some of you understand yourself better and even accept yourself. I once wrote an article titled “Can introverts be happy in a world that can’t stop talking?” My conclusion, based on a growing evidence base of studies, is that HELL YES THEY CAN. But the key is self-acceptance. A group of “happy introverts” were discovered by the scientists. Their key distinguishing characteristics from the less happy introverts is that they scored higher in their acceptance of their introversion. So maybe it’s time to own that you’re a wild introvert!

By the way, this is my new favorite t-shirt:

P.S.: I’ve decided “Confessions of a Wild Introvert” will be the title of my autobiography someday. :)”

*

OK, this is Susan writing again. I hope you enjoyed this guest post by SBK as much as I did. If so, please consider sharing it with a friend:

And please let us know your thoughts, by leaving a comment below! Some ideas to get you started:

**Does the idea of dopamine pathways, in general, as a distinction between introverts and extroverts resonate for you?

*Do you think you have a “nerdy dopamine pathway”?

*I adore SBK and everything he wrote here, though have one difference from him - I don’t love the term “wild introvert” because I think the word “wild” has a different connotation from the ideas expressed above. Curious what you think about this, though.

And finally, if you missed the Candlelight Chat we did with SBK, as a Quiet Life member, you can watch it right here: