The Psychology of Personality in Design: Designing for Introverts + Extroverts
What does it mean to incorporate your personality into design? How do we even define personality?
Generally speaking, our personality is a pattern of thinking, behaving, feeling, and experiencing situations and people that tends to remain consistent over time (unless we experience a traumatic brain injury or other significant experience that can alter this pattern) [1]. We are always evolving, but our personality usually endures.
Throughout history, many folks hypothesized ways to describe personality — Hippocrates and Plato were among these — even before psychology was a field. Within psychology, Freud, Jung, and Maslow further contributed to our understanding of personality. Maslow, for example, believed our personality is driven by our needs — from psychological to security to a sense of belonging and self-actualization [2].
When creating a home that supports one's unique personality, we often believe we have highly specialized needs — and in some cases, we do. However, while we each have our individual lived experiences, we all generally fall on a spectrum among a handful of different dimensions of personality.
The "Big Five" dimensions of personality are a widely accepted theory in personality psychology. Summarizing a long history of research beginning with D.W. Fiske, psychologist Lewis Goldberg took previous personality factors determined by another psychologist, Raymond Cattell, and distilled them into five primary personality factors. These were later validated by Paul Costa and Robert McRae [3]. This body of research formulated what we now call the "Big Five." Numerous studies have found correlations between these personality traits and life satisfaction, academic performance, career success, wellbeing, and even lifespan [4, 5, 6].
According to this theory, our general ways of thinking and behaving can place us on a spectrum of five broad personality traits: agreeableness, extroversion (vs. introversion), openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness (fun fact: they form the acronym OCEAN or CANOE). This article will focus on the spectrum of extroversion and introversion.
Extroversion reflects the degree to which someone seeks out social interaction and also can reflect a person's assertiveness level. A primary difference between an extroverted person and a more introverted one is an extrovert's general tendency to feel energized by being around others, in contrast to feeling more drained by interactions with other people — a frequent experience of introverts. Folks who identify as more introverted tend to prefer solitude and often need these solo periods to recharge in between social interactions.
I want to emphasize that introversion and extroversion exist on a spectrum, and some folks find themselves in the middle of this, finding a balance of energy between being by themselves and with others. For this article, I will discuss the general recommendations for creating a supportive home for people who consider themselves introverted relative to those who identify as more extroverted.
From a design psychology perspective, a more introverted person would likely prioritize feeling comfortable in their space over how others perceive it; the reverse would be the case for a more extroverted individual. In other words, a more extroverted person might prefer to know that they can connect with others in a space and that others can be comfortable in it.
We can also value both our comfort and the comfort of others, but having a framework for personality traits like introversion versus extroversion can deepen our understanding of creating a home that represents our most authentic selves. Rather than seeking out what is trending in design magazines — though a helpful form of envisioning — we can hold a mirror up to ourselves with curiosity and compassion, asking, "Who are you? What do you need to feel at home in your space?"
Despite personality traits remaining relatively stable throughout life, the expression of extroversion or introversion — as well as the other "Big Five" traits — can slightly evolve over time. For example, I consider myself quite introverted, but I also have learned how to make small talk in networking and social situations, apparently with the appearance of calm (according to other people; however, it doesn't always feel this way internally). Thus, some people are surprised to learn that I am pretty shy, have social anxiety, and often need to mentally prepare before interacting with — especially new and large groups of — people. This idea of becoming a "learned extrovert" creates some grey area around this topic.
However, when I am at home, the number one thing I am thinking and assessing is, Do I feel comfortable in this space? If I plan to have a friend over, my mind certainly shifts to how the room might look for them. In general, though, I prioritize my level of feeling safe and secure over how inviting the space may be for others. I opt for areas that minimize visual and auditory stimuli with soothing and natural color palettes. I might be biased, but I believe these style preferences appeal to a wide range of personalities among friends and family who visit my home. Our daily lives are so saturated with information that the minimalist design aesthetic — often seen in modern and Scandinavian-style spaces — provides a healing experience for virtually anyone who enters them.
Personality traits like extroversion and introversion are worth considering in creating a truly supportive space, but they aren't the only factors that shape one's relationship to place. Throughout our lifetimes, our priorities can change. Our families may expand in size; our relationship structures may shift. Naturally, this will lead us to change our home needs. With design psychology, there is great flexibility in thinking about our relationship to spaces. Instead of focusing on "achieving" a specific design aesthetic, we can begin to see our homes as living, breathing representations of ourselves, evolving just as we do.
Have you thought of your tendencies to be more introverted or extroverted? How do these tendencies appear in your home spaces and your preferences for certain designs? I would love to hear about your thoughts and experiences below! ~
Citations:
Revelle, W. (2013). Personality theory and research. Personality Project. Retrieved 17 October 2023, from https://www.personality-project.org/index.html
McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
Cherry, K. (2019). What Are the Big 5 Personality Traits? Verywell Mind. Retrieved 18 October 2023, from https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422
Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The Big Five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52, 621-652.
Chapman, B.P., Roberts, B., Duberstein, P. (2011). Personality and longevity: Knowns, unknowns, and implications for public health and personalized medicine. Journal of Aging Research, vol. 2011, Article ID 759170, 24 pages, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4061/2011/759170
Boyce, C. J., Wood, A. M., & Powdthavee, N. (2013). Is personality fixed? Personality changes as much as "variable" economic factors and more strongly predicts changes to life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 111, 287-305.
Augustin, S. (2009). Designing for personality - Part 1. Psychology Today. Retrieved 18 October 2023, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/people-places-and-things/200911/designing-for-personality-part-1