8/10/2019 Chapter 5 Reaction Paper

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Tyler Folkedahl

Honors 151

Emily Hill

9/17/14

Chapter 5 Response

As per usual, Ive got mixed feelings. Ive definitely been warming up to the book at least

a tiny bit, though that may have something to do with the fact that Ive been getting into the habit

of reading at night when I have less brain power to be angry. The two things I really want to

focus on in this response are the concept that we have a base temperament that can only be

stretched so far, and what I view as the back and forth between presentations of introvertedness

and extravertedness as either positive or negative personalities.

First, this idea of temperament. I actually dog-eared a page in the previous chapter about

this, and I do not often dog-ear pages. I have an immediate and negative reaction to this idea of a

base personality that we are ultimately limited to. While presenting this idea on page 105, Cain

does simultaneously refute it, acknowledging that the way we are raised and the situations we

find ourselves in have too great an influence to be simply brushed aside. It just seems to me that

our ability to decide the situations we want to be in and decipher what we enjoy personally

would outweigh whether or not one of our alleles is shorter than another.

Cain comes back to discuss this idea again in chapter 5, settling on the conclusion that

our personalities are like rubber bandsthey can be stretched, but only so far. This really gets

me wondering about myself, and even more so when she was talking about the concept of the

sweet spot. I oftentimes feel the need to retreat into my own little cubby in my room, dim the

lights, and light some scented candles to recharge at the end of the day. I love baths, and

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sometimes do wind up feeling overwhelmed in social situations where I am surrounded by

people I dont know. Im starting to question if Im more of an introvert who has just found ways

to stretch myself to my limits? But then again, thinking back to both my results on the quiz

earlier in the book and the results from the quiz we took at the beginning of the class this

Monday, both have placed me more near the middle of the spectrum. This, then, makes me

wonder what my sweet spots really are, or if I even have them? Its hard for me to tell if Im

going to thrive in a situation until Im actually in it. Some days I feel like I just need to retreat to

my room, and other days all I want is to be in a conference hall swarming with people,

interacting and entertaining. Ill certainly be paying more attention to what my sweet spots are,

and when I hit those sweet spots in the coming weeks.

As Ive previously discussed, a lot of my negative reaction to this book has come from

the feeling that extroverts are portrayed in a negative light. However, Ive begun to see a pattern

in which Cain will break down research and form an argument in favor of introverts that gets me

all riled up, and then end on a note about how we can never be truly certain if one or the other is

better, and that the concepts are too complex to come to a solid conclusion about. I noticed this

again with her explanations of the flower children. It seemed to me that in this section she was

much more willing to acknowledge the shortcomings of introverts as well as the strengths of

extroverts, which felt to balance the dichotomy to me. Its just comforting to me to see things

presented as a spectrum with multiple sides and viewpoints, rather than the straightforward

black-and-white style of argument that Cain usually purveys in the text.

In general, I have a problem with things being presented as fact, and especially so in this

book given that Cain has a bit of a sharp tongue here and there. Im trying to decipher when my

reactions are warrented by the text, and when its just me having a knee jerk reaction to

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something that I perceive as a sort of attack on the way I identify and act. This style and setup

of the book certainly does its job of getting me involved, if nothing else, because at the end of

the day I always want to read on to see what else shes going to say about the issue (especially

when she says things like well discuss this more in chapter 11. Way to keep me hanging).

I have a feeling that the book is going to end in this inconclusive manner of well, we

know this and that, and can see that introverts are no weaker than extraverts, but really its too

complex to be sure, and for someone like me who always seems to be sitting on the fence, thats

just fine.