Shyness and introversion are commonly mistaken as being the same thing. Shyness involves fear of negative evaluation (and is a milder form of social anxiety), whereas introversion refers to a tendency toward becoming over-stimulated and the need to be alone to gain energy.

The opposite of shyness is being outgoing, while the opposite of introversion is extroversion. These concepts are similar but different.

The extrovert appears similar, often making friends easily. However, the core feature of the extrovert is a need for stimulation and time spent with others. This is reflected in brain neuroimaging studies that show different activation of areas of the brain in extroverts compared to introverts.

The outgoing person is not afraid of others and has a tendency to approach—be it at a party, when meeting someone new, or when making plans with friends.

To summarize, we can think of each of these concepts as follows:

Shy: Fear of negative evaluation, a tendency toward avoidance.

Outgoing: Tendency to approach others, no fear of being around other people.

Introvert: Becomes easily overstimulated, needs time alone to regain energy after spending time with people.

Extrovert: Need for stimulation, recharges by spending time with other people, feels depleted after spending too much time alone.

Where do you think you fit in the introversion/extroversion and shy/outgoing dimensions? Obviously, we can’t categorize people, but we can think of most individuals as leaning towards one of the following four groups:

  • Outgoing Extrovert (no fear, need for stimulation)Shy Extrovert (fear, need for stimulation)Outgoing Introvert (no fear, easily overstimulated)Shy Introvert (fear, easily overstimulated)

To help figure out which group you most closely match, I’ve created a table that describes how a person leaning toward each category might respond to some typical social/interaction scenarios.

Have a look below and see if any of the patterns sound right for you.

If you still need help figuring out which side of the scale you’re on, you can also take our introvert vs. extrovert test to learn more.

  • Heiser NA, Turner SM, Beidel DC. Shyness: relationship to social phobia and other psychiatric disorders. Behav Res Ther. 2003;41(2):209-221. doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(02)00003-7

  • Lei X, Yang T, Wu T. Functional neuroimaging of extraversion-introversion. Neurosci. Bull. 2015;31:663-675. doi:10.1007/s12264-015-1565-1

  • Cox BJ, MacPherson PS, Enns MW. Psychiatric correlates of childhood shyness in a nationally representative sample. Behav Res Ther. 2005;43(8):1019-1027. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2004.07.006

By Arlin Cuncic

Arlin Cuncic, MA, is the author of “Therapy in Focus: What to Expect from CBT for Social Anxiety Disorder” and “7 Weeks to Reduce Anxiety.”