Extrovert, when used nontechnically, means a sociable person who makes friends easily. In psychiatry, the word has a somewhat different meaning. The Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung defined extroversion as turning the interests and energies of the mind toward events, people, and things of the outer world. As a result, extroverts are more interested in what is going on around them than in their own thoughts and feelings. In normal people, extroversion is counterbalanced by introversion, and a wholesome balance is maintained between the two tendencies (see Introvert).
