Introvert, << IHN truh vurt, >> when used nontechnically, usually means a shy, unsociable person. Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Carl G. Jung defined introversion as a turning of mental interests away from people and events of the outer world to the inner world of one’s own thoughts. He believed that in a normal person, introversion is balanced by extroversion (see Extrovert ). But in an introvert, the tendency toward introversion is greater than toward extroversion.
Jung thought that if the tendency toward introversion became extreme, it would dominate a person’s unconscious mental life and create a conflict between the two tendencies. This conflict would result in a neurosis, which is a kind of mental illness.
