"In a hundred years, the labels "introvert" and "extrovert" have leapt from Jungian psychology into the realm of personality tests and horoscopes: ways to tell yourself, and the world, What Kind of Person You Are. You risk over-identifying with a set a characteristics cloaked in a semi-medical terminology, which makes it sound more real and immovable. Yowei Shaw, host of Proxy, believes herself to be an introvert."
"But over the years, she's begun to wonder whether her introversion is really core to who she is, or a byproduct of how she was raised and the expectations projected onto her. Which raises the question: Can you change something as supposedly fundamental about yourself as your introversion? Shaw wanted to try."
Introversion and extroversion labels have migrated from Jungian psychology into everyday personality tests and horoscopes, encouraging people to define themselves by simplified categories. Such labels risk encouraging over-identification with a set a characteristics presented in semi-medical terminology, which can make personal traits feel fixed and immutable. Yowei Shaw believes herself to be an introvert but questions whether that identity stems from innate disposition or from upbringing and projected expectations. She experiments with changing her behavior by emceeing a Lunar New Year party and seeks a form of performance that feels authentic. The experiment probes whether perceived fundamental personality traits can be reshaped.
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