Highly Sensitive People vs. Introverts, Extroverts, and Empaths
Social situations can be overwhelming to Highly Sensitive People (HSPs), as they continually process a lot of data: the emotions of others, microexpressions, implicit messages, and contextual cues in their environment. HSPs often use coping mechanisms in overstimulating social situations, like hanging back to observe, leaving early, and decompressing afterward. These behaviors might be incorrectly labeled as introversion, when in fact these are separate traits.
Introversion and extroversion, as defined by the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, describe psychological preferences for what energizes a person. Introverts may enjoy, but become exhausted by, a night out with friends. They tend to draw energy from solos activities and engaging with ideas, sometimes with one or two close friends. Extroverts, on the other hand, may enjoy a night in with a good book, but feel restless to get out of the house and interact with people. And while many HSPs identify as introverts (about 70 percent, Aron 2010), the HSP trait and introversion/extroversion measure different things. Again, the HSPs sensory sensitivity looks at how information is processed while introversion/extroversion looks at where one puts their attention and from where they draw their energy.
A term often used interchangeably with HSP is empath. A key marker of HSPs is the emotional intensity they can feel and their awareness of the emotional experiences of others. Some people use the terms HSP and empath interchangeably, while others attribute a spiritual component to empaths separate from HSPs, and even others see empaths as a subset of HSP who experiences HSP traits to an even deeper degree than other HSPs. It can be helpful to ask for clarification when someone uses the term empath. To date, this is not a scientifically researched concept.
HSPs come in all forms, and everyone experiences social environments differently. Asking questions about what energizes you, what exhausts you, what makes you nervous, and what fulfills you can help you tease out which labels are useful in communicating your preferences and needs to others. It can also help you as you plan ahead and build helpful coping skills around potentially draining social situation.
Citation:
Aron, E. N. (2010). Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person: Improving outcomes for the minority of people who are the majority of clients. New York: Routledge.
