There are two personality traits that are the most common to people. There are the extroverts, who are very outgoing, friendly, and very talkative; and there are introverts, who are considered to be observant, quiet, and reserved in many cases. As of a recent study, conducted by American psychiatrist Dr. Rami Kaminski, there is one personality trait that is the best of both worlds. It’s called an “otrovert”. What does it mean?
According to Inc, the term came from Dr. Kaminski’s book called The Gift of Not Belonging. It is defined as not being joiners. They’re not anti-social, nor shy. They simply have no desire to tie their identity to groups or labels. According to Dr. Kaminski, “otroverts who accept themselves (and avoid being browbeaten for their independent ways) aren’t troubled by their self-sufficiency.” Instead, they’re empowered by it in a way. Another quote that Dr. Kaminski has given about the trait is that, “Being outside the hive, so to speak, allows you to think and create freely: to come up with unique ideas, untainted by groupthink or by what has come before.” In other words, otrovert is more of a middle trait. They’re not introverts or extroverts. Dr. Kaminski even believes that Albert Einstein and Frida Kahlo had this trait.
What does our school psychology teacher, Mrs. Ferrara, have to say about this?
She feels that, “The new personality traits seems like it will be a big help for people who do not feel that they fit in to the classic introvert/extrovert traits, but it looks like there still needs to be a bit more research done on this topic before we know more about it and how many people might fit into this category! Otroverts are known for being someone who usually doesn’t fit into the typical crowd and so it could have felt very isolating to these people before they had a category that they could fit into. I would imagine it would be very comforting to find out there’s absolutely nothing strange about the way you are!”
Overall, there are few studies on this newfound trait, and further research is on the way to support people who feel as though they identify as an otrovert.