How Long Does It Take to Spot an Introvert?

Judging the personalities of others is a process that everyone engages in, whether consciously or not. The first time you meet someone, your impression formation machinery goes into high gear almost automatically. Is this someone you’d like to get to know better, or is there something about them that instantly turns you off?

As you go through this judging process, think about the cues that can help you decide. There may be something about the person’s appearance that clicks right away, such as whether their hair is curly or straight. But it might also be something that the person does that leads you to learn more about them.

According to a new study by James Cook University’s Deming Wang and Grenoble Ecole de Management's Ignazio Ziano (2022), people have a tendency to “judge a book by its cover, they tend to rely on superficial cues such as appearance, body language, and paralanguage cues when making trait inferences” (p. 1). Perhaps one of the most obvious but least thought about of these cues, Wang and Ziano argue, is response speed.

With more communications moving to online formats, the nonverbal cue of response speed, the authors suggest, is becoming increasingly important as a clue to personality. When you’re tapping away on your keyboard with someone you’ve never met, there’s no chance to use their appearance, gestures, or eye gaze as a guide to the individual’s inner psychology. You can, however, see how fast or slow they are in tapping back at you.

Introversion and Response Timing

Citing previous research on the relationship between response timing and personality trait impression formation, Wang and Ziano note that although suggestive of a relationship, the data are correlational in nature, meaning that no causal attributions can be made. Previous research also fails to single out response timing from other potential influences on personality trait judgments, such as what people actually said in their interactions.

Given these caveats, there are reasons to suspect that response timing would influence personality trait judgments from previously published research. People who respond more quickly than others give the impression of being honest, confident, certain, intelligent, friendly, competent, warm, and just plain “good.” Introversion, based on these earlier findings, could very well be one of the most salient personality traits that become part of this judgment process.

When people hesitate, they give off introversion vibes because they seem more nervous and passive but also less interested, “ultimately exuding an introverted demeanor” (p. 3). The extravert rushes in, but the introvert takes that extra beat to provide their response. While that’s happening, the clock is ticking as the other person forms a personality trait impression.

The outcome of the judgment process can have, according to the authors, important long-term consequences; they state, “response timing is a ubiquitous feature of social interactions that could have surreptitious or insidious effects on important social outcomes” (p. 4).

Putting the Introversion Effect to the Test

Across a series of 14 online experiments, Wang and Ziano tested a variety of scenarios and relevant variables that, in addition to response timing, could influence personality trait judgments. The basic framework of the experiments involved posing participants with a scenario in which they were to rate the extraversion or introversion of the protagonist, as in this example:

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Kerry is a woman in her early 20s, born and raised in Singapore, and is currently a final year student at a local university. One evening, during a family dinner, Kerry's mother asked: “So Kerry have you thought about your specific career plans after graduation?”

Kerry began replying immediately/after a 6-second pause (depending on the response timing condition): “I have a rough plan but I'll need to wait for my final GPA before I plan the specifics.”

Although the authors tested a variety of timing delays in scenarios such as this one, it was the six-second interval that seemed to produce the greatest effect on extraversion or introversion ratings. Confirming this effect, when participants were presented with a protagonist who was described as extraverted or introverted, they estimated a longer delay in responding from an individual described as an introvert.

Several other important results emerged from these rigorously conducted experiments. There were, indeed, potential downstream effects of introversion judgments on simulated job hiring decisions. Candidates who were described as hesitating were less likely to be hired for social job positions but more likely to be seen as desirable solitary job candidates.

Second, even correcting for such possibilities as cognitive load (that is, the protagonist was burdened with another cognitive task), the introversion effect remained robust. Finally, even when the two individuals in the scenario were described as friends, the hesitant responder was perceived as more nervous, and, hence, introverted.

Making the Introversion Effect Work for You

In pulling together all of their findings, the authors conclude that “response timing may be harnessed as an adaptive self-presentation strategy in a range of everyday situations” (p. 18). Perhaps you’re an extrovert who wishes to appeal to someone who seems to be an introvert. Hold back on your tendency to jump in right away when someone asks a question. Give yourself an extra beat that comes more naturally to the introvert. On the other hand, if you are an introvert hoping to look more enthusiastic and engaged, come up with a filler word or phrase (even "um") to bridge the gap while you prepare your answer.

You can even manipulate your online impression in a similar way. When you receive an email asking for an urgent reply, you can give yourself a few extra minutes. Let the sender know you received the request and that you'll provide the answer as soon as you can.

On the flip side, knowing how easy it is to slip into personality trait judgments based on response times, it’s important to keep situational factors in mind when you're in the judging position. As the authors note, because response timing is a nonverbal cue people can control, it may not be all that reliable of a cue.

To sum up, the introversion effect can work for you or against you, but the Wang and Ziano series of experiments suggests that it’s an important influence on the way others see you. Being aware of the personality traits you appear to have can help you as you use those first impressions to lead to long-lasting effects on your fulfillment.

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