Ted Talk The Power Of Introverts Analysis

Susan Cain, a well known and appreciated writer from America in the field of psychology, recently held a speech on one of the famous TED talks and entirely captured me by trying to give the audience an understanding of introversion.

Susan Cain’s Ted Talk The Power Of Introverts brought a new conversation to society in how introverts are treated. Five years ago (when this took place) this topic was not very well discussed, which made this piece very eye opening for some. Using Aristotle's appeals: logos and pathos, as well as a comparative argument in her ted talk, Cain persuades viewers that we as a society oppress/shame introverts, not allowing them to strive or be themselves in our now extroverted society. She advocates for a more balanced society that serves both introverts and extroverts instead of just extroverts.

In her article Shyness: Evolutionary Tactic? author Susan Cain addresses many of the preconceived notions society has against introverted people. Cain argues that society tends to favor the outgoing and extroverted and shames those who prefer to be alone rather than socialize. The author utilizes certain writing strategies as a way to change her audience’s original views surrounding introversion. Cain’s use of comparing and contrasting, specific examples, and strong transitions that bridge various ideas to each other make her argument, that introverts are essential to society, much more persuasive.

Susan Cain’s “Power of Introverts” talk was all about the importance of people who are considered introvertly inclined in our society. In her talk, she described first how her family influenced her in being an introvert. Reading is her family’s social activity and that one can roam around through his or her own imagination. She also discussed about her memorable summer camp story where she has discovered the way extrovert people live and tried to shift in this kind of life. With all these changes in her life she never left her introverted life and espoused the ideas that when it comes to creativity and leadership, the society needs introverts and the things where they excel most. She explained that introversion is how one responds to stimulation including social stimulation which is different from a person being shy – the fear of social judgment.

Throughout my teenage years, I was the embodiment of the average introvert. The pressure to succeed and become a first generation college student in my family was overwhelming, and the constant battle of not being good enough defeated me. My parents only spoke Spanish, and were unable to help me with my school assignments. As I struggled with my academics silently, my self-consciousness and insecurities grew. The fear of speaking out in public was a lingering shadow that developed more, as I grew older. Being that English was my second language, I had always felt inferior to those who spoke English as their primary language.

The evidence suggests that the introversion preference suits Chris more than the extroversion preference. According to MBTI Basics, those with an introversion preference are more likely to do things alone or with one or two people who they are comfortable with. This is an obvious trait that Chris repeatedly shows throughout the novel. Carine, Chris' sister, remembers "he was very to himself...he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He could be alone without being lonely (Krakauer 107)." McCandless wasn't antisocial, he just prefered to keep to himself. Even though he liked to keep to himself, Chris still understood how to have proper human interactions. This supports the idea that Chis prefers introversion because he did better working by himself. An extrovert would be more comfortable working in a group and being around other people. As a

Susan Cain is an honors graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. Since graduating Cain has become the chief revolutionary and co-founder of the Quiet Revolution and the co-founder of the Quiet Schools Network and the Quiet Leadership Institute. Cain is also the author of the bestsellers Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for almost three years and was named the #1 best book of the year by Fast Company magazine. The goal of the Quiet Revolution is to unlock the power of introverts for the benefits of everyone which was discussed in the TED talk that is being analyzed in this essay. The TED talk “The power of introverts” has been viewed over 17 million times and was named one of Bill Gates all-time favorite talks. The purpose of this speech was to inform the audience about how introversion is not what most people make it out to be. Throughout her speech, Cain compares and contrast introversion with extroversion and

The thought of wanting to fit in to the majority affects one’s actions, identity, beliefs and values. “All Summer In a Day” by Ray Bradbury is a short story of a girl named Margot who was different from her schoolmates. Being different makes one an outcast to the majority; however, Margot’s beliefs were durable enough for her to grasp on to. Her classmates on the other hand values acceptance more than their own identity. The children’s relationship to others affects their actions, belief and values towards Margot.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking In Quiet, Susan Cain (2013) argues that we undervalue introverts, and therefore she attempts to show us how much we lose by doing so. She describes the rise of the extrovert culture in the 21st century and explains how deeply it has influenced our culture. Additionally, she introduces an example of successful introverts from a high figure who recharges in loneliness after his talks then to a record-breaking sales associate who taps into the questioning power. Passionately argued and well researched, Quiet attempts to permanently change our perspectives towards introverts, and most importantly, make introverts change how they see themselves.

The author of this Ted Talk is Charlie Todd, who titled it “ The Shared Experience of Absurdity. Charlie has been doing improv astonishingly for 10 years since he decided to move to new york with an interest in acting and comey. When TOdd moved however he didn’t have access to a stage as you can imagine. Determined however to make due with what he had he took to the public; filming his humorous improv acts with citizens. SInce taking to the streets in improv he has filmed well over a 100 videos, impressively racking up over 400 million views.

In Quiet, Cain classifies introversion as a temperament that prefers low stimulation, works slowly and deliberately, and gain energy from solitude; extroversion is the opposite, with an inclination for high stimulation, fast living, and constant socializing. In Part One: The Extrovert Ideal, Cain examines the cause and effect of the rise of extroversion in America. According to Cain, America used to be a culture based on character that shifted into a culture revolving around personality. Not just any personality, the American ideal became a gregarious, friendly persona that was an eloquent speaker and sparkling individual. Cain researched a vastly successful individual, Harvard Business School, and an evangelical megachurch with similar results and observations: it was assumed that to be a leader and make any headway in life, one must be an extrovert. However, neither introvert nor extrovert is more suited to leadership, but rather it depends on other factors unique to each situation. Extroversion does not make one a better leader, or a success. In fact, introversion has a key strength when it comes to leadership and the workplace: introverts have the ability to master a skill, focus on one project until fruition, and basically spend hours achieving better results than the more flighty extrovert. Introverts possess an endurance and persistence that extroverts may

According to Susan Cain, the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking a, “colossal waste of talent, energy, and happiness” is wasted when the abilities of introverts are devalued. Her book argues that modern Western Culture has transformed in a culture of personality in which the “extrovert ideal” overshadows introversion. The latter is commonly viewed as inferior; an ideal Cain completely shatters in her well-researched analysis of both temperaments.

Page 4: This might change things because she will not be able to fit into any social groups, she will the lonely, and the “outcast”. As she stepped into her school she realizes that everything about her is wrong, with that in her head she will not be able to relate or have the courage to talk to

There has always been this issue that the Christian faith and the natural sciences cannot intersect with one another. This is even emphasized more when it comes to the ideas of evolution and faith. One has always been told to chose the belief that the world was created through the basis of natural science or the creation story in the Bible, found in the book of Genesis 1. To get an understanding on the perspective of how earth and evolution was viewed, Karen Strand gives us a biblical interpretation as a biblical scholar, while April Maskiewicz gives us biological view as a biology professor. Despite Strand and Maskiewicz being from different academic disciplines, their arguments complement each other in the aspect that they both acknowledge

Kate Simonds’ Ted Talk speaks out the truth of inequity towards young people, especially on teens in regards of voicing and expressing their thoughts and ideas without being neglected. It discusses the challenges of teens’ voice being heard due to the societal perception towards the insignificance of young people’s voice as they are labeled as “naive and ignorant”. Kate Simonds’ stated on her Ted talk that “the only qualification to being a TED speaker is to have an idea. An idea you think is worth spreading” which she stated to be a problem due to her age of 17 which will lead to her idea being accounted to be worthless. To further emphasize her point of unfairness, She added humor on her speech saying “you’re only respecting me because I’m on this stage. Maybe it’s because you like my extremely high heels” which somewhat makes her acceptable to the society to be heard of as she wears “high heels” which can represent maturity because it is most common and norms for an adult to wear heels. Her introduction was well executed as she was able to outline and introduce the problem, thus, leading her to state her opinion on her thesis that “any idea should be respected no matter the age of who it comes from.” Furthermore, she discusses how unfairness towards teens are present in many different situations where adults neglect and don't respect her voice and it was stated that “according to a Life Science article from 2008, that because [she’s] a teenager, [she] can’t experience empathy which is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Also, argues that students are being looked down upon and she talks about the expectations from students such as following the system education and how they are not expected to oblige. Overall, this discusses how young people are often told “You don’t get it, you’re 17. You don’t deserve to have the control over what you learn” this statement is contributing factors to why many voices are often unheard because others are ignorant.