Monday, March 24, 2008

Could it Be???

Was that the sound of our meter turning over to 15,000 hits?

Yeah, baby! Congrats to Shari Green who called it first! Sheri will be receiving a copy of the 2008 Golden Kite Winner HOME OF THE BRAVE, by Katherine Applegate. Lucky, lucky girl! And, we think we're even going to be able to hook her up with a signed bookplate from the author.

I'm experiencing some serious MFS (Marketing Fatigue Syndrome), so I taking a brief mental holiday from it all to share some interesting research about introverts and extraverts from Dr. Marti Olsen Laney's great book entitled THE INTROVERT ADVANTAGE.

1. Extraverts do better in grade school and on exams, but introverts do better in college and in graduate school.

2. Extraverts adapt more quickly to time-zone changes than introverts.

3. Extraverts prefer nonsense humor and introverts prefer humor that resolves something or is incongruent.

4. In a test of memory tasks, the introverts performed better than the extraverts, regardless of whether they received positive, negative or no feedback. The extravert's performance was improved by receiving positive feedback.

5. In a study on pain, extraverts complained more about pain but seemed to have a higher tolerence than introverts.

In one of my favorite lines from her book, Dr. Laney describes her thought process as an introvert-- "I found my thoughts were like lost airline baggage; they arrived some time later."

I so get that! I always feel like such a lughead in my writer's group because it takes me about three and half hours to come up with any helpful critical analysis when people share their manuscripts.

Hope you all are enjoying the first days of Spring-- growth, promise, all things new! Thanks for being part of our community. We love having you with us!

Mary Hershey

4 comments:

Shari Green said...

Yay! Thank you! "Home of the Brave" sounds like an amazing book -- can't wait to read it! (Mary, I'll email you my address.)

Love that quote about thoughts being like airline baggage. SO TRUE for me, too. :)

Jennifer R. Hubbard said...

Re the airline baggage thoughts:

I tell people that I should have a little hourglass symbol to display on my forehead, the way the computer does. It would mean, "I am thinking about what you said, and I am still processing it. Please stand by for my response."

Terry P. said...

I love Dr. Laney's description of her thought process. I read it and said, "Aha! So THAT explains it!" I'm with you, Mary---I soooo get that.

Terry

Mary Hershey said...

LA, I love the idea of having a little hourglass on one's forehead. Sign me up. :p

Hi, Terry! Yeah, just like airline luggage fer sure.

Best to you both--
Mary