Are Extroverts Healthier Than Introverts? The Immune System Says It All

Recent findings published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology reveal that extroverts may have stronger immune systems.

For the study, researchers at the University of Nottingham examined 121 ethically diverse and healthy adults, 86 female and 35 male. Participants were an average age of 24 and all required to complete a personality test that assessed levels of extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Researchers also collected blood samples from individuals in order to better analyze gene expression.

"Our results indicated that 'extraversion' was significantly associated with an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and that 'conscientiousness' was linked to a reduced expression of pro-inflammatory genes. In other words, individuals who we would expect to be exposed to more infections as a result of their socially orientated nature (i.e., extraverts) appear to have immune systems that we would expect can deal effectively with infection," concluded Professor Kavita Vedhara from The University of Nottingham's School of Medicine, in a news release. "While individuals who may be less exposed to infections because of their cautious/conscientious dispositions have immune systems that may respond less well. We can't, however, say which came first. Is this our biology determining our psychology or our psychology determining our biology?"

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