A Little Theory About Personality Traits and Restroom Stalls

I've only hidden in restrooms twice in my life--once in seventh grade to hide from a bully and once in 10th grade to get out of an English classroom presentation.

Professor Brian Little hides in restroom stalls before and after he lectures to academic audiences. You'd never guess this man is an acclaimed instructor at Cambridge University and author of Me, Myself and Us: The Science of Personality and the Art of Well-Being.  An "extreme introvert," Professor Little is able to do what many introverts do--pretend he's a superstar on stage! His gregarious rhetoric and lighthearted humor dazzle his audiences, but his public persona concludes the moment he walks off stage, and he seeks quiet, restorative spaces where he can avoid small talk, superficial conversation, and awkward moments. Bathrooms make good hiding places.

Professor Little explains how he and other introverts are able to step out of their comfort zones and temporarily behave like extroverts, how they're able to borrow the talisman of others and carry it like a torch for a short while. He's coined the phrase Free Trait Theory--the belief that personality traits are much more fluid than previously believed. Our personality traits aren't fixed, contends Little, and because personality traits aren't fixed, people can temporarily adopt public personalities, for example. Free Trait Theory is especially true for introverts if they are passionate about special projects and subjects. That passion creates the spark they need for them to enter worlds that are uncomfortable for them.

I pretend too. I don't hide in restroom stalls now but I do seek corners of crowded rooms. My inner wallflower calls me to the comfortable corners. Now, on purpose, I walk through the center of the room. It takes a bit of concentration and a flip of the hair, but I put a confident smile on my face and a spring in my step and walk to the center of the room. Professor Little would give me a knowing smile. I can appreciate the deep breath he and others like myself take when they step onto stages. They do it whether they're feeling particularly confident or not. They do it because their pursuits propel them forward.

As an instructional coach for my school district, I step onto stages often. It's not comfortable for me, and each workshop I facilitate causes me to become incredibly klutzy, but I begin speaking about the workshop topic and become someone else. It's so refreshing. My message becomes so meaningful to me that I forget about myself and focus on my audience instead.

We can teach students to pretend, too, especially our introverts. It's just too easy to overlook them, but we can get them so engaged with personally satisfying and meaningful projects that they are willing to place themselves on stages to promote these projects. Isn't that the goal of education--to get our students so motivated and concerned about certain subjects that it causes them to speak and write like scholars so the world will listen?

I'm delighted to know that I'm not alone. Wouldn't it be empowering for students to know that too?

"Speak with conviction. Even if you believe something only fifty-five percent, say it as you believe it a hundred percent" (Cain 47).  This Harvard Business School mantra teaches brilliant-minded individuals to rely on personality rather than substance. Introverts appreciate the honest and genuine. How much more powerful for our students to speak with 100% conviction! My goal as an educator is to give them that chance.