If You Feel Like an Introvert and an Extrovert at the Same Time, Psychologists Say There’s a Reason

Have you ever had the strange feeling that the usual personality labels don’t quite fit you?

You can talk to people easily enough. Conversations don’t scare you. You can be warm, curious, and fully present when you’re with someone one-on-one. Yet the moment you’re surrounded by larger groups, something shifts. The social rhythm others seem to enjoy starts to feel oddly artificial.

It’s not that you dislike people. And it’s not that you struggle socially.

In fact, many people who experience this pattern are perfectly capable of navigating conversations, professional events, or gatherings when they need to. But deep down, they often feel slightly out of sync with the typical social categories everyone else seems to fall into.

For years, many have assumed they must simply be introverted. Others wonder if they’re somehow socially unusual, or just wired differently than the people around them.

But psychologists increasingly recognize that this experience may reflect something else entirely.

There is now a name for this pattern.

And once people discover it, the reaction is almost always the same: ‘This explains my entire life.’

For most of my life, I carried a quiet contradiction inside me – I could be friendly, even engaging, when I chose to be, yet I never felt like I truly fit in anywhere. I could hold conversations, smile at parties, and care deeply about individuals, but in groups, something about me always felt… elsewhere. It wasn’t shyness. It wasn’t introversion. It wasn’t that I feared people – I simply didn’t belong in the way everyone else seemed to. 

It wasn’t until I discovered the concept of Otherness and the personality type known as the otrovert that the internal tension I’d lived with my whole life suddenly made sense. For the first time, I had a name for the way I experienced the world, and I felt like I was finally standing inside a description that fit me – not just superficially, but profoundly. I can finally say: I am an otrovert. Not an introvert, not an extrovert, but something distinct – a type of people that most personality psychology has never fully captured before.

What Is an Otrovert – and Why You’ve Never Heard of It Before

The term otrovert was introduced in 2025 – so, yes, it is very new – by psychiatrist Dr. Rami Kaminski and has been gaining attention as a new lens on personality outside the traditional introvert/extrovert framework. In his work and through the Otherness Institute, Kaminski argues that some people simply never fully transition from solitary awareness to communal belonging in the way most people do. This isn’t a disorder or a pathology – it’s a distinct relational orientation that shapes how a person experiences connection, social engagement, and their own inner world.

While introverts and extroverts represent opposite ends of a social energy spectrum – one drawing inward, the other outward – otroverts occupy a unique position that isn’t on that traditional continuum at all. They are not defined by how much social interaction they want, but by how they relate to belonging itself.

I am including below some of the characteristics of the otroverts – so that you can see if it is applying to you too – or to someone you know. 

For me, the more characteristics I read, the more I related to them, the more I got a sense of belonging, of being understood.

It Isn’t Social Anxiety – It’s a Different Kind of Self

At the heart of otherness is a profound sense of autonomy and internal orientation. Unlike people who seek approval, validation, or group identity as a psychological anchor, otroverts derive their sense of self from within, not from the collective around them. This internal locus of identity means:

• They do not need to convince others of any personal belief, because their convictions rest on internal reasoning, not social agreement.
• They do not seek or enjoy approval from the rest, and they aren’t driven by amplification of self through recognition or recognition.
• They have no inherent respect for rules or regulations, even though they can behave in orderly ways and “follow the rules” to maintain peace; internally, however, those rules don’t carry moral weight.

These aren’t quirky side notes – they are structural features of Otrovert psychology. They shape how an otrovert processes the world and how they show up in relationships, work, and cultural life.

Deep Thinking. Independent Philosophy. Original Insight.

Otroverts aren’t just individuals who enjoy solitude or who dislike parties. Their minds are internal engines of inquiry:

• They do not accept ideas or notions without examining them for themselves – dogma and appeal to authority do not persuade them.
• They develop their own personal philosophy to guide their life rather than adopting one from the outside – their internal logic is the primary reference point.
• As a result, they are naturally eclectic rather than specialized – their curiosity spans multiple domains, and they resist being boxed into narrow intellectual categories.

This combination gives them a distinctive cognitive footprint: they can connect deeply and authentically with individuals while being unable to translate that connection into understanding how groups think or feel. They often are deeply empathetic – able to “tune in” to another person’s inner world – yet simultaneously baffled by the logic of collective sentiment or group identity.

As a note, I resonate completely with the statements above – I was surprised to see them as characteristics of otroverts.

Not Quiet – Private, Boundaried, and Deeply Independent

Otroverts don’t simply dislike crowds. They experience privacy as a psychological boundary that isn’t easily or casually breached:

• They are often uncomfortable with physical exposure, especially in environments like crowded beaches or busy social spaces where individual presence is public.
• They can experience difficulty revealing true feelings and thoughts even to close loved ones, not because they lack emotional depth, but because privacy is a default state – their thoughts and feelings are not automatically public property.
• They don’t thrive on small talk, surface connections, or group rituals; depth, silence, and reflection are where they feel most themselves.

Yet this deep internal life does not make them unsocial in the clinical sense. Quite the opposite: otroverts are often very polite, kind, and considerate. They avoid conflict and are highly confrontation-averse, not because they shrink from tension, but because they don’t see value in escalated group conflict and prefer peace where possible.

What Makes Otroverts Feel Different Than Introverts and Extroverts

ID 419531106 ©Alexander Kharchenko | Dreamstime.com  

In traditional personality theory – like Carl Jung’s introvert/extrovert framework – introversion and extraversion describe where a person’s energy flows: inward or outward. But even introverts usually feel a fundamental psychological link to group belonging; they want connection, just in smaller or calmer forms. Otroverts, in contrast, simply don’t manifest that belonging drive at all.

This is what makes otroverts different from ambiverts (those balanced between introversion and extraversion) and communal introverts: it isn’t just how much they engage socially – it’s that they are not psychologically wired to need or internalize belonging as a category of identity.

They may flourish in one-on-one interaction, deeply appreciate a meaningful friendship, or be warm and engaging up close – yet they remain outsiders to the group itself, even when included.

A Life of Rich One-on-One Connection – and Quiet Solitude

This personality type doesn’t imply loneliness or isolation in a clinical sense. In fact, many otroverts:

• Form profound one-on-one relationships without craving a friend circle.
• Can be empathetic and emotionally present with individuals even while finding group dynamics confusing or draining.
• Appreciate solitude as a natural state, not a retreat from the world.
• Thrive in environments that allow intellectual autonomy.

The otrovert experience can feel paradoxical: I am social, but I do not belong to society.
I can love deeply, yet feel alienated from collective rituals.
I am friendly, yet fundamentally independent.

And that paradox – previously unnamed – is exactly what makes the concept of Otherness so powerful.

Where You Can Explore More

I am so happy I discovered this and I am encouraging you to read more from the source.

If you want to read the full list of traits and how they manifest in daily life, the official framework of otherness is publicly available here:
https://www.othernessinstitute.com/traits-of-otherness/

And if you want to see where you fall on the Otherness Scale yourself, there’s a free online assessment here:
https://www.othernessinstitute.com/the-otherness-scale/

My Score – and Why This Matters

I took the otherness test.

I scored over 200 out of 280 – a score that confirmed what I’d always sensed but could never articulate.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I finally found myself – in terms of the types mentioned in the article. I have always been OK in crowds, with people, speaking in public, etc. (in fact, I am a public relations and communication expert with more than 20 years of experience), but I still had so many other traits that could be considered more towards the introverts. Yet not there, fully, either. 

I did not care about this – not finding myself in either of the two categories – but now I can say that I am happy that people investigated more on the topic, and we are now advancing in this area.

I know there is still a long way to go before seeing this in psychology books (peer reviews are required), but I can only hope this will be done, and we will have the three types in manuals soon.  

Photo source

Violeta Loredana

Violeta-Loredana Pascal is a communications expert, business mentor, and the founder of Earth’s Attractions and PRwave INTERNATIONAL. A pioneer in the Romanian digital PR landscape since 2005, she holds a degree in Communication and Social Sciences from SNSPA Bucharest. Violeta is a senior trainer at AcademiadeAfaceri.ro, where she leverages over 20 years of experience to teach professional courses in PR strategy and workplace productivity. By blending high-level business consulting with a passion for holistic travel and wellness, she empowers solopreneurs to overcome procrastination, build profitable brands, and design a life of purposeful adventure.