With many large campus events such as WILD, ThurtenE, and cultural celebrations canceled due to the pandemic, a largely online school year has taken a toll on students’ performance and mental health. 

This lack of access to in-person stimulation has hindered students’ well-being and ability to perform to varying extents. 

According to Washington University psychology professor Tim Bono, the ways students are impacted by the altered state of the world are at least somewhat predicated on where they tend to draw energy. This phenomenon is rooted in the psychology behind introversion and extroversion, and how personality types can affect an individual’s reaction to the conditions of the pandemic.

“There’s this inverted U-shape that depicts performance, whether we perform well, and feel good about ourselves and how much environmental stimulation is around us,” Bono said. 

According to Bono, introverts require less stimulation than extroverts to reach their peak performance. “Extroverts have a higher optimal level of arousal, which means that if you put an extrovert in an environment that is completely austere and silent and there’s nothing going on … the extroverts are like ‘I need energy, I need other people around,” Bono said. 

For freshman Kelsey Kloezeman, who defines herself as an introvert, the lack of external stimulation has been less of a burden on introverts than extroverts this year.

“I’m glad I’m not as much of an extrovert because then I think I would be struggling a lot more,” Kloezeman said. “I feel kind of lucky because I don’t crave being around people all the time.”

Kloezeman said that it has been a bonus to feel less social pressure during the pandemic. “It’s nice because now I have an excuse to not have to be out all the time, because sometimes it was just so draining,” Kloezeman said.

While the feeling of being drained from social interactions has largely lessened for introverts during the pandemic, extroverts have had a different experience. 

Normally, extroverts can surround themselves with increased stimulation by going to places like busy restaurants where they can derive energy. But that is no longer the case. “The pandemic is now putting people in situations where there’s just not much going on,” Bono said. “You can’t just go to a crowded coffee shop, because coffee shops, even if they are open, are not allowed to be crowded.”

That change is taking a particular toll. “There is some evidence to suggest that this is, again it’s affecting everybody, but it’s especially affecting extroverts, who usually work at their peak performance when there’s a lot of stimulation in the environment,” Bono said.

Though many stimulating environments are off limits, extroverted students have found ways to get some of the stimulation they need. 

“Sometimes I’ll just sit in Risa or BD,” freshman Riley Endries, a self-defined extrovert, said. “Even though I know I’m not gonna be as productive to do work in those places, just hearing people and having people around me, definitely energizes me a little bit.”

In addition to practices for the track team and pick-up ultimate frisbee games, Endries has also derived energy from sending direct messages to people on Zoom.

“I Zoom DM people all the time,” Endres said. “There have been times where I can’t find what the professor sent to the group, cause it’s buried under a lot of Zoom DMs.”

The issue of becoming distracted in class, whether that it be Zoom direct messaging or scrolling through social media, can sometimes be correlated with levels of extrovertedness. Students who function better with higher levels of stimulation can find it more difficult to stay focused in a Zoom class, Bono said, and it has also been more difficult for some students to complete homework outside of class. 

“There were numerous times where my mom would get on me in senior year and be like ‘Riley you need to do your work,’ and I’m like, ‘Mom, I literally can’t. I need people,’” Endres said. 

In addition to the unique burdens that the pandemic has placed on extroverted students, introverted individuals have also faced challenges. Most notably, Bono said that introverts are less inclined to seek out social connections than extroverts, which can pose a challenge for some.

“Sometimes just part of their quiet and more reserved nature means that they’re not necessarily going to be putting as much effort and energy into [reaching out to people],” Bono said. 

However, Bono said that the necessity for social connection is still universal.

“The strength of our connections to other people is hands down the strongest predictor of our wellbeing at any time, but especially during times of adversity we become like social magnets; we want to connect with other people,” Bono said.

Bono suggested that introverts try making it a point to reach out over text to friends, because that connection could help improve students’ moods.

Another important aspect of life that people have lost to some degree during the pandemic is looking forward to good experiences, Bono said.

“Another source of happiness for us in our lives is just anticipation, and there just have not been as many events that we’ve been able to anticipate at Wash. U.,” Bono said. In a normal year, Bono noted that students can look forward to WILD, ThurtenE and cultural celebrations that are unable to happen this year. 

While the events that introverts and extroverts look forward to may differ, anticipation is a global source of joy, Bono said. Quizzes and work have to be “balanced by fun things to look forward to, and the pandemic has taken away the ability to look forward to all those other things.”

Bono suggested that people try to recall fond memories and look forward to creating new ones in the future, because the memory or anticipation of an event can bring additional joy into one’s life. “This is temporary, this has been a terrible year, year and a half,” he said, “but remember, you’ve had a lifetime of experiences up to this point, and one day we will get back to that.”