Keeping introverts on your side could pay real dividends at the office. That’s because introverts are more likely to give negative employee evaluations if they don’t like your personality, according to a study from researchers at Oregon State University, the University of Florida and University of Notre Dame.

Extroverts received the harshest evaluations from introverts, who consistently undervalued their outspoken coworkers’ abilities and contributions. Likewise, introverts systematically rated the performance of fellow introverts higher than the average employee. Employee evaluations that extroverts gave, however, tended not to be affected by the personality of who they were evaluating.

“That gives employees a tremendous amount of power to influence their peers’ career opportunities. It’s something individuals and employers should be aware of.”

The results are particularly important as corporate culture moves in the direction of employee-centered compensation programs. At Google, for example, employees can nominated each other for a series of rewards, including bonuses, promotions, and salary raises.

Researchers say the results of their study demonstrate the power of personality.

“We found that introverted employees are especially sensitive to their co-workers’ interpersonal traits, in particular extraversion and disagreeableness. They make judgments and evaluate performance of others with those traits in mind.”

In his Big Think interview, University of Texas, Austin, psychology professor Sam Gosling examines the ways we express our personality through our workplace behavior, and in how we arrange and decorate our personal space:

The Mind of Your Coworker Sam Gosling

Play Video

Play

Mute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration Time 0:00

Loaded: 0%

Progress: 0%

Stream TypeLIVE

Remaining Time -0:00

Playback Rate

1

• Chapters

Chapters

• descriptions off, selected

Descriptions

• subtitles off, selected

Subtitles

• captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
• captions off, selected

Captions

Audio Track

Fullscreen

This is a modal window.

Captions Settings Dialog

Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.

Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Opaque Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque

Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400%

Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow

Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps

Defaults Done

Sam Gosling

Professor of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin

01:47

Photo credit: Shutterstock