Childhood trauma such as parents or authority figures being neglectful, insane and unpredictable can cause fear of humans and thus introversion.
Making eye contact is often the initial step to social interaction, if someone keeps getting hurt in these interactions then they associate eye contact with the risk of provoking a bad reaction.
So they become afraid to make eye contact. This is a good sign that someone has been traumatised, as it is not natural to fear this.
Humans are social animals that communicate with facial expressions among other things, survival depends on working together in groups. Evolution would purge such an instinct.
So there's almost nobody who is naturally afraid of looking at someone's eyes.
Most average people are not lunatics who fly off the handle at the slightest issue.
Extroversion can be caused by having parents who demand constant emotional support and become unstable when left alone.
The child learns that they must manage the emotional state of people around them at all times in order to remain safe.
All the while, as you put it, secretly wishing they could just be alone.
Yes.
Childhood trauma such as parents or authority figures being neglectful, insane and unpredictable can cause fear of humans and thus introversion.
Making eye contact is often the initial step to social interaction, if someone keeps getting hurt in these interactions then they associate eye contact with the risk of provoking a bad reaction.
So they become afraid to make eye contact. This is a good sign that someone has been traumatised, as it is not natural to fear this.
Humans are social animals that communicate with facial expressions among other things, survival depends on working together in groups. Evolution would purge such an instinct.
So there's almost nobody who is naturally afraid of looking at someone's eyes.
Most average people are not lunatics who fly off the handle at the slightest issue.
Extroversion can be caused by having parents who demand constant emotional support and become unstable when left alone.
The child learns that they must manage the emotional state of people around them at all times in order to remain safe.
All the while, as you put it, secretly wishing they could just be alone.
I like growing up.
It's fun, you get to work all this stuff out and try to better your life.
Can't say I had the rosiest of childhoods, but there's certainly a satisfaction to laying this mess to rest.
And I hope to take other people along on that journey with me.