title: Cybercrime

text: When the individual is the main target of cybercrime, the computer can be considered as the tool rather than the target. These crimes generally involve less technical expertise. Human weaknesses are generally exploited. The damage dealt is largely psychological and intangible, making legal action against the variants more difficult. These are the crimes which have existed for centuries in the offline world. Scams, theft, and the like existed before the development of computers and the internet. The same criminal has simply been given a tool which increases their potential pool of victims and makes them all the harder to trace and apprehend.


title: Cybercrime

text: The unsolicited sending of bulk email for commercial purposes (spam) is unlawful in some jurisdictions.


title: Cybercrime

text: Phishing is mostly propagated via email. Phishing emails may contain links to other websites that are affected by malware. Or, they may contain links to fake online banking or other websites used to steal private account information.


title: Cybercrime

text: The content of websites and other electronic communications may be distasteful, obscene, or offensive for a variety of reasons. In some instances, these communications may be illegal.


title: Cybercrime

text: The extent to which these communications are unlawful varies greatly between countries, and even within nations. It is a sensitive area in which the courts can become involved in arbitrating between groups with strong beliefs.


title: Cybercrime

text: One area of Internet pornography that has been the target of the strongest efforts at curtailment is child pornography, which is illegal in most jurisdictions in the world.


title: Cybercrime

text: Ad-frauds are particularly popular among cybercriminals, as such frauds are less likely to be prosecuted and are particularly lucrative cybercrimes. Jean-Loup Richet, Professor at the Sorbonne Business School, classified the large variety of ad-fraud observed in cybercriminal communities into three categories: (1) identity fraud; (2) attribution fraud; and (3) ad-fraud services.


title: Cybercrime

text: Identity fraud aims to impersonate real users and inflate audience numbers. Several ad-fraud techniques relate to this category and include traffic from bots (coming from a hosting company or a data center, or from compromised devices); cookie stuffing; falsifying user characteristics, such as location and browser type; fake social traffic (misleading users on social networks into visiting the advertised website); and the creation of fake social signals to make a bot look more legitimate, for instance by opening a Twitter or Facebook account.


title: Cybercrime

text: Attribution fraud aims to impersonate real users' behaviors (clicks, activities, conversations, etc.). Multiple ad-fraud techniques belong to this category: hijacked devices and the use of infected users (through malware) as part of a botnet to participate in ad fraud campaigns; click farms (companies where low-wage employees are paid to click or engage in conversations and affiliates' offers); incentivized browsing; video placement abuse (delivered in display banner slots); hidden ads (that will never be viewed by real users); domain spoofing (ads served on a website other than the advertised real-time bidding website); and clickjacking (user is forced to click on the ad).


title: Cybercrime

text: Ad fraud services are related to all online infrastructure and hosting services that might be needed to undertake identity or attribution fraud. Services can involve the creation of spam websites (fake networks of websites created to provide artificial backlinks); link building services; hosting services; creation of fake and scam pages impersonating a famous brand and used as part of an ad fraud campaign.


title: Cybercrime

text: A successful ad-fraud campaign involves a sophisticated combination of these three types of ad-fraud—sending fake traffic through bots using fake social accounts and falsified cookies; bots will click on the ads available on a scam page that is faking a famous brand.


title: Cybercrime

text: Whereas content may be offensive in a non-specific way, harassment directs obscenities and derogatory comments at specific individuals focusing for example on gender, race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation.


title: Cybercrime

text: There are instances where committing a crime using a computer can lead to an enhanced sentence. For example, in the case of "United States v. Neil Scott Kramer", the defendant was given an enhanced sentence according to the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual §2G1.3(b)(3) for his use of a cell phone to "persuade, induce, entice, coerce, or facilitate the travel of, the minor to engage in prohibited sexual conduct." Kramer appealed the sentence on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to convict him under this statute because his charge included persuading through a computer device and his cellular phone technically is not a computer. Although Kramer tried to argue this point, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual states that the term "computer" means "an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other high-speed data processing device performing logical, arithmetic, or storage functions, and includes any data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with such device."


title: Cybercrime

text: In the United States, over 41 states have passed laws and regulations that regard extreme online harassment as a criminal act. These acts can be punished on a federal scale, such as US Code 18 Section 2261A, which states that using computers to threaten or harass can lead to a sentence of up to 20 years, depending on the action taken.


title: Cybercrime

text: Several countries outside of the United States have also created laws to combat online harassment. In China, a country that supports over 20 percent of the world's internet users, the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council  passed a strict law against the bullying of young people through a bill in response to the Human Flesh Search Engine. The United Kingdom passed the Malicious Communications Act, among other acts from 1997 to 2013, which stated that sending messages or letters electronically that the government deemed "indecent or grossly offensive" and/or language intended to cause "distress and anxiety" can lead to a prison sentence of six months and a potentially large fine.  Australia, while not directly addressing the issue of harassment, has grouped the majority of online harassment under the Criminal Code Act of 1995. Using telecommunication to send threats or harass and cause offense was a direct violation of this act.


title: Cybercrime

text: Although freedom of speech is protected by law in most democratic societies (in the US this is done by the First Amendment), it does not include all types of speech. In fact, spoken or written "true threat" speech or text is criminalized because of "intent to harm or intimidate". That also applies to online or network-related threats in written text or speech.


title: Cybercrime

text: Cyberbullying has increased drastically with the growing popularity of online social networking. As of January 2020, 44% of adult internet users in the United States have "personally experienced online harassment". Children who experience online harassment deal with negative and sometimes life-threatening side effects. In 2021, reports displayed 41% of children developing social anxiety, 37% of children developing depression, and 26% of children having suicidal thoughts.


title: Cybercrime

text: The United Arab Emirates was named in a spying scandal where the Gulf nation along with other repressive governments purchased NSO Group's mobile spyware Pegasus for mass surveillance. Prominent activists and journalists were targeted as part of the campaign, including Ahmed Mansoor, Princess Latifa, Princess Haya, and more. Ghada Oueiss was one of the many high-profile female journalists and activists who became the target of online harassment. Oueiss filed a lawsuit against UAE ruler Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan along with other defendants, accusing them of sharing her photos online. The defendants, including the UAE ruler, filed motions to dismiss the case of the hack-and-leak attack.


title: Cybercrime

text: Darknet markets are used to buy and sell recreational drugs online. Some drug traffickers use encrypted messaging tools to communicate with drug mules or potential customers. The dark web site Silk Road was the first major online marketplace for drugs, starting operation in 2011. It was permanently shut down in 2014 by the FBI and Europol. After Silk Road 2.0 went down, Silk Road 3 Reloaded emerged. However, it was just an older marketplace named Diabolus Market, that used the name for more exposure from the brand's previous success.


title: Cybercrime

text: Darknet markets have had a rise in traffic in recent years for many reasons, one of the biggest contributors being the anonymity offered in purchases, and often a seller-review system. There are many ways in which darknet markets can financially drain individuals. Vendors and customers alike go to great lengths to keep their identities a secret while online. Commonly used tools are virtual private networks, Tails, and the Tor Browser to help hide their online presence. Darknet markets entice customers by making them feel comfortable. People can easily gain access to a Tor browser with DuckDuckGo browser that allows a user to explore much deeper than other browsers such as Google Chrome. However, actually gaining access to an illicit market is not as simple as typing it in on a search engine like one would with Google. Darknet markets have special links that change frequently, ending in .onion as opposed to the typical .com, .net, and .org domain extensions. To add to privacy, the most prevalent currency on these markets is Bitcoin. Bitcoin allows transactions to be anonymous, with the only information available to the public being the record that a transaction occurred between two parties.


title: Cybercrime

text: One of the biggest issues the users who use marketplaces face is when vendors or the market itself are exit scamming. This is when usually a vendor with a high rating will act as if they are still selling on the market and have users pay for products they will not receive. The vendor will then close off their account after receiving money from multiple buyers and never send what they purchased. The vendors all being involved in illegal activities have a low chance of not exit scamming when they no longer want to be a vendor. In 2019, an entire market known as Wall Street Market had allegedly exit scammed, stealing 30 million dollars from the vendors' and buyers' wallets in bitcoin.


title: Cybercrime

text: Federal agents have cracked down on these markets. In July 2017, federal agents seized one of the biggest markets, commonly called Alphabay, which later re-opened in August 2021 under the control of DeSnake, one of the original administrators. Commonly, investigators will pose as a buyer and order products from darknet vendors in the hopes that vendors leave a trail the investigators can follow. One investigation had an investigator pose as a firearms seller and for six months people purchased from them and provided home addresses. The investigators were able to make over a dozen arrests during this six-month investigation. Another one of law enforcement's biggest crackdowns is on vendors selling fentanyl and opiates. With thousands of people dying each year due to drug overdose, investigators have made it a priority. Many vendors do not realize the extra criminal charges that go along with selling drugs online. Commonly they get charged with money laundering and charges for when the drugs are shipped in the mail on top of being a drug distributor. In 2019, a vendor was sentenced to 10 years in prison after selling cocaine and methamphetamine under the name JetSetLife. Although many investigators spend large amounts of time tracking down people, in 2018, only 65 suspects who bought and sold illegal goods on some of the biggest markets were identified. This is compared to the thousands of transactions taking place daily on these markets.


title: Cybercrime

text: It is difficult to find and combat cybercrime perpetrators due to their use of the internet in support of cross-border attacks. Not only does the internet allow people to be targeted from various locations, but the scale of the harm done can be magnified. Cybercriminals can target more than one person at a time. The availability of virtual spaces to public and private sectors has allowed cybercrime to become an everyday occurrence. In 2018, The Internet Crime Complaint Center received 351,937 complaints of cybercrime, which lead to $2.7 billion lost.


title: Cybercrime

text: In a criminal investigation, a computer can be a source of evidence (see digital forensics). Even where a computer is not directly used for criminal purposes, it may contain records of value to criminal investigators in the form of a logfile. In most countries, Internet Service Providers are required, by law, to keep their logfiles for a predetermined amount of time. For example, the EU-wide Data Retention Directive (previously applicable to all EU member states) stated that all e-mail traffic should be retained for a minimum of 12 months.


title: Cybercrime

text: There are many ways for cybercrime to take place, and investigations tend to start with an IP Address trace; however, that is not necessarily a factual basis upon which detectives can solve a case. Different types of high-tech crime may also include elements of low-tech crime, and vice versa, making cybercrime investigators an indispensable part of modern law enforcement. Methods of cybercrime detective work are dynamic and constantly improving, whether in closed police units or in international cooperation framework.


title: Cybercrime

text: In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are government agencies that combat cybercrime. The FBI has trained agents and analysts in cybercrime placed in their field offices and headquarters. Under the DHS, the Secret Service has a Cyber Intelligence Section that works to target financial cyber crimes. They use their intelligence to protect against international cybercrime. Their efforts work to protect institutions, such as banks, from intrusions and information breaches. Based in Alabama, the Secret Service and the Alabama Office of Prosecution Services work together to train professionals in law enforcement through the creation of The National Computer Forensic Institute. This institute works to provide "state and local members of the law enforcement community with training in cyber incident response, investigation, and forensic examination in cyber incident response, investigation, and forensic examination."


title: Cybercrime

text: Due to the common use of encryption and other techniques to hide their identity and location by cybercriminals, it can be difficult to trace a perpetrator after the crime is committed, so prevention measures are crucial.


title: Cybercrime

text: The Department of Homeland Security also instituted the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program. The CDM Program monitors and secures government networks by tracking and prioritizing network risks, and informing system personnel so that they can take action. In an attempt to catch intrusions before the damage is done, the DHS created the Enhanced Cybersecurity Services (ECS) to protect public and private sectors in the United States. The Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency approves private partners that provide intrusion detection and prevention services through the ECS. An example of one of these services offered is DNS sinkholing.


title: Cybercrime

text: Many cybersecurity products and technologies are used by organizations, but cybersecurity professionals have been skeptical of prevention-focused strategies. The mode of use of cybersecurity products has also been called into question. Google click fraud czar Shuman Ghosemajumder has argued that companies using a combination of individual products for security is not a scalable approach and advocated for the use of cybersecurity technology primarily in the form of services.


title: Cybercrime

text: Due to easily exploitable laws, cybercriminals use developing countries in order to evade detection and prosecution from law enforcement. In developing countries such as the Philippines, laws against cybercrime are weak or sometimes nonexistent. These weak laws allow cybercriminals to strike from international borders and remain undetected. Even when identified, these criminals avoid being punished or extradited to a country, such as the United States, that has developed laws that allow for prosecution. While this proves difficult in some cases, agencies, such as the FBI, have used deception and subterfuge to catch criminals. For example, two Russian hackers had been evading the FBI for some time. The FBI set up a fake computing company based in Seattle, Washington. They proceeded to lure the two Russian men into the United States by offering them work with this company. Upon completion of the interview, the suspects were arrested outside of the building. Clever tricks like this are sometimes a necessary part of catching cybercriminals when weak legislation makes it impossible otherwise.


title: Cybercrime

text: Then-President Barack Obama released an executive order in April 2015 to combat cybercrime. The executive order allows the United States to freeze the assets of convicted cybercriminals and block their economic activity within the United States. This is some of the first solid legislation that combats cybercrime in this way.


title: Cybercrime

text: The European Union adopted directive 2013/40/EU. All offences of the directive, and other definitions and procedural institutions are also in the Council of Europe's Convention on Cybercrime.


title: Cybercrime

text: It is not only the US and the European Union that are introducing new measures against cybercrime. On 31 May 2017, China announced that its new cybersecurity law takes effect on this date.


title: Cybercrime

text: In Australia, common legislation in Commonwealth jurisdiction which is applied to combat cybercrime by means of criminal offence provisions and information gathering and enforcement powers includes the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth), the Telecommunications Act 1997 (Cth), and the Enhancing Online Safety Act 2015 (Cth).


title: Cybercrime

text: In "Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales v Care Park Pty Limited [2012] NSWCA 35", it was found that the use of a discovery order made upon a third party for the purposes of determining the identity or whereabouts of a person may be exercised merely on the prerequisite that such information requested will aid the litigation process.


title: Cybercrime

text: In "Dallas Buyers Club LLC v iiNet Limited [2015] FCA 317", guidance is provided on the interpretation of rule 7.22 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) with respect to the issue of to what extent a discovery order must identify a person for it to be a valid request for information to determine the identity or whereabouts of a person in the circumstance of an end-user of an internet service being a different person to the account holder. Justice Perram stated: "... it is difficult to identify any good reason why a rule designed to aid a party in identifying wrongdoers should be so narrow as only to permit the identification of the actual wrongdoer rather than the witnesses of that wrongdoing."


title: Cybercrime

text: Penalties for computer-related crimes in New York State can range from a fine and a short period of jail time for a Class A misdemeanor such as unauthorized use of a computer up to computer tampering in the first degree which is a Class C felony and can carry 3 to 15 years in prison.


title: Cybercrime

text: However, some hackers have been hired as information security experts by private companies due to their inside knowledge of computer crime, a phenomenon which theoretically could create perverse incentives. A possible counter to this is for courts to ban convicted hackers from using the Internet or computers, even after they have been released from prisonthough as computers and the Internet become more and more central to everyday life, this type of punishment may be viewed as more and more harsh and draconian. However, nuanced approaches have been developed that manage cyber offenders' behavior without resorting to total computer or Internet bans. These approaches involve restricting individuals to specific devices which are subject to computer monitoring or computer searches by probation or parole officers.


title: Cybercrime

text: As technology advances and more people rely on the internet to store sensitive information such as banking or credit card information, criminals increasingly attempt to steal that information. Cybercrime is becoming more of a threat to people across the world. Raising awareness about how information is being protected and the tactics criminals use to steal that information continues to grow in importance. According to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center in 2014, there were 269,422 complaints filed. With all the claims combined there was a reported total loss of $800,492,073. But cybercrime does not yet seem to be on the average person's radar. There are 1.5 million cyber-attacks annually, which means that there are over 4,000 attacks a day, 170 attacks every hour, or nearly three attacks every minute, with studies showing that only 16% of victims had asked the people who were carrying out the attacks to stop. Anybody who uses the internet for any reason can be a victim, which is why it is important to be aware of how one is being protected while online.


title: Cybercrime

text: As cybercrime has proliferated, a professional ecosystem has evolved to support individuals and groups seeking to profit from cybercriminal activities. The ecosystem has become quite specialized, including malware developers, botnet operators, professional cybercrime groups, groups specializing in the sale of stolen content, and so forth. A few of the leading cybersecurity companies have the skills, resources and visibility to follow the activities of these individuals and groups. A wide variety of information is available from these sources which can be used for defensive purposes, including technical indicators such as hashes of infected files or malicious IPs/URLs, as well as strategic information profiling the goals, techniques and campaigns of the profiled groups. Some of it is freely published, but consistent, ongoing access typically requires subscribing to an adversary intelligence subscription service. At the level of an individual threat actor, threat intelligence is often referred to as that actor's "TTP" or "tactics, techniques, and procedures", as the infrastructure, tools, and other technical indicators are often trivial for attackers to change. Corporate sectors are considering crucial role of artificial intelligence cybersecurity.


title: Cybercrime

text: INTERPOL Cyber Fusion Center has begun a collaboration with cybersecurity key players to distribute information on the latest online scams, cyber threats and risks to internet users. Reports cutting across social engineered frauds, ransomware, phishing, and other has since 2017 been distributed to security agencies in over 150 countries.


title: Cybercrime

text: The broad diffusion of cybercriminal activities is an issue in computer crime detection and prosecution.


title: Cybercrime

text: Hacking has become less complex as hacking communities have greatly diffused their knowledge through the Internet. Blogs and communities have contributed substantially to information sharing as beginners can benefit from older hackers' knowledge and advice.


title: Cybercrime

text: Furthermore, hacking is cheaper than ever: before the cloud computing era, in order to spam or scam one needed a dedicated server, skills in server management, network configuration, and maintenance, knowledge of Internet service provider standards, etc. By comparison, a mail software-as-a-service is a scalable, inexpensive, bulk, and transactional e-mail-sending service for marketing purposes and could be easily set up for spam. Cloud computing could be helpful for a cybercriminal as a way to leverage his or her attack, in terms of brute-forcing a password, improving the reach of a botnet, or facilitating a spamming campaign.


title: E pluribus unum

text: E pluribus unum ( , , ) – Latin for "Out of many, one" (also translated as "One out of many" or "One from many") – is a traditional motto of the United States, appearing on the Great Seal along with "Annuit cœptis" (Latin for "he approves the undertaking [lit. 'things undertaken']") and "Novus ordo seclorum" (Latin for "New order of the ages") which appear on the reverse of the Great Seal; its inclusion on the seal was approved in an act of the U.S. Congress in 1782. While its status as national motto was for many years unofficial, "E pluribus unum" was still considered the "de facto" motto of the United States from its early history. Eventually, the U.S. Congress passed an act in 1956 (H. J. Resolution 396), adopting "In God We Trust" as the official motto.


title: E pluribus unum

text: That the phrase ""E pluribus unum"" has thirteen letters makes its use symbolic of the thirteen original states, like the thirteen stripes on the US flag.


title: E pluribus unum

text: The meaning of the phrase originates from the concept that out of the union of the original Thirteen Colonies emerged a new single nation. It is emblazoned across the scroll and clenched in the eagle's beak on the Great Seal of the United States.


title: E pluribus unum

text: The 13-letter motto was suggested in 1776 by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to the committee responsible for developing the seal. At the time of the American Revolution, the phrase appeared regularly on the title page of the London-based "Gentleman's Magazine", founded in 1731, which collected articles from many sources into one periodical. This usage in turn can be traced back to the London-based Huguenot Peter Anthony Motteux, who had employed the adage for his "The Gentleman's Journal, or the Monthly Miscellany" (1692–1694). The phrase is similar to a Latin translation of a variation of Heraclitus's tenth fragment, "The one is made up of all things, and all things issue from the one" ("ἐκ πάντων ἓν καὶ ἐξ ἑνὸς πάντα"). A variant of the phrase was used in "Moretum", a poem belonging to the "Appendix Virgiliana", describing (on the surface at least) the making of "moretum", a kind of herb and cheese spread related to modern pesto. In the poem text, "color est e pluribus unus" describes the blending of colors into one. St Augustine used a variant of the phrase, "ex pluribus unum facere" (make one out of many), in his "Confessions". But it seems more likely that the phrase refers to Cicero's paraphrase of Pythagoras in his "De Officiis", as part of his discussion of basic family and social bonds as the origin of societies and states: "When each person loves the other as much as himself, it makes one out of many ("unum fiat ex pluribus"), as Pythagoras wishes things to be in friendship."


title: E pluribus unum

text: While "Annuit cœptis" ("He favors our undertakings") and "Novus ordo seclorum" ("New order of the ages") appear on the reverse side of the great seal, "E Pluribus Unum" appears on the obverse side of the seal (designed by Charles Thomson), the image of which is used as the national emblem of the United States, and appears on official documents such as passports. It also appears on the seal of the President and in the seals of the Vice President of the United States, of the United States Congress, of the United States House of Representatives, of the United States Senate and on the seal of the United States Supreme Court.


title: E pluribus unum

text: The first coins with "E pluribus unum" were dated 1786 and struck under the authorization of the State of New Jersey by Thomas Goadsby and Albion Cox in Rahway, New Jersey. The motto had no New Jersey linkage but was likely an available die that had been created by Walter Mould the previous year for a failed federal coinage proposal. Walter Mould was also authorized by New Jersey to strike state coppers with this motto and did so beginning in early 1787 in Morristown, New Jersey. Lt. Col. Seth Read of Uxbridge, Massachusetts was said to have been instrumental in having "E pluribus unum" placed on U.S. coins. Seth Read and his brother Joseph Read had been authorized by the Massachusetts General Court to mint coppers in 1786. In March 1786, Seth Read petitioned the Massachusetts General Court, both the House and the Senate, for a franchise to mint coins, both copper and silver, and "it was concurred". "E pluribus unum", written in capital letters, is included on most U.S. currency, with some exceptions to the letter spacing (such as the reverse of the dime). It is also embossed on the edge of the dollar coin. ("See United States coinage and paper bills in circulation").


title: E pluribus unum

text: According to the U.S. Treasury, the motto "E pluribus unum" was first used on U.S. coinage in 1795, when the reverse of the half-eagle ($5 gold) coin presented the main features of the Great Seal of the United States. "E pluribus unum" is inscribed on the Great Seal's scroll. The motto was added to certain silver coins in 1798, and soon appeared on all of the coins made out of precious metals (gold and silver). In 1834, it was dropped from most of the gold coins to mark the change in the standard fineness of the coins. In 1837, it was dropped from the silver coins, marking the era of the Revised Mint Code. The Coinage Act of 1873 made the inscription a requirement of law upon the coins of the United States. "E pluribus unum" appears on all U.S. coins currently being manufactured, including the Presidential dollars that started being produced in 2007, where it is inscribed on the edge along with "In God We Trust" and the year and mint mark. After the revolution, Rahway, New Jersey became the home of the first national mint to create a coin bearing the inscription "E pluribus unum".


title: E pluribus unum

text: In a quality control error in early 2007 the Philadelphia Mint issued some one-dollar coins without "E pluribus unum" on the rim; these coins have since become collectibles.


title: E pluribus unum

text: The 2009 and 2010 pennies feature a new design on the back, which displays the phrase "E pluribus unum" in larger letters than in previous years.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: The traits of extraversion (also spelled extroversion) and introversion are a central dimension in some human personality theories. The terms "introversion" and "extraversion" were introduced into psychology by Carl Jung, although both the popular understanding and current psychological usage vary. Extraversion tends to be manifested in outgoing, talkative, energetic behavior, whereas introversion is manifested in more reflective and reserved behavior. Jung defined introversion as an "attitude-type characterised by orientation in life through subjective psychic contents", and extraversion as "an attitude-type characterised by concentration of interest on the external object".


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Extraversion and introversion are typically viewed as a single continuum, so to be higher in one necessitates being lower in the other. Jung provides a different perspective and suggests that everyone has both an extraverted side and an introverted side, with one being more dominant than the other. Virtually all comprehensive models of personality include these concepts in various forms. Examples include the Big Five model, Jung's analytical psychology, Hans Eysenck's three-factor model, Raymond Cattell's 16 personality factors, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: William McDougall discussed Jung's conception, and reached this conclusion: "the introverts are those in whom reflective thought inhibits and postpones action and expression: the extroverts are those in whom the energies liberated upon the stirring of any propensity flow out freely in outward action and expression."


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Extraversion is the state of primarily obtaining gratification from outside oneself. Extraverts tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. Extraverts are energized and thrive off being around other people. They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. They also tend to work well in groups. An extraverted person is likely to enjoy time spent with people and find less reward in time spent alone. They tend to be energized when around other people, and they are more prone to boredom when they are by themselves.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Introversion is the state of being predominantly interested in one's own mental self. Introverts are typically perceived as more reserved or reflective. Some popular psychologists have characterized introverts as people whose energy tends to expand through reflection and dwindle during interaction. This is similar to Jung's view, although he focused on mental energy rather than physical energy. Few modern conceptions make this distinction. Introverts often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, writing, or meditating. An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people. Introverts are easily overwhelmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement, introversion having even been defined by some in terms of a preference for a quiet, more minimally stimulating external environment. They prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they participate, especially observed in developing children and adolescents. They are more analytical before speaking.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Mistaking introversion for shyness is a common error. Introversion is a preference, while shyness stems from distress. Introverts prefer solitary to social activities, but do not necessarily fear social encounters like shy people do. Susan Cain, author of the book "", argues that modern Western culture misjudges the capabilities of introverted people, leading to a waste of talent, energy, and happiness. Cain describes how society is biased against introverts, and that, with people being taught from childhood that to be sociable is to be happy, introversion is now considered "somewhere between a disappointment and pathology". In contrast, Cain says that introversion is not a "second-class" trait but that both introverts and extraverts enrich society, with examples including the introverts J. K. Rowling, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Seuss, W. B. Yeats, Steven Spielberg, and Larry Page.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Most contemporary trait theories measure levels of extraversion-introversion as part of a single, continuous dimension of personality, with some scores near one end, and others near the halfway mark. Ambiversion is falling more or less in the middle.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Cain further reports that studies indicate that 33 to 50% of the American population are introverts. Particular demographics have higher prevalence, with a 6,000-subject MBTI-based survey indicating that 60% of attorneys, and 90% of intellectual property attorneys, are introverts.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: The extent of extraversion and introversion is most commonly assessed through self-report measures, although peer-reports and third-party observation can also be used. Self-report measures are either lexical or based on statements. The type of measure is determined by an assessment of psychometric properties, and the time and space constraints of the research being undertaken.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Lexical measures use individual adjectives that reflect extravert and introvert traits, such as outgoing, talkative, reserved and quiet. Words representing introversion are reverse-coded to create composite measures of extraversion-introversion running on a continuum. Goldberg (1992) developed a 20-word measure as part of his 100-word Big Five markers. Saucier (1994) developed a briefer 8-word measure as part of his 40-word mini-markers. However, the psychometric properties of Saucier's original mini-markers have been found to be suboptimal with samples outside of North America. As a result, a systematically revised measure was developed to have better psychometric properties, the International English Mini-Markers. The International English Mini-Markers has good internal consistency reliabilities, and other validity, for assessing extraversion-introversion and other five-factor personality dimensions, both within and, especially, without American populations. Internal consistency reliability of the extraversion measure for native English-speakers is reported as a Cronbach's alpha (α) of 0.92, that for non-native English-speakers is α of 0.85.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Statement measures tend to contain more words, and hence consume more research instrument space, than lexical measures. Respondents are asked the extent to which they, for example, "Talk to a lot of different people at parties or Often feel uncomfortable around others". While some statement-based measures of extraversion-introversion have similarly acceptable psychometric properties in North American populations to lexical measures, their generally emic development makes them less suited to use in other populations. For example, statements asking about talkativeness in parties are hard to answer meaningfully by those who do not attend parties, as Americans are assumed to do. Moreover, the sometimes colloquial North American language of statements makes them less suited for use outside America. For instance, statements like "Keep in the background" and "Know how to captivate people" are sometimes hard for non-native English-speakers to understand, except in a literal sense.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Hans Eysenck described extraversion-introversion as the degree to which a person is outgoing and interactive with other people. These behavioral differences are presumed to be the result of underlying differences in brain physiology. Eysenck associated cortical inhibition and excitation with the ascending reticular activation system (ARAS), a pathway located in the brainstem. Extraverts seek excitement and social activity in an effort to raise their naturally low arousal level, whereas introverts tend to avoid social situations in an effort to avoid raising their naturally high arousal level too far. Eysenck designated extraversion as one of three major traits in his P-E-N model of personality, which also includes psychoticism and neuroticism.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Eysenck originally suggested that extraversion was a combination of two major tendencies, impulsiveness and sociability. He later added several other more specific traits, namely liveliness, activity level, and excitability. These traits are further linked in his personality hierarchy to even more specific habitual responses, such as partying on the weekend.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Eysenck compared this trait to the four temperaments of ancient medicine, with choleric and sanguine temperaments equating to extraversion, and melancholic and phlegmatic temperaments equating to introversion.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: The relative importance of nature versus environment in determining the level of extraversion is controversial and the focus of many studies. Twin studies have found a genetic component of 39% to 58%. In terms of the environmental component, the shared family environment appears to be far less important than individual environmental factors that are not shared between siblings.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Eysenck proposed that extraversion was caused by variability in cortical arousal. He hypothesized that introverts are characterized by higher levels of activity than extraverts and so are chronically more cortically aroused than extraverts. That extraverts require more external stimulation than introverts has been interpreted as evidence for this hypothesis. Other evidence of the "stimulation" hypothesis is that introverts salivate more than extraverts in response to a drop of lemon juice. This is due to increased activity in their ARAS, which responds to stimuli like food or social contact.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Extraversion has been linked to higher sensitivity of the mesolimbic dopamine system to potentially rewarding stimuli. This in part explains the high levels of positive affect found in extraverts, since they will more intensely feel the excitement of a potential reward. One consequence of this is that extraverts can more easily learn the contingencies for positive reinforcement, since the reward itself is experienced as greater.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: One study found that introverts have more blood flow in the frontal lobes of their brain and the anterior or frontal thalamus, which are areas dealing with internal processing, such as planning and problem solving. Extraverts have more blood flow in the anterior cingulate gyrus, temporal lobes, and posterior thalamus, which are involved in sensory and emotional experience. This study and other research indicate that introversion-extraversion is related to individual differences in brain function. A study on regional brain volume found a positive correlation between introversion and grey matter volume in the right prefrontal cortex and right temporoparietal junction, as well as a positive correlation between introversion and total white matter volume. Task-related functional neuroimaging has shown that extraversion is associated with increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus, prefrontal cortex, middle temporal gyrus, and the amygdala.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Extraversion has also been linked to physiological factors such as respiration, through its association with surgency.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Various differences in behavioural characteristics are attributed to extraverts and introverts. According to one study, extraverts tend to wear more decorative clothing, whereas introverts prefer practical, comfortable clothes. Extraverts are more likely to prefer more upbeat, conventional, and energetic music than introverts. Personality also influences how people arrange their work areas. In general, extraverts decorate their offices more, keep their doors open, keep extra chairs nearby, and are more likely to put dishes of candy on their desks. These are attempts to invite co-workers and encourage interaction. Introverts, in contrast, decorate less and tend to arrange their workspace to discourage social interaction.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Despite these differences, a meta-analysis of 15 experience sampling studies has suggested that there is a great deal of overlap in the way that extraverts and introverts behave. In these studies, participants used mobile devices to report how extraverted (e.g., bold, talkative, assertive, outgoing) they were acting at multiple times during their daily lives. Fleeson and Gallagher (2009) found that extraverts regularly behave in an introverted way, and introverts regularly behave in an extraverted way. Indeed, there was more within-person variability than between-person variability in extraverted behaviours. The key feature that distinguishes extraverts and introverts was that extraverts tend to act moderately extraverted about 5–10% more often than introverts. From this perspective, extraverts and introverts are not "fundamentally different". Rather, an "extravert" is just someone who acts more extraverted more often, suggesting that extraversion is more about what one "does" than what one "has".


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Additionally, a study by Lippa (1978) found evidence for the extent to which individuals present themselves in a different way. This is called expressive behaviour, and it is dependent upon the individuals' motivation and ability to control that behaviour. Lippa (1978) examined 68 students who were asked to role-play by pretending to teach a math class. The students' level of extraversion and introversion were rated based on their external/expressive behaviours such as stride length, graphic expansiveness, the percentage of time they spent talking, the amount of time they spent making eye contact, and the total time of each teaching session. This study found that actual introverts were perceived and judged as having more extraverted-looking expressive behaviours because they were higher in terms of their self-monitoring. This means that the introverts consciously put more effort into presenting a more extraverted, and rather socially desirable, version of themselves. Thus, individuals are able to regulate and modify behaviour based on their environmental situations.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Humans are complex and unique, and because introversion-extraversion varies along a continuum, individuals may have a mixture of both orientations. A person who acts introverted in one situation may act extraverted in another, and people can learn to act in "counter dispositional" ways in certain situations. For example, Brian Little's free trait theory suggests that people can take on "free traits", behaving in ways that may not be their "first nature", but can strategically advance projects that are important to them. Together, this presents an optimistic view of what extraversion is. Rather than being fixed and stable, individuals vary in their extraverted behaviours across different moments, and can choose to act extraverted to advance important personal projects or even increase their happiness, as mentioned above.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Acknowledging that introversion and extraversion are normal variants of behavior can help in self-acceptance and understanding of others. For example, an extravert can accept their introverted partner's need for solitude, while an introvert can acknowledge their extraverted partner's need for social interaction.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Researchers have found a correlation between extraversion and self-reported happiness. That is, more extraverted people tend to report higher levels of happiness than introverts. Other research has shown that being instructed to act in an extraverted manner leads to increases in positive affect, even for people who are trait-level introverts.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: This does not mean that introverts are unhappy. Extraverts simply report experiencing more positive emotions, whereas introverts tend to be closer to neutral. This may be because extraversion is socially preferable in contemporary Western culture and thus introversion feels less desirable. In addition to the research on happiness, other studies have found that extraverts tend to report higher levels of self-esteem than introverts. Others suggest that such results reflect socio-cultural bias in the survey itself. Dr. David Meyers has claimed that happiness is a matter of possessing three traits: self-esteem, optimism, and extraversion. Meyers bases his conclusions on studies that report extraverts to be happier; these findings have been questioned in light of the fact that the "happiness" prompts given to the studies' subjects, such as "I like to be with others" and "I'm fun to be with," only measure happiness among extraverts. Also, according to Carl Jung, introverts acknowledge more readily their psychological needs and problems, whereas extraverts tend to be oblivious to them because they focus more on the outer world.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Although extraversion is perceived as socially desirable in Western culture, it is not always an advantage. For example, extraverted youths are more likely to engage in antisocial or delinquent behavior. In line with this, certain evidence suggest that the trait of extraversion may also be related to that of psychopathy. Conversely, while introversion is perceived as less socially desirable, it is strongly associated with positive traits such as intelligence and "giftedness." For many years, researchers have found that introverts tend to be more successful in academic environments, which extraverts may find boring.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Research shows that behavioral immune system, the psychological processes that infer infection risk from perceptual cues and respond to these perceptual cues through the activation of aversive emotions, may influence gregariousness. Although extraversion is associated with many positive outcomes like higher levels of happiness, those extraverted people are also more likely to be exposed to communicable diseases, such as airborne infections, as they tend to have more contact with people. When individuals are more vulnerable to infection, the cost of being social will be relatively greater. Therefore, people tend to be less extraversive when they feel vulnerable and vice versa.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Although neither introversion nor extraversion is pathological, psychotherapists can take temperament into account when treating clients. Clients may respond better to different types of treatment depending on where they fall on the introversion-extraversion spectrum. Teachers can also consider temperament when dealing with their pupils, for example acknowledging that introverted children need more encouragement to speak in class while extraverted children may grow restless during long periods of quiet study.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Some claim that Americans live in an "extraverted society" that rewards extravert behavior and rejects introversion. This is because the U.S. is a culture of external personality, whereas in some other cultures people are valued for their "inner selves and their moral rectitude".


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Other cultures, such as those in Japan, China and regions where Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism etc. prevail, prize introversion. These cultural differences predict individuals' happiness in that people who score higher in extraversion are happier, on average, in particularly extraverted cultures and vice versa.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Researchers have found that people who live on islands tend to be less extraverted (more introverted) than those living on the mainland, and that people whose ancestors had inhabited the island for twenty generations tend to be less extraverted than more recent arrivals. Furthermore, people who emigrate from islands to the mainland tend to be more extraverted than people that stay on islands, and those that immigrate to islands.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: In the United States, researchers have found that people living in the midwestern states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois score higher than the U.S. average on extraversion. Utah and the southeastern states of Florida and Georgia also score high on this personality trait. The most introverted states in the U.S. are Maryland, New Hampshire, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Vermont. People who live in the northwestern states of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are also relatively introverted.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: As earlier stated, extraverts are often found to have higher levels of positive affect than introverts. However, this relationship has only been found between extraversion and activated forms of positive affect. There is no relationship between extraversion and deactivated (calm) forms of positive affect such as contentment or serenity, although one study found a negative relationship between extraversion and deactivated positive affect (i.e. a positive relationship between introversion and calm positive affect). Moreover, the relationship between extraversion and activated positive affect is only significant for agentic extraversion, i.e. there is no significant relationship between affiliative extraversion and activated positive affect, especially when controlling for neuroticism.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: An influential review article concluded that personality, specifically extraversion and emotional stability, was the best predictor of subjective well-being. As examples, Argyle and Lu (1990) found that the trait of extraversion, as measured by Extraversion Scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), was positively and significantly correlated with positive affect, as measured by the Oxford Happiness Inventory. Using the same positive affect and extraversion scales, Hills and Argyle (2001) found that positive affect was again significantly correlated with extraversion. Also, the study by Emmons and Diener (1986) showed that extraversion correlates positively and significantly with positive affect but not with negative affect. Similar results were found in a large longitudinal study by Diener, Sandvik, Pavot, and Fujita (1992), which assessed 14,407 participants from 100 areas of continental United States. Using the abbreviated General Well-Being Schedule, which tapped positive and negative affects, and Costa and McCrae's (1986). short version of the NEO's Extraversion scale, the authors reported that extraverts experienced greater well-being at two points in time, during which data were collected: first between 1971 and 1975, and later between 1981 and 1984. However, the latter study did not control for neuroticism, an important covariate when investigating relationships between extraversion and positive affect or wellbeing. Studies that controlled for neuroticism have found no significant relationship between extraversion and subjective well-being. Larsen and Ketelaar (1991) showed that extraverts respond more to positive affect than to negative affect, since they exhibit more positive-affect reactivity to the positive-affect induction, yet they do not react more negatively to the negative-affect induction.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: The instrumental view proposes that personality traits give rise to conditions and actions, which have affective consequences, and thus generate individual differences in emotionality.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: According to the instrumental view, one explanation for greater subjective well-being among extraverts could be that extraversion helps in the creation of life circumstances, which promote high levels of positive affect. Specifically, the personality trait of extraversion is seen as a facilitator of more social interactions, since the low cortical arousal among extraverts results in them seeking more social situations in order to increase their arousal.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: According to the social activity hypothesis, more frequent participation in social situations creates more frequent, and higher levels, of positive affect. Therefore, it is believed that since extraverts are characterized as more sociable than introverts, they also possess higher levels of positive affect brought on by social interactions. Specifically, the results of Furnham and Brewin's study (1990) suggest that extraverts enjoy and participate more in social activities than introverts, and as a result extraverts report a higher level of happiness. Also, in the study of Argyle and Lu (1990) extraverts were found to be less likely to avoid participation in noisy social activities, and to be more likely to participate in social activities such as party games, jokes, or going to the cinema. Similar results were reported by Diener, Larsen, and Emmons (1984) who found that extraverts seek social situations more often than introverts, especially when engaging in recreational activities.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: However, a variety of findings contradict the claims of the social activity hypothesis. Firstly, it was found that extraverts were happier than introverts even when alone. Specifically, extraverts tend to be happier regardless of whether they live alone or with others, or whether they live in a vibrant city or quiet rural environment. Similarly, a study by Diener, Sandvik, Pavot, and Fujita (1992) showed that although extraverts chose social jobs relatively more frequently (51%) than nonsocial jobs compared to introverts (38%), they were happier than introverts regardless of whether their occupations had social or nonsocial character. Secondly, it was found that extraverts only sometimes reported greater amounts of social activity than introverts, but in general extraverts and introverts do not differ in the quantity of their socialization. Similar finding was reported by Srivastava, Angelo, and Vallereux (2008), who found that extraverts and introverts both enjoy participating in social interactions, but extraverts participate socially more. Thirdly, studies have shown that both extraverts and introverts participate in social relations, but that the quality of this participation differs. The more frequent social participation among extraverts could be explained by the fact that extraverts know more people, but those people are not necessarily their close friends, whereas introverts, when participating in social interactions, are more selective and have only few close friends with whom they have special relationships.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Yet another explanation of the high correlation between extraversion and happiness comes from the study by Ashton, Lee, and Paunonen (2002). They suggested that the core element of extraversion is a tendency to behave in ways that attract, hold, and enjoy social attention, and not reward sensitivity. They claimed that one of the fundamental qualities of social attention is its potential of being rewarding. Therefore, if a person shows positive emotions of enthusiasm, energy, and excitement, that person is seen favorably by others and he or she gains others' attention. This favorable reaction from others likely encourages extraverts to engage in further extraverted behavior. Ashton, Lee, and Paunonen's (2002) study showed that their measure of social attention, the Social Attention Scale, was much more highly correlated with extraversion than were measures of reward sensitivity.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Temperamental view is based on the notion that there is a direct link between people's personality traits and their sensitivity to positive and negative affects.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: The affective reactivity model states that the strength of a person's reactions to affect-relevant events are caused by people's differences in affect. This model is based on the reinforcement sensitivity theory by Jeffrey Alan Gray, which states that people with stronger behavioral activation system (BAS) are high in reward responsiveness and are predisposed to the personality trait of extraversion, while people with a stronger behavioral inhibition system (BIS) are lower in reward responsiveness and are more predisposed to personality trait of neuroticism and introversion. Therefore, extraverts are seen as having a temperamental predisposition to positive affect since positive mood induction has a greater effect on them than on introverts, thus extraverts are more prone to react to pleasant effects. For example, Gable, Reis, and Elliot (2000). found in two consecutive studies that people with more sensitive BIS reported higher levels of average negative affect, while people with more sensitive BAS reported higher levels of positive affect. Also, Zelenski and Larsen (1999) found that people with more sensitive BAS reported more positive emotions during the positive mood induction, while people with more sensitive BIS reported more negative emotions during the negative mood induction.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: The social reactivity theory alleges that all humans, whether they like it or not, are required to participate in social situations. Since extraverts prefer engaging in social interactions more than introverts, they also derive more positive affect from such situations than introverts do. The support for this theory comes from work of Brian R. Little, who popularized concept of "restorative niches". Little claimed that life often requires people to participate in social situations, and since acting social is out of character for introverts, it was shown to harm their well-being. Therefore, one way to preserve introverts' well-being is for them to recharge as often as possible in places where they can return to their true selves—places Little calls "restorative niches".


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: However, it was also found that extraverts did not respond stronger to social situations than introverts, nor did they report bigger boosts of positive affect during such interactions.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Another possible explanation for more happiness among extraverts comes from the fact that extraverts are able to better regulate their affective states. This means that in ambiguous situations (situations where positive and negative moods are introduced and mixed in similar proportions) extraverts show a slower decrease of positive affect, and, as a result, they maintained a more positive affect balance than introverts. Extraverts may also choose activities that facilitate happiness (e.g., recalling pleasant vs. unpleasant memories) more than introverts when anticipating difficult tasks.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: According to the set-point model, levels of positive and negative affects are more or less fixed within each individual, hence, after a positive or negative event, people's moods tend to go back to the pre-set level. According to the set-point model, extraverts experience more happiness because their pre-set level of positive affect is set higher than the pre-set point of positive affect in introverts, therefore extraverts require less positive reinforcement in order to feel happy.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: A study by Peter Kuppens (2008) showed that extraverts and introverts engage in different behaviors when feeling pleasant, which may explain underestimation of the frequency and intensity of happiness exhibited by introverts. Specifically, Kuppens (2008) found that arousal and pleasantness are positively correlated for extraverts, which means that pleasant feelings are more likely to be accompanied by high arousal for extraverts. On the other hand, arousal and pleasantness are negatively correlated for introverts, resulting in introverts exhibiting low arousal when feeling pleasant. In other words, if everything is going well in an extravert's life, which is a source of pleasant feelings, extraverts see such a situation as an opportunity to engage in active behavior and goal pursuit, which brings about an active, aroused pleasant state. When everything is going well for introverts, they see it as an opportunity to let down their guard, resulting in them feeling relaxed and content.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Though extraversion has consistently been shown to have a strong correlation with happiness and well-being, these findings are complicated by the presence of other personality traits that act as strong indicators of happiness.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: In multiple studies, neuroticism has been shown to have an equal, if not larger, impact on happiness and subjective well-being than extraversion. One study classified school children into four categories based on their scores in assessments of extraversion and emotional stability (neuroticism). The results showed no significant difference between the happiness levels of stable introverts and stable extraverts, while unstable extraverts and introverts both demonstrated significantly less happiness than their counterparts. In this study, neuroticism appeared to be the more salient factor for overall well-being.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Likewise, in later studies, researchers used assessment scales to test for categories such as self-esteem and life-goal orientation, which they had positively correlated with happiness. Participants' responses to these scales suggested that neuroticism actually had a larger impact than extraversion in measures of well-being.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Though extraversion and neuroticism seem to have the largest effect on personal happiness, other Big 5 personality factors have also been shown to correlate with happiness and subjective well-being. For example, one study showed that conscientiousness and agreeableness correlated about 0.20 with subjective well-being. While the effect of these traits was not as strong as extraversion or neuroticism, it is clear that they still have some impact on happiness outcomes.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Similarly, interactions between extraversion, neuroticism, and conscientiousness have demonstrated significant impacts on subjective well-being. In one study, researchers used three scales to assess subjective well-being. They found that extraversion only served as a predictor for one assessment, in conjunction with neuroticism, while the other two assessment outcomes were better predicted by conscientiousness and neuroticism. In addition to the importance of including other factors in happiness assessments, this study also demonstrates the manner in which an operational definition of well-being changes whether extraversion emerges as a salient predictive factor.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: There is also evidence that other non-trait elements of personality may correlate with happiness. For instance, one study demonstrated that various features of one's goals, such as progress towards important goals or conflicts between them, can affect both emotional and cognitive well-being. Several other researchers have also suggested that, at least in more individualistic cultures, having a coherent sense of one's personality (and acting in a way that conforms to that self-concept) is positively related to well-being. Thus, focusing solely on extraversion—or even extraversion and neuroticism—is likely to provide an incomplete picture of the relationship between happiness and personality.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: In addition, one's culture may also influence happiness and overall subjective well-being. The overall level of happiness fluctuates from culture to culture, as does preferred expression of happiness. Comparing various international surveys across countries reveals that different nations, and different ethnic groups within nations, exhibit differences in average life satisfaction.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: For example, one researcher found that between 1958 and 1987, Japanese life satisfaction fluctuated around 6 on a 10-point scale, while Denmark's fluctuated around 8. Comparing ethnic groups within the United States, another study found that European Americans reported being "significantly happier" with their lives than Asian Americans.


title: Extraversion and introversion

text: Researchers have hypothesized a number of factors that could be responsible for these differences between countries, including national differences in overall income levels, self-serving biases and self-enhancement, and approach and avoidance orientations. Taken together, these findings suggest that while extraversion-introversion does have a strong correlation with happiness, it does not stand alone as a sole predictor of subjective well-being, and that other factors must be accounted for when trying to determine the correlates of happiness.


title: Groypers

text: Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a group of white nationalist and far-right activists, provocateurs and internet trolls who are notable for their attempts to introduce far-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the United States, their participation in the 2021 United States Capitol attack and the protests leading up to it, and their extremist views. They are known for targeting other conservative groups and individuals whose agendas they view as too moderate and insufficiently nationalist. The Groyper movement has been described as white nationalist, homophobic, nativist, fascist, sexist, antisemitic, and an attempt to rebrand the declining alt-right movement.


title: Groypers

text: Presently, Groypers are a loosely defined group of followers and fans of Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, far-right political commentator and livestreamer. After Fuentes, there is no clear second in the Groyper hierarchy.


title: Groypers

text: Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger and political commentator, has referred to herself as the "mommy" of the Groyper movement, though she plays a minor role in the cause.


title: Groypers

text: In February 2021, the Groyper movement splintered between Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey over fears of infiltration by federal informants and doxing at the 2021 America First Political Action Conference, held by Fuentes. Jaden McNeil of America First Students joined in support of Fuentes' conference and accused Casey of disloyalty to Fuentes. In May 2022, McNeil distanced himself from Fuentes in an "interpersonal clash of egos" following conflict over his former position as treasurer of Fuentes' America First Foundation.


title: Groypers

text: Groypers are extremely conservative and critical of more mainstream conservative organizations, which they believe to be insufficiently nationalist and pro-white; thus, appealing to racist and xenophobic individuals. Groypers and their leaders have tried to position the group's ideology as being based around "Christian conservatism", "traditional values", and "American nationalism". Some Groypers downplay the extremism of their positions, and instruct others on how to engage in entryism and radicalization tactics such as slowly introducing their targets to increasingly extreme ideas. Despite attempts to brand themselves more moderately, the group is widely recognized as white nationalist, antisemitic, and homophobic.


title: Groypers

text: Fuentes claimed that he had been "oppressed" by "the Jews" and blamed antisemitic actions as being the Jewish community's own fault, claiming that matters "tend to go from zero to sixty" and that "the reason is them". Fuentes declared that matters would get "a lot uglier" for their community if they did not begin to support "people like us". According to the Anti-Defamation League, Groypers blame the mainstream conservative movement as well as the political left for what they view as "destroying white America". They oppose immigration and globalism. Groypers support "traditional" values and Christianity and oppose feminism and LGBTQ rights.


title: Groypers

text: Describing the relationship between Groypers and the Republican Party, Nick Fuentes has stated, "We are the right-wing flank of the Republican Party." He summarized his political ambitions by stating, "We have got to be on the right, dragging [moderate Republicans] kicking and screaming into the future. Into a truly reactionary party." In 2022, Fuentes advocated for a political "white uprising" to bring Donald Trump back to power and "never leave," wanting America to "stop having elections" and abolish the United States Congress.


title: Groypers

text: Groypers are named after a cartoon amphibian named "Groyper", which is a variant of the Internet meme Pepe the Frog. Groyper is depicted as a rotund, green, frog-like creature, often in a sitting position with its chin resting on interlocked fingers. There is some disagreement around the specifics of Groyper: it is alternatively said to be a depiction of the Pepe character, a different character from Pepe but of the same species, or a toad. The Groyper meme was used as early as 2015, and became popular in 2017.


title: Groypers

text: In 2018, a group of computer scientists studying hateful speech on Twitter observed the Groyper image being used frequently in account avatars among the accounts identified as "hateful" in their dataset. The researchers observed that the profiles tended to be anonymous and collectively tweeted primarily about politics, race, and religion. Similarly, they detected that the users were not "lone wolves" and the individuals could be identified as a community with a high network centrality. The same year, "Right Wing Watch" reported that Massachusetts congressional hopeful Shiva Ayyadurai had created a campaign pin featuring a variation of the Groyper image, which "RWW" described as an attempt to appeal to the far-right activists on 4chan, Gab, and Twitter who had adopted the meme.


title: Groypers

text: Followers of Nick Fuentes began to be known as Groypers beginning in 2019. Fuentes' followers are also sometimes called "Nickers". In September 2019, Ashley St. Clair, a "brand ambassador" for the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was photographed at an event featuring several allegedly white nationalist and alt-right figures, including Fuentes, Jacob Wohl, and Anthime Gionet, better known as "Baked Alaska". After "Right Wing Watch" brought the photographs to Turning Point USA's attention, the organization issued a statement declaring that it had severed ties with St. Clair, and condemning white nationalism as "abhorrent and un-American". At the 2019 Politicon convention, Fuentes tried to access several of the Turning Point USA events featuring its founder Charlie Kirk, including a line to take photos with Kirk and Kirk's debate with Kyle Kulinski of "The Young Turks". Security repeatedly barred him from being allowed anywhere near Kirk, with Fuentes accusing Kirk of deliberately suppressing him in order to avoid a confrontation, as Fuentes had grown critical of Kirk's positions, which he believes are too weak.


title: Groypers

text: In the fall of 2019, Kirk launched a college speaking tour with Turning Point USA titled "Culture War", featuring himself alongside such guests as Senator Rand Paul, Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, and Congressman Dan Crenshaw. In retaliation for the firing of St. Clair and the Politicon incident, Fuentes subsequently began organizing a social media campaign asking his followers to go to Kirk's events and ask provocative and controversial leading questions regarding his stances on immigration, Israel, and LGBT rights during the question-and-answer sessions, for the purpose of exposing Kirk as a "fake conservative". At a Culture War event hosted by Ohio State University on October 29, eleven out of fourteen questions during the Q&A section were asked by Groypers. Groypers asked questions including, "Can you prove that our white European ideals will be maintained if the country is no longer made up of white European descendants?", and directed the question "How does anal sex help us win the culture war?" at Kirk's co-host Rob Smith, a gay black veteran of the Iraq War. Fuentes' social media campaign against Kirk became known as the "Groyper Wars". Kirk, Smith, and others at Turning Point USA, including Benny Johnson, began labeling the questioners as white supremacists and anti-Semites.


title: Groypers

text: Another Turning Point USA event targeted by the Groypers was a promotional event for Donald Trump Jr.'s book "Triggered", featuring Trump, Kirk, and Guilfoyle at the University of California, Los Angeles in November 2019. Anticipating further questions from Fuentes' followers, it was announced that the originally planned Q&A portion of the event would be canceled, which led to heckling and boos from the mostly pro-Trump audience. The disruptions eventually forced them to cut the event short after 30 minutes, when it was originally scheduled to last for two hours.


title: Groypers

text: Groypers' targets for heckling quickly expanded beyond Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA. Groypers began targeting other mainstream conservative groups and individuals, which they sometimes collectively call "Conservative Inc.", including events hosted by Young America's Foundation and their student outreach branch Young Americans for Freedom, which included such speakers as Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh of "The Daily Wire", and Jonah Goldberg of "The Dispatch". Questions posed to their opponents often focus on topics including United States–Israel relations, immigration policy, affirmative action, and LGBTQ conservatives. They regularly use anti-Semitic dogwhistles in their confrontations with other conservatives, including numerous questions about the USS "Liberty" incident, and references to the "dancing Israelis" conspiracy theory alleging Israeli involvement in the September 11 attacks.


title: Groypers

text: In December 2019, Fuentes announced and held the Groyper Leadership Summit in Florida. A small group attended the event in person, and attendees also joined via livestream. The event was held at the same time and in the same city as Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit (SAS); Groypers argued with SAS attendees outside of their venue, and Fuentes, Patrick Casey, and some Groypers were removed from the SAS venue after attempting to enter. At the Groyper Leadership Summit, Fuentes, Casey, and former "InfoWars" contributor Jake Lloyd spoke about the Groypers' strategy and ideology. While outside of a venue where a Turning Point USA event was being held, Fuentes crossed paths with Ben Shapiro, who was on his way to the event with his pregnant wife and two children. Fuentes confronted Shapiro over his past public speaking comments, while Shapiro refused to acknowledge him. Fuentes faced widespread condemnation from politicians and various pundits—including Nikki Haley, Meghan McCain, Sebastian Gorka, Megyn Kelly, and Michael Avenatti—for confronting Shapiro while he was with his family.


title: Groypers

text: In January 2020, Groyper and former leader of Kansas State University's Turning Point USA chapter Jaden McNeil formed the Kansas State University organization America First Students. The group, which shares a name with Fuentes' "America First" podcast, was conceived at the Groyper Leadership Summit, and Groyper leaders have helped promote the group. The America First Students organization, which states it was formed "in defense of Christian values, strong families, closed borders, and the American worker", is considered to push the Groyper movement.


title: Groypers

text: In February 2020, Fuentes spoke at several events that were held as rival events to the Conservative Political Action Conference. One such event, hosted by the online publication "National File", featured Fuentes, Alex Jones of "InfoWars", and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. Fuentes hosted the first annual America First Political Action Conference, which included such speakers as Patrick Casey, former "Daily Caller" author Scott Greer, and Malkin.


title: Groypers

text: Groypers are very active online, particularly on Twitter, and have engaged in targeted harassment against opponents. "Financial Times" reported that many Groypers use "deceptively anodyne" Twitter biographies, describing themselves in terms that downplay their extremism, like "Christian conservative". In April 2020, "The Daily Dot" reported that Fuentes and other Groypers had begun to move to the video sharing platform TikTok, where they streamed live and used the "duet" feature to respond to Trump supporters. Groypers particularly targeted one left-wing teenage girl for harassment, which began on TikTok but spread across platforms. Fuentes and some other Groyper accounts were banned from TikTok shortly after the "Daily Dot" article was published.


title: Groypers

text: The Groyper Wars earned widespread media attention after the UCLA incident with Donald Trump Jr. Chadwick Moore of "Spectator USA" commented that the ordeal revealed deep divisions within the American right among young voters, particularly with regards to the political beliefs of Generation Z, or "Zoomers". This divide, Moore claims, is due to the Groypers viewing Charlie Kirk and others in the mainstream conservative movement as "snatching the baton and appointing themselves the guardians of 2016's spoils", despite holding beliefs that Fuentes and his followers believe to be in conflict with then-President Trump's "Make America Great Again" agenda. Another "Spectator" author, Ben Sixsmith, claimed that Turning Point's unwillingness to respond to controversial questions, and subsequent use of insults to dismiss their critics, revealed the organization's hypocrisy after having "promoted themselves as the debate guys".


title: Groypers

text: Several mainstream conservative commentators also weighed in on the matter. Addressing the increase in attention towards the far-right due to the aggressive questioning of Kirk, Ben Shapiro gave a speech at Stanford University in which he attacked Fuentes (without naming him) and his followers as essentially being a rebranded version of the alt-right. Representative Dan Crenshaw similarly referred to the questioners as "alt-right 2.0" while American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp said that "there is no place in our conservative movement for those interested in fomenting hate, mob violence, or racist propaganda." Conversely, conservative commentator Michelle Malkin wrote an article for "American Greatness" attacking Kirk for his immigration policies, and particularly his stance that green cards should be awarded to immigrants who graduate from American universities. After defending Fuentes and his followers, Malkin was fired as a speaker for Young America's Foundation, a rival organization to Turning Point whose events had also been targeted by Groypers. Malkin later would refer to herself as a mother figure among and a leader of the Groypers.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls ( , ; ) are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Together, they make up the largest waterfall system in the world. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River rises near the heart of the city of Curitiba. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil; however, most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the border between Argentina and Brazil.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The name "Iguazú" comes from the Guarani or Tupi words ""y"" , meaning "water", and ""ûasú" ", meaning "big". Legend has it that a deity planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In a rage, the deity sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to record the existence of the falls was the Spanish Conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The staircase character of the falls consists of a two-step waterfall formed by three layers of basalt. The steps are in height. The columnar basalt rock sequences are part of the Serra Geral formation within the Paleozoic-Mesozoic Paraná Basin. The tops of these sequences are characterized by of highly resistant vesicular basalt and the contact between these layers controls the shape of the falls. Headwater erosion rates are estimated at . Numerous islands along the edge divide the falls into many separate waterfalls and cataracts, varying between high. The number of these smaller waterfalls fluctuates from 150 to 300, depending on the water level. About half of the river's flow falls into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil's Throat ( in Spanish or in Portuguese).


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The Devil's Throat canyon is wide and deep. Left of this canyon, another part of the river forms 160–200 individual falls, which merge into a single front during the flood stage. The largest falls are named San Martín, Adam and Eva, Penoni, and Bergano.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: About of the length does not have water flowing over it. The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains into the Paraná River, a short distance downstream from the Itaipu Dam. The junction of the water flows marks the border between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Some points in the cities of Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, have access to the Iguazu River, where the borders of all three nations may be seen, a popular tourist attraction for visitors to the three cities.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The Iguazu Falls are arranged in a way that resembles a reversed letter "J". The Argentina–Brazil border runs through the Devil's Throat. On the right bank is the Brazilian territory, which is home to more than 95% of the Iguazu River basin but has just over 20% of the jumps of these falls, and the left side jumps are Argentine, which make up almost 80% of the falls.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: Aerolíneas Argentinas has direct flights from Buenos Aires to Iguazu International Airport. Azul, GOL, and LATAM Brasil offer services from main Brazilian cities to Foz do Iguaçu.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The falls may be reached from two main towns, with one on either side of the falls: Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil and Puerto Iguazú in Argentina, as well as from Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, on the other side of the Paraná River from Foz do Iguaçu, each of those three cities having commercial airports. The falls are shared by the Iguazú National Park (Argentina) and Iguaçu National Park (Brazil). The two parks were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984 and 1986, respectively.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The first proposal for a Brazilian national park aimed at providing a pristine environment to "future generations", just as "it had been created by God" and endowed with "all possible preservation, from the beautiful to the sublime, from the picturesque to the awesome" and "an unmatched flora" located in the "magnificent Iguaçu waterfalls". These were the words used by André Rebouças, an engineer, in his book "Provinces of Paraná, Railways to Mato Grosso and Bolivia", which started up the campaign aimed at preserving the Iguaçu Falls in 1876. At this time, Yellowstone National Park in the US, the first national park in the world, was four years old.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: On the Brazilian side, a walkway along the canyon has an extension to the lower base of Devil's Throat. Helicopter rides offering aerial views of the falls have been available from Brazil, but Argentina has prohibited such helicopter tours because of the adverse environmental impact on the flora and fauna of the falls. From Foz do Iguaçu airport, the park may be reached by taking a taxi or bus to the entrance of the park. Their park has an entrance fee on both sides. Once inside, free and frequent buses are provided to various points within the park. The town of Foz do Iguaçu is about away, and the airport is between the park and the town.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The Argentine access, across the forest, is by a Rainforest Ecological Train very similar to the one in Disney's Animal Kingdom. The train brings visitors to the entrance of Devil's Throat, as well as the upper and lower trails. The "Paseo Garganta del Diablo" is a trail that brings visitors directly over the falls of Devil's Throat, the highest and deepest of the falls. Other walkways allow access to the elongated stretch of falls across the forest on the Argentine side and to the boats that connect to San Martin Island. Also on the Argentine side, inflatable boat services take visitors very close to the falls.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The Brazilian transportation system aims at allowing an increase in the number of visitors, while reducing the adverse environmental impact, through an increase in the average number of passengers per vehicle inside the park. The new transportation system has a 72-passenger capacity and panoramic-view, double-deck buses.


title: Iguazu Falls

text: Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed, "Poor Niagara!" (which, at 50 m or 165 feet, are a third shorter). Often, Iguazu also is compared with Victoria Falls in Southern Africa, which separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. Iguazu is wider but is split into roughly 275 distinct falls and large islands, whereas Victoria has the largest curtain of water in the world, at more than wide and over in height (in low flow, Victoria is split into five by islands but in high flow, it may be uninterrupted). The only wider falls are extremely large rapid-like falls, such as the Boyoma Falls (Stanley Falls).


title: Iguazu Falls

text: With the flooding of the Guaíra Falls in 1982, Iguazu currently has the sixth-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, following number five Niagara, with an average rate of . Its maximum recorded flow was on 9 June 2014. By comparison, the average flow of Niagara Falls is , with a maximum recorded flow of . The average flow at Victoria Falls is , with a maximum recorded flow of .


title: Iguazu Falls

text: The Iguazu Falls experience a humid subtropical climate ("Cfa", according to the Köppen climate classification) with abundant precipitation and high temperatures year-round. During the summer of 2006, a severe drought caused the Iguazu River to become diminished, reducing the amount of water flowing over the falls to until early December. This was unusual, as dry periods normally last only a few weeks. The period with the greatest volume of water flowing over the falls is usually December to February, coinciding with one of the periods of greatest rainfall.


title: Hollywood Vampires (band)

text: Hollywood Vampires is an American rock supergroup formed in 2012 by Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, and Joe Perry. The band name derives from The Hollywood Vampires, a celebrity drinking club formed by Cooper in the 1970s which included but was not limited to: John Lennon and Ringo Starr of The Beatles, Harry Nilsson, Keith Moon of The Who, and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees. Touring members include or have included Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum of Guns N' Roses fame, as well as Robert DeLeo from Stone Temple Pilots.


title: Hollywood Vampires (band)

text: The band has released two studio albums featuring guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh, Zak Starkey and Christopher Lee, among others. Cooper and Perry have discussed plans for a future live album, stating that Depp's schedule works differently than theirs.


title: Hollywood Vampires (band)

text: The band originally takes its name from a drinking club consisting of mainly Cooper, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Micky Dolenz and Harry Nilsson with additional members including John Lennon. The mission of the original Hollywood Vampires was to drink until no one could stand up. This took place during the height of Cooper's drinking in the 1970s. Cooper talks in more detail about the Rainbow Bar incarnation of the Hollywood Vampires in the 1991 video biography "Prime Cuts".


title: Hollywood Vampires (band)

text: The group's debut live performances were held at Roxy Theatre (West Hollywood) in Los Angeles across September 16 and 17, 2015. The three core members were accompanied by bassist Duff McKagan, drummer Matt Sorum, rhythm guitarist Tommy Henriksen, and Bruce Witkin on keyboards and additional guitar. Guest performers for both nights were Tom Morello, Geezer Butler, Perry Farrell, Zak Starkey, and Kesha, and Marilyn Manson guesting on the second night. The next week, the group performed at Brazil's Rock in Rio festival on September 24, 2015, and was webcast live by AOL. Guest performers were, Lzzy Hale, Zak Starkey, and Andreas Kisser.


title: Hollywood Vampires (band)

text: In February 2016, the group performed at the Grammy Award ceremony as a tribute to Lemmy, who had died at the end of 2015. The group also announced their first concert tour, which began at Turning Stone Resort & Casino on May 24. The group was scheduled to make their first late-night television appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on July 11, 2016; however, lead guitarist and co-founder Perry collapsed on stage during a performance on July 10. The band continued to perform without Perry prior to his return to the tour on July 22. The group made their first late-night television appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on June 19, 2019.


title: Hollywood Vampires (band)

text: In June 2022, the band announced a new tour to take place in Europe (5 in Germany, 1 in Luxembourg and Turkey). The dates are set for June 2023 and will feature Joe Perry, Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Tommy Henriksen.


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the national church of the Armenian people. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christian institutions. The Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion under the rule of King Tiridates III of the Arsacid dynasty in the early 4th century. According to tradition, the church originated in the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus of Edessa in the 1st century. St. Gregory the Illuminator was the first official primate of the church.


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: It is sometimes referred to as the Armenian Orthodox Church. It is also known simply as the Armenian Church.


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: The Armenian Orthodox Church believes in apostolic succession through the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus (Jude). According to tradition, the latter of the two apostles is said to have cured Abgar V of Edessa of leprosy with the Image of Edessa, leading to his conversion in 30 AD. Thaddaeus was then commissioned by Abgar to proselytize throughout Armenia, where he converted King Sanatruk's daughter, who was eventually martyred alongside Thaddeus when Sanatruk later fell into apostasy. After this, Bartholomew came to Armenia, bringing a portrait of the Virgin Mary, which he placed in a nunnery he founded over a former temple of Anahit. Bartholomew then converted the sister of Sanatruk, who once again martyred a female relative and the apostle who converted her. Both apostles ordained native bishops before their execution, and some other Armenians had been ordained outside of Armenia by James the Just, brother of Jesus. Scholars including Bart Ehrman, Hendrik "Han" J. W. (H.J.W. Or Han J.W.) Drijvers, and Walter Bauer dismiss the conversion of Abgar V as fiction.


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: According to Eusebius and Tertullian, Armenian Christians were persecuted by kings Axidares, Khosrov I, and Tiridates III, the last of whom was converted to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator. Ancient Armenia's adoption of Christianity as a state religion (the first state to do so) has been referred to by Nina Garsoïan as "probably the most crucial step in its history." This conversion distinguished it from its Iranian and Mazdean roots and protected it from further Parthian influence. According to Mary Boyce, the acceptance of Christianity by the Arsacid-Armenian rulers was partly in defiance of the Sassanids.


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: When King Tiridates III made Christianity the state religion of Armenia between 300 and 301, it was not an entirely new religion there. It had penetrated the country from at least the third century, and may have been present even earlier.


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: Tiridates declared Gregory to be the first "Catholicos" of the Armenian Orthodox Church and sent him to Caesarea to be consecrated. Upon his return, Gregory tore down shrines to idols, built churches and monasteries, and ordained many priests and bishops. While meditating in the old capital city of Vagharshapat, Gregory had a vision of Christ descending to the earth and striking it with a hammer. From that spot arose a great Christian temple with a huge cross. He was convinced that God intended him to build the main Armenian church there. With the king's help he did so in accordance with his vision, renaming the city Etchmiadzin, which means "the place of the descent of the Only-Begotten".


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: Initially, the Armenian Orthodox Church participated in the larger Christian world and was subordinated to the Bishop of Caesarea. Its Catholicos was represented at the First Council of Nicea (325). St. Vrtanes I the third Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church through (333–341 AD), sent a letter with specific questions to Macarius of Jerusalem who was the Greek Orthodox Bishop of Jerusalem from (312-335, or 336 AD) sent to Jerusalem by a delegation of Armenian priests on the occasion of the Encaenia, in dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in September 335 AD. In Macarius's letter to the Armenians in 335 AD, it seeks to correct irregularities in the initiation rites of Baptism and the Eucharist currently in use in the Armenian Church by articulating present practices in Jerusalem. In so doing, it reveals the divergent forms being practiced in Armenia, which have strong echoes of old East Syriac Rite. Orthopraxy was conceived by Vrtanes and his Armenian colleagues in terms of liturgical performance in Jerusalem. In 353, King Papas (Pap) appointed Catholicos Husik without first sending him to Caesarea for commissioning. Its Catholicos was still represented at the First Council of Constantinople (381).


title: Armenian Apostolic Church

text: As Gregory was consecrated by the bishop of Caesarea, he also accepted the Byzantine Rite. However, the Armenian Church, due to the influence of the Church in Edessa, the large presence of Syriacs in Armenia, as well as the number of Syriac priests that arrived in Armenia with Gregory, also cultivated the West Syriac Rite (Antiochian Rite). Since Armenians at the time didn't have an alphabet, its clergy learned Greek and Syriac language. From this synthesis, the new Armenian Rite came about, which had similarities both with the Byzantine and the Antiochian Syriac rite.