It depends really. There are many flavors of introversion and levels of comfort in social interactions. I was definitely the shy, quiet kid but I always had friends and things to do. It helped that I had an outgoing friend adopt me (there is a joke that every introvert needs an extrovert to adopt them). I’ve gotten less shy now but I’m definitely quieter in unfamiliar situations or when I don’t feel interested in the topics/activity. I would argue that a lot of what Americans considered team building is well suited for extroverts and not introverts. I definitely hate them :). And there’s definitely a bias towards the person who speaks and speaks confidently, but I’d argue that isn’t inherently American. If you don’t know what someone is thinking it’s really hard to evaluate them and talking is an easy way to learn it. I had professors tell me they never knew what I was thinking until I told them and then they realized I actually did know what I was doing. So in the classroom and in meetings for me I have to force myself to speak up while my more outgoing classmates/colleagues probably don’t. It’s basically a tally sheet where I’m like ok I have to talk at least once to make sure they know I’m here and engaged. But there is definitely room for introverts in America. I have always excelled in tasks like school and also research (I’m a lab scientist) that are more individual while some of my more extroverted colleagues struggled more (especially in the lab).

I agree with some of the others. You’re not seeing the quieter/less outgoing Americans because they’re not calling attention to themselves, they’re forcing themselves to put themselves out there (which we are told to do if we’re in unfamiliar situations where we want/need to make connections), or are just more comfortable/engaged in the situation so they’re acting differently than they would be in other situations. All of those would apply to me in various situations.