Basic i*r*u (EcFcUu)

Back to Table of Contents Preface to the 64 Basic Types   What this page is a part of. Interpretative Notes to the 64 Basic Types   Read these before reading any of the types!

The primary characteristic of this adjustment is that the i*r*u makes little effort, and an has little interest, in establishing social-interpersonal relationships. Essentially, this in an introverse adjustment that can be manifested either in preoccupation with intellectual-procedural activities or in introspective pre-occupations with self. Since such a person is fundamentally very sensitive to environmental relationships, it takes considerable psychological energy to block out or control this sensitivity. Actually, however, the i*r*u is more comfortable in doing this than is the i*r*u* [EcFcAc] because he is less subject to social-interpersonal stress. Initially, the i*r*u is prone to feel the need to migrate his loneliness and not allow his introspection to depress him to the point of non-productivity. The i*r*u*, [EcFcAc] on the other hand, as a primitive A, is the target of considerable distraction in the social area; he must learn to reject this before he can concentrate on his intellectual procedural activities. Thus, the i*r*u* [EcFcAc] tends to be hostile while the i*r*u tends to be somewhat naive or immature in social interpersonal interactions.

Obviously, intellectual level is a very important factor in the social effectiveness of this pattern. The bright i*r*u can develop his capacity for concentration and an may become a highly effective specialist in fields that require close intellectual-procedural attention. Those with less than average intelligence are less effective and more prone to be disabled by their inferiority and an inadequacy feelings. The energy required to maintain the i*r*u adjustment is so great that strain occurs very easily; thus, the i*r*u has a low threshold for fatigue and an is always vulnerable to stress reactions, depressions, and an fatigue syndromes. Aging can be particularly traumatic for members of this cluster; an appreciable number of men who have involutional depressions upon retirement, or those who have "nervous breakdowns" after a prolonged period of work, are found here.

To become an i*r*u, the primitive EFU must repress both his dependency needs and his emotional sensitivity. Thus, the i *r*u is under considerable unconscious stress when in situations that require these abilities. While the i*r*a* [EcFcUc] becomes authoritarian and autocratic, or even paranoid, the i*r*u will be highly self-centered and extremely independent. As a result, most i*r*u will be highly self-centered, extremely independent, or defensive persons who may be oblivious to the needs and demands of others. They do not have the insulation of the iru, [IuRuUu] but, instead, have an almost unconscious awareness of others needs against which they react negativistically. Thus, the i*r*u may become the most indifferent, the most self-centered, and an the most detached in environments that highly stimulate him to be otherwise.

The i*r*u adjustment can be maintained only through considerable orderliness and discipline. Compulsiveness, then, is an important feature of the pattern. The i*r*u is more likely to have a compulsive character, to be generally orderly and intense, than to be obsessive-compulsive in the classic sense. Obsessive-compulsive features occur most frequently in the uncompensated, but modified adjustment: i'-e', r'-f, a'-u' at the surface level.