This chapter deals with the Role Adaptive-Role Uniform personality dimension Sections discuss the inherent differences between the Role Adaptive and Role Uniform individuals in the primitive state, their respective developmental courses and the various adjustments which they can acquire at the adolescent or basic level of their development. Role Adaptive and Role Uniform
The Role Adaptive-Role Uniform dimension is the third of the major personality components which the theory regards as inherent. The Role Adaptive or Role Uniform component in an individual's personal structure is thought of as the "social" variable, because it is closely related to the quality of his social-interpersonal adjustment, and to the ways in which he is predisposed to utilize social activities. Role Adaptive and Role Uniform are the polar extremes of this dimension, and, like the Internalizer and the Externalizer, or Rigidity and Flexibility, are believed to represent diametrically opposed tendencies in both awareness and response.
The social component of the individual's personality is considered to have a special quality which differentiates it sharply from the other two major personality factors. The
"intellectual" and the "mechanical-procedural" variables are essentially predetermined tendencies which the individual can utilize directly, and which are capable of development and training The social variable is unique in that its major influence is shown in the impression which the individual makes, rather than in what he is or does. More specifically, the A-U dimension is associate with his capacity to adapt to the roles which are required by the cultural milieu in which he is born and reared.
The outstanding characteristic of Role Adaptive is the innate ability in responding to, and behaving effectively in, social-interpersonal relationships. The primary attribute of Role Uniform is deficiency in these social aptitudes. The whole personality pattern of the individual is especially important in interpreting the social factor. For example, the ready social acceptance which Role Adaptive induces serves the Externalizer's need for interpersonal relatedness. The Role Adaptive-Internalizer however, may find himself surrounded by others when he would much prefer to be left alone. Role Uniform, too, exerts a different influence on Internalizers and Externalizers. The trait tends to result in social rejection, which constitutes a profound threat to the Externalizer, but which the Internalizer can generally tolerate quite well.
The rigid or flexible component of the individual's personality structure is also closely related to the effect of Role Adaptive or Role Uniform. The Role Adaptive rigid person, for example, will attract initially, but his inherent self-centeredness and inability to see himself in relation to others will prevent him from sustaining the favorable first impression which his Role Adaptive creates. Here again, the subsequent rejection will be more anxiety provoking to an Externalizer than to an Internalizer.
Role Uniform, combined with flexibility, constitutes a particularly unfortunate combination for the Externalizer, since he not only makes an unfavorable initial impression, but also lacks the tenacity which would be necessary to overcome it. The Role Adaptive and flexible Externalizer, also, will have special difficulties in social-interpersonal involvements. He begins well, but rinds it difficult to maintain his relationships in a stable manner. His inherent tendency to interpersonal vacillation will tend to bring on rejection, and, because of his flexibility, he will be too distractible to work at regaining acceptance over time.
The Internalizer, on the other hand, does not welcome the amount of personal attention which Role Adaptive is likely to attract. If he is Role Adaptive, he would prefer to keep people at a distance, in order to maintain his self-sufficiency. If he is Role Uniform, he is unlikely to suffer from the unfavorable first impression which he makes, and, particularly if he is rigid as well, may even be unaware of
it. Nevertheless, the Internalizer does need social-interpersonal relationships in order to achieve the satisfaction of his internalized needs. Extensive rejection, therefore, is anxiety provoking to an Internalizer as well as to an Externalizer, since his source of support is threatened.
An Role Adaptive Internalizer, who is sufficiently rigid to sustain relationships without too much personal involvement to threaten his self-sufficiency, is in a good position to manage his autistic tendencies effectively. If, on the other hand, he is both Role Uniform and flexible, he will not attract socially, and will also be unlikely to strive for eventual acceptance. In consequence, he is apt to be left alone, to indulge in the fantasy life toward which the combination of "I" and "F" strongly predisposes him.
Insight into an individual's personality structure and functioning cannot be achieved on the basis of a separate consideration of the social variable, precisely because this factor is reflected in his social-interpersonal behavior, which, in turn, depends very heavily on his total personality structure. Therefore, the Internalizer-Externalizer and the
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Rigid-Flexible components of his personality are regarded as direct determinants of his experience and behavior. The Role Adaptive or Role Uniform factor in his endowment, however, is considered to be more of a catalyst than a determinant in the development of his personality.
The developmental phases which are thought to occur in the Role Adaptive-Role Uniform dimension of personality run parallel to those which take place in the other two. The primitive tendency, whether Role Adaptive or Role Uniform, retains its dominance unless or until environmental pressures induce feelings of inferiority, anxiety and guilt which are strong enough to produce compensation. Primitive and compensatory tendencies fuse around the time of adolescence, during which the basic level of development is reached. The basic adjustment becomes the individual's characteristic mode of adaptation, and exerts a lasting influence on his subsequent life. The nature of the modifications which are later superimposed determines the pattern of the contaCt or adult level of his personality structure.