The compensated Role Adaptive adjustments are those in which the individual denies his primitive Role Adaptive, adopting an Role Uniform orientation at adolescence. The moderately compensated adjustment is symbolized as [u*=Ac], and the extremely compensated as [u*+=Ac+]. Both are characterized by tension, because they are essentially defensive adjustments. The primitive "A" child now manifests a strong tendency to perceive, to experience, and respond as if he were a "U," having reacted against his primitive Role Adaptive.
Theoretically, a [u*+=Ac+] adjustment is qualitatively different in Internalizers and Externalizers. In an Internalizer, the adjustment is regarded as comparatively negative. The individual was originally Role Adaptive, and was therefore under pressure to relate and interact socially. This pressure prevented him, in childhood, from yielding to autistic withdrawal, to which the "I" is prone. By reacting against his Role Adaptive at adolescence, he has removed a potent source of control over his schizophrenic tendencies. He has thus greatly increased the danger of denying reality, and retreating into autistic, highly individualistic ideational activity. In general, the Internalized "u*+" is mentally preoccupied, passive, and resistant to external stimulation.
The externalized [u*+=Ac+] is thought to have attained a more positive adjustment. He has gone through childhood in an environment which rewards intellectual or mechanical competence, and has therefore been inclined to develop skills in these areas. He has also become aware that the acceptance which stems from his primitive Role Adaptive is too short lived to satisfy his needs. He has therefore turned against his Role Adaptive, refusing to be accepted merely for his surface "A" skills. He may, in fact, actually develop techniques for keeping others at a distance, in order to exempt him from excessive social interpersonal demands. The chief advantage of his adolescent state of adjustment is that he is now likely to succeed in forcing himself to develop skills in the other dimensions of his personality. On the other hand, he tends to be negativistic, strongly rejecting, and hostile in the face of interpersonal involvements.