The uncompensated Role Adaptive adjustment are symbolized by [a=Au] and [a+=Au+]. The common characteristic of these basic orientations is the relatively free expression of the individual's role playing skills, which are expressed and utilized without sufficient tension and anxiety to induce compensation. Such an adolescent continues to make a favorable impression on others, has retained his quick social insight and versatility, and continues to maintain interpersonal interaction on the basis of his natural "A" skills.
The [a+=Au+] adolescent has retained his primitive "A" tendencies with the minimum of inhibition, in other words, has acquired little control of his inherent social responsiveness, and therefore depends very heavily on the external environment to direct the patterns of his social behavior. The quality of his interpersonal interaction is little more than a reflection of a particular social situation in which he finds himself.
As a result, he lacks initiative, and is apt to be undependable and fickle as he moves from one situation to another.
In a sense, the [a+=Au+] in spite of his highly developed social skills, is nevertheless socially immature. His adeptness in social situations is facile, but frequently lacking in depth. Having experienced little disapproval, the resulting lack of criticism has rendered him somewhat deficient in judgment. His social responses are therefore uncontrolled, and superficiality remains an outstanding characteristic of his social-interpersonal relationships.
The dependence of the [a+=Au+] on external direction is more appropriate in childhood than in adolescence, and his actual immaturity becomes increasingly apparent as he grows older. Throughout childhood, he is rarely called upon to prove his competence, because his surface social skills tend to obscure his inadequacies in other areas, and protect him from careful scrutiny and accurate evaluation. Once the true state of his immaturity is recognized, however, he may suddenly and unexpectedly find himself censored and rejected.
Role playing flexibility and social versatility are the outstanding assets of the [a+=Au+] adjustment. The individual can be extremely effective in the initial phases of social interaction, and highly responsive to the needs of others. Further, because he is functioning in accordance with his natural inclinations, he is relatively relaxed, and without guilt and anxiety in connection with his "A" attributes. He has, however, failed to achieve sufficient control over them to permit him to make use of his social talents with maximum efficiency. He tends to be so responsive to the requirements of a particular situation that he expends little energy on self initiated, independent activities. He has the further disadvantages of lacking loyalty to any one set of social values, inability to maintain long-lasting social responsibilities, and almost total dependence on external direction.
The [a=Au], too, has not been forced to deny his primitive tendency. He has retained his inherent ability to adapt to a number of social roles successfully, but has acquired more control of it than the [a+=Au+]. Depending on the other dimensions of his personality, as well as the nature of their compensations, he has remained responsive to the needs of others, and continues to be socially effective and interpersonally astute.
A major difficulty for the [a=Au] adolescent is that he may invite considerably more social interaction than he needs. Like the [a+=Au+], he creates a very favorable first impression without intending to do so. As a result, he is apt to arouse unrealistic and over-demanding expectations in others, and to be rejected and punished when he failed to live up to them on a long-term basis.
The [a=Au] adolescent is not so dependent on external direction as is the [a+=Au+]. He, therefore, has a greater amount of energy at his disposal to expend on self-initiated activities, and is thus better able to restrict his social responsiveness by making a certain amount of independent decisions. Since he has learned that he functions better in new situations and with casual acquaintances than he does in more intimate and long-range relationships, he may attempt to solve his difficulties by changing the socialinterpersonal environment frequently, to escape from pressure.
The [a=Au], like the [a+=Au+], is characterized by a special kind of social under-development, which results indirectly from his inherent social appeal. He, too, has had little experience of disapproval and rejection, and his lack of negative experience in this respect has fostered immaturity. He can often go through childhood creating the impression that he has learned more than he actually knows, and that he has acquired more maturity than is really the case. As a result of the acceptance which he engenders, he tends to be protected in childhood, leaving him relatively unprepared for the demands of adolescence and adulthood. At adolescence, then, the "A" individual may be suddenly called upon to p;ave the competence which, throughout childhood, he was merely assumed to possess. As a result, he often begins to experience misunderstanding, disapproval, and rejection for the first time.
In order to facilitate adjustment, a basic [a=Au] must manage to escape from the unrealistic expectations of others, and develop some degree of social and intellectual maturity in his own right. His primary assets are his social versatility, his ability to recognize and respond to the needs of others, and his inherent skill in adapting to changing or novel situations. Mitigating against these advantages are the superficiality and immaturity of his understanding, the unrealistic demands which are apt to be made upon him by others, and his lack of preparation for the requirements of the more mature phases of development.