The natural frame of reference of the primitive Internalizer is inward directed, and his reality consists primarily of what goes on within himself. Both the areas of awareness to which he is inherently attuned, and the quality of his natural responsiveness, lie in the internal directions. The Internalizer tends to withdraw from precisely the same close relatedness which the Externalizer needs, because, for him, relationships with the external environment are more intrusive than gratifying.
Self-sufficiency is the essential condition for psychological equilibrium in the primitive Internalizer. He neither initiates nor maintains intimate interpersonal relationships, because involvement represents a threat to his self-containment. The major satisfactions of the Internalizer are essentially private. While the Externalizer relates because he has a fundamental need to do so, the Internalizer relates primarily when and where relating is necessary for the support of his Internalized needs. Otherwise, he tends to be generally aware of the external environment only to the extent to which it intrudes upon him.
External reality becomes meaningful to the Internalizer chiefly through referral to his own internal reference points. His spontaneous and direct awareness and reactivity center around, or are related to, his own ideational processes. His dominant orientation, then, is ideational, and the quality of his awareness is Inherently non-specific and abstract. In behavior he is essentially passive, since he responds predominantly to covert stimuli of which he alone is aware. He prefers thinking to doing, because the former provides a source of the kinds of private and self-contained Gratifications which he seeks, while the latter would bring him into unwelcome environmental contact.
The skills which are naturally developed by the Internalizer are predominantly of an ideational nature, and are directed primarily toward maintaining his self-sufficiency. His primitive level of ideational awareness and response, which characterized his Infancy, dispose him later to the production of fantasy. He also retains his predisposition for the abstract and generalized, and his maturing Interests turn to areas which are consistent with these tendencies. The situations which he seeks will not involve essentially shared activities, so that he can utilize activity with minimal environmental infringement.
Since the internalized child has no inherent need to relate, he does not tend to develop speech early. Once he has acquired It, however, he is apt to take pleasure in the manipulation of its symbols, and, if circumstances permit, he may well become a linguist. He is also adept at acquiring skills which are dependent on Ideational memory, and he seeks areas of activity for which such Skills are suitable, in preference to those which involve physical activity.
The internalized orientation, then, provides the Internalizer with a frame of reference which predetermines his selectivity in both awareness and response. However, it also imposes limitations on his ability to adjust to reality. Like the Externalizer, he, too, must learn how to increase the range of his awareness and reactivity, and to achieve certain learned adjustments, if he is to reach optimal levels of functioning.
The acquired adaptations which the Internalizer must make lie In a direction opposite to those required of the Externalizer, just as their respective primitive tendencies are In fundamental opposition. The Internalizer must first learn how to control his natural ideational reactivity, at least to a degree which will enable him to be aware of both external and internal stimuli. He must thereafter acquire the ability to respond to both in meaningful ways. Finally, he must learn how to integrate and utilize ideational and perceptual activities appropriately, in order to function more effectively.