The [IRA] is one of the most deceptive adjustments and is particularly difficult to describe. Early behavioral passivity is characteristic and seems attributable to the fact that the activity of the Primitive [I] is primarily ideational. The random, primitive motor behavior of the [E] is obvious to the external observer and can be readily described. The random, primitive ideational behavior of the [I] infant can only be inferred. However, the psychological commitment to this type of activity results in a lessening of motor activity, hence the use of the term passive to describe [I] behavior.

Obviously, the [I] infant does respond to external stimuli. However, the external stimuli usually must be strong or intense to arouse a reaction. Also, if the [I] infant is "preoccupied" with mental or ideational activity, the process of interrupting the preoccupation in order to respond to an external stimulus is more disrupting to the [I] child than to the [E]. As a result, the "startle reaction" of the [I] child is more marked. The [I] child soon learns to be apprehensive while engaging in ideational activity and usually begins to seek some kind of external support on which he can depend for succor and protection. This should be contrasted with the "comfort" the [E] infant feels when responding and interacting, and the apprehension and need for support he feels when compelled to be mentally occupied and passive. A fundamental significance of this difference is that the [E] child reacts to and becomes involved with most any external figure who is warm and protective, while the [I] child learns to respond to and depend upon familiar figures, primarily. The relationship of mother and child (as a rule) has more significance to the [I] child than to the [E] child. The [I] child has greater ability to retain and remember past experience than does the [E] child who is inclined to be fickle and forgetful. Depending upon life circumstances and the development of discipline and control, the [I] individual tends to acquire readily a verbal (or mental) memory while the [E] individual readily acquires a visual (or motor) memory. Symbols and abstractions are, as a result, more real for the Primitive [I] and are developed more rapidly.

A major problem of the [I] individual during his formative years is that he invents symbols and abstractions having only personal or individual meaning. This primitive autism may interfere with language development in the [I] child because he has little need for the socially relevant symbols. The highly intelligent [E] child may learn language very rapidly because he encounters little interference and has a strong drive to relate. The [I] child has little drive to relate and is usually satisfied with his personal symbolism. If the individuals in his environment learn to respond to his expressed need for succor, the [I] will initially have little urge to expand or develop his communication ability. Private language, therefore, is much more common in the developing [I] child than in the [E] child.

In most instances, the [IRA] baby is described as a "good" baby. This usually means the child is self-reliant (i.e. he entertains himself for long periods without involvement and activity); he makes few demands and these are usually related to his need for food and care; he responds more actively to the people he knows (the [I] baby will cry when given to strangers and will resist care from people he does not know and recognize). Thus, the tendency to provoke "mother to jealousy" -- typical of the [ERA] baby -- is less commonly seen in the [IRA] baby. However, the protectiveness and close relations (succor relation) of a mother with her [I] child may very well may precipitate resentment in a husband or in the other children. By the same token, the [I] child, as he matures, demands time and attention of his "succor figure" and may be hostile and destructive towards those who interfere with this relationship.

The maturity rate of the [IRA] can be surprisingly smooth. Under direction and guidance from an external figure, the [IRA] is very imitative. Unlike the [ERA] and [ERU], who perseverate a behavioral activity because they become involved with it, the [IRA] (under direction) will go just far enough in a behavioral activity to satisfy his director and then will relapse into mental activity (where, of course, the [IR] is more inclined to perseverate). The [IRA] individual's behavioral maturity rate is, then, a definite function of the specific guidance and direction he receives.

The [IRA] is, however, susceptible to mixed influences. He will not only respond to the direction and control of anyone who provides it, he will also attract considerable competition for that control. Conflict between parents and grandparents, between parents and teachers all can have much influence on the development of the [IRA]. He is in definite danger of becoming all things to all people, while remaining an independent, self-sufficient person.

The [IRA] will be an interesting, attractive infant and will receive a considerable amount of attention. Actually, many [IRA] babies will find the attention and involvement unsatisfactory and frustrating, since the natural inclination is more for self-sufficiency and self-preoccupation. As a result, there will be a tendency for early resistance and hostility (a determination to be let alone) in the [IRA]. Negativism (but more passive than in the [ERU] and [EFU]) is a general characteristic of the early adjustment of the [IRA]. This usually takes the form of some type of irritating activity that will cause temporary abandonment of the child. In other words, the [IRA] child tends to be negativistic to avoid attention, while the [ERU] is negativistic to gain attention. This characteristic of self-centeredness and psychological independence also reinforces the [IRA] child's dependency upon the figure who "understands" him and makes any separation from this figure a traumatic event in his early development. Also, the shyness in the [IRA] is quite different from the embarrassment of the [ERU] (who is afraid his emotional needs will not be reciprocated). This general difference between the emotional dependency of the [E] child and the succor dependency of the [I] child is a key concept in the entire descriptive system.

The initial passivity, imitativeness and clinging dependency of the [IRA] child is generally only suitable during the early years of his life. By the time he is ready to start to school, he is under considerable pressure to become more independent and responsible. Since the [IRA] child (because he is [A]) can mask his mental preoccupation by skillful role playing, he can learn to be adept at keeping psychological distance by his external social role. In many instances, after a traumatic period early in his school years when he has had to adapt to a strange new environment and has learned to adjust to the rejection by his initial succor figures, he is likely to be very well behaved and apparently well adapted. He has learned to use his social role-playing to keep people at a distance while at the same time appearing to be more involving and relating than he is. To a large extent, the teachers are preoccupied with the "problem" children and assume the [IRA] is making a much better adaptation than may actually be true. With a minimum of discipline (or effort), the [IRA] child can do well in most primary mental activities and there is usually a tendency to overestimate his mental ability. Generally speaking, the [IRA] child is credited with excellent mental and social maturity (as compared with (1) the [IRU], who is usually thought to have excellent social maturity but weak or erratic mental ability; (2) the [ERA], who is considered to have excellent social maturity but lazy mental habits; and (3) the [ERU], who is considered to have poor social maturity but good mental maturity).

Adolescence is usually the major crisis period for the [IRA]. At this time the pseudo-maturity of his childhood becomes more obvious and he is under greater stress than at any other period. During this period, he is very likely to become more negativistic and hostile, primarily because he is expected to abandon his succor dependency relationships and take more responsibility for himself and his sustenance. At the same time, there are more emotional demands on the [IRA], i.e. he has learned to be an inviting, involving person on the surface, and as such, attracts others. Since the [IRA] is losing his familiar succor figures (they are forcing him to be independent), he begins to be very attracted to new potential succor figures. The adolescent [IRA] searches quite immaturely for security and self-sufficiency. Teenage marriage, unrealistic attitudes towards work, and running away from home (either literally or in the figurative sense of becoming psychologically isolated and preoccupied) are common to this group. In addition, the ideational splitting (i.e. the autistic inner experience that is masked by conventional social role playing) becomes obvious, inappropriate and disabling.

Apparent maturity in childhood and equally apparent immaturity in adolescence are characteristic of the [IRA]. More so than most other Primitive Types, the ultimate adjustment of the [IRA] is determined by his adolescent experience.