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Your text talks about different approaches to actor training. Some approaches work primarily from an INTERNAL perspective – through sense memory, or emotional memory actors try to get in touch with their own past experience and apply it to the emotion their character is feeling in a scene.  Some others work from an EXTERNAL perspective – through physical movement or gesture or posture actors “put on” an emotion physically, which helps them portray their character’s emotion. While most actors tend to be trained and/or comfortable using one of these methods over the other, most will be sure to get training from both perspectives so they can call upon whichever works for a given production.

To get a better idea of internal vs. external approaches to acting, watch these two videos (there is closed-captioning available if you need it) that give advice to actors on how to cry on cue.  The first link is to an INTERNAL approach, and the second is an EXTERNAL approach.

Internal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWaUuYO5vGc   

External: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqqF-wNf5M

After watching them both (feel free to try them out for yourself too, if you like), think about which approach appeals more to you. You might also think of actors you have seen who had to express extreme emotion – did it feel believable to you? Which approach do you think is preferable, or how might you combine the two approaches?  Discuss your thoughts about internal vs. external acting in a brief reflection (300 words max).  You may wish to refer to actors you admire and reflect on which method they seem to follow as part of this reflection.