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Resources for Interpersonal Theory and Research

  • Foundational Texts

    Important Works

    • Sullivan, H. S. (1953). The interpersonal theory of psychiatry. New York, NY: Norton.
    • Leary, T. (1957). Interpersonal diagnosis of personality: A functional theory and methodology for personality evaluation. Oxford, England: Ronald Press.
    • Benjamin, L. S. (1974). Structural analysis of social behavior. Psychological Review, 81(5), 392–425. https://doi.org/10/cksftd
    • Wiggins, J. S. (1979). A psychological taxonomy of trait-descriptive terms: The interpersonal domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(3), 395–412. https://doi.org/10/btp3pn
    • Benjamin, L. S. (1996). Interpersonal diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders (2nd ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
    • Yik, M. S. M., & Russell, J. A. (2004). On the relationship between circumplexes: Affect and Wiggins’ IAS. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39(2), 203–230. https://doi.org/10/c8zvcv
    • Zimmermann, J., & Wright, A. G. C. (2017). Beyond description in interpersonal construct validation: Methodological advances in the circumplex Structural Summary Approach. Assessment, 24(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10/f9fz5d
    • Pincus, A. L., & Hopwood, C. J. (2025). The interpersonal situation: Contemporary integrative interpersonal theory, assessment, and psychotherapy. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/interpersonal-situation

    Reviews and Primers

    • Wiggins, J. S. (1991). Agency and communion as conceptual coordinates for the understanding and measurement of interpersonal behavior. In D. Cicchetti & W. M. Grove (Eds.), Thinking clearly about psychology, Volume 2: Personality and psychopathology (pp. 89–113). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
    • Wiggins, J. S. (1996). An informal history of the interpersonal circumplex tradition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66(2), 217–233. https://doi.org/10/fpm76d
    • Wright, A. G. C., Pincus, A. L., Conroy, D. E., & Hilsenroth, M. J. (2009). Integrating methods to optimize circumplex description and comparison of groups. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(4), 311–322. https://doi.org/10/dj2s7g
    • Pincus, A. L., & Ansell, E. B. (2013). Interpersonal theory of personality. In I. B. Weiner, H. A. Tennen, & J. M. Suls (Eds.), Handbook of Psychology, Volume 5, Personality and Social Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 141–159). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
    • Wilson, S., Stroud, C. B., & Durbin, C. E. (2017). Interpersonal dysfunction in personality disorders: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 143(7), 677–734. https://doi.org/10/gdnfhc

  • Assessment Instruments

    Instruments based on octants of the interpersonal circumplex

    • Interpersonal Check List (ICL)
      LaForge & Suczek (1955), Clark & Taulbee (1981)
    • Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB)
      Benjamin (1974)
    • Inventory of Interpersonal Problems – Circumplex (IIP-C)
      Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus (1990), Horowitz, Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus (2000)
    • Checklist of Interpersonal/Psychotherapy Transactions (CLOIT/CLOPT)
      Kiesler, Goldston, & Schmidt (1991)
    • Interpersonal Adjective Scales – Revised (IAS-R)
      Wiggins (1995), Wiggins, Trapnell, & Phillips (1988)
    • Chart of Interpersonal Reactions in Closed Living Environments (CIRCLE)
      Blackburn & Renwick (1996)
    • Impact Message Inventory – Circumplex (IMI-C)
      Kiesler, Schmidt, & Wagner (1997), Kiesler & Schmidt (2006)
    • Support Actions Scale – Circumplex (SAS-C)
      Trobst (2000)
    • Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Values (CSIV)
      Locke (2000)
    • Interpersonal Adjective List (IAL)
      Jacobs & Scholl (2005)
    • Child and Adolescent Interpersonal Survey (CAIS)
      Sodano & Tracey (2006)
    • Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Efficacy (CSIE)
      Locke & Sadler (2007)
    • International Personality Item Pool – Interpersonal Circumplex (IPIP-IPC)
      Markey & Markey (2009)
    • NEO-PI-R Octant Scales
      Traupman et al. (2009)
    • Inventory of Interpersonal Strengths (IIS)
      Hatcher & Rogers (2009, 2012)
    • Interpersonal Sensitivities Circumplex (ISC)
      Hopwood et al. (2011)
    • Circumplex Leadership Scan (CLS)
      Redeker et al. (2012)
    • Interpersonal Goals Inventory for Children – Revised (IGI-CR)
      Trucco, Wright, & Colder (2013)
    • Circumplex Scales of Intergroup Goals (CSIG)
      Locke (2014)
    • Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Problems (CSIP)
      Boudreaux et al. (2018)
    • Circumplex Culture Scan (CCS) / Circumplex Team Scan (CTS)
      Locke (2019)

    Instruments focusing on Agency and Communion

    • Seated Kinesic Activity Notation System (SKANS-V)
      Gifford (1991)
    • Social Behavior Inventory (SBI)
      Moskowitz (1994), Manual
    • Unmitigated Communion Scale (UCS)
      Helgeson & Fritz (1998)
    • Interpersonal Grid
      Moskowitz & Zuroff (2005)
    • Joystick Monitoring Software (JoyMon)
      Sadler et al. (2009)
    • Standardized interpersonal interaction tasks
      Leising et al. (2011)
    • Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ)
      Back et al. (2013)
    • Maladaptive Interpersonal Patterns Q-Sort (MIPQS)
      Zimmermann et al. (2014)
    • Agentic and Communal Consumption Motivation Inventory (ACCMI)
      Friedman et al. (2016)
    • Dual Axis Rating and Media Annotation (DARMA)
      Girard & Wright (2018), Link

  • Statistical Methods