The interpersonal
circle or interpersonal circumplex is a model for conceptualizing,
organizing, and assessing interpersonal behavior, traits, and motives. The
interpersonal circumplex is defined by two orthogonal axes: a vertical axis (of
status, dominance, power, or control) and a horizontal axis (of solidarity,
friendliness, warmth, or love). In recent years, it has become conventional to
identify the vertical and horizontal axes with the broad constructs of agency
and communion. Thus, each point in the interpersonal circumplex space can be
specified as a weighted combination of agency and communion.
Leary
Circumplex
Originally coined Leary
Circumplex or Leary Circle after Timothy Leary is defined as "a
two-dimensional representation of personality organized around two major
axes".
During the
twentieth century, there were a number of efforts by personality psychologists
to create comprehensive taxonomies to describe the most important and
fundamental traits of human nature. Leary’s circumplex, developed in 1957, is a
circular continuum of personality formed from the intersection of two base
axes: Power and Love. The opposing sides of the power axis are dominance and
submission, while the opposing sides of the love axis are love and hate.
Leary argued that
all other dimensions of personality can be viewed as a blending of these two
axes. For example, a person who is stubborn and inflexible in their personal
relationships might graph her personality somewhere on the arc between
dominance and love. However, a person who exhibits passive–aggressive
tendencies might find herself best described on the arc between submission and
hate. The main idea of the Leary Circumplex is that each and every human trait can
be mapped as a vector coordinate within this circle.
Furthermore, the
Leary Circumplex also represents a kind of bull's eye of healthy psychological
adjustment. Theoretically speaking, the most well-adjusted person of the planet
could have their personality mapped at the exact center of the circumplex,
right at the intersection of the two axes, while individuals exhibiting
extremes in personality would be located on the circumference of the circle.
Placing a person
near one of the poles of the axes implies that the person tends to convey clear
or strong messages (of warmth, hostility, dominance or submissiveness).
Conversely, placing a person at the midpoint of the agentic dimension implies
the person conveys neither dominance nor submissiveness (and pulls neither
dominance nor submissiveness from others). Likewise, placing a person at the
midpoint of the communal dimension implies the person conveys neither warmth
nor hostility (and pulls neither warmth nor hostility from others).
The interpersonal
circumplex can be divided into broad segments (such as fourths) or narrow
segments (such as sixteenths), but currently most interpersonal circumplex
inventories partition the circle into eight octants. As one moves around the
circle, each octant reflects a progressive blend of the two axial dimensions.
The interpersonal
circumplex model has served as the foundation for the development of a number
of personality measures designed to assess interpersonal constructs in accordance
with the model.
Theoretical
Assumptions
Leary claimed that “to understand a human being is
to have probability evidence about his relationships with others (perceived,
actual, or symbolic), about the durable interpersonal techniques by which he
wards off anxiety, and about the reciprocal responses these techniques pull
from others”.
Thus, Leary offered nine working principles for interpersonal
theory of personality, and among them the following:
- All
interpersonal behaviors are attempts by a person to avoid anxiety or to
establish and maintain self-esteem.
- Any
personality measure should be able to assess, on the same continuum, the
whole range of behavior from normal to extreme.
- Assessment
of interpersonal behavior requires a broad collection of specific
measures, related to each other.
- For valid assessment of interpersonal behavior, the same measures should be equally applied to interacting individuals.
Scales Representing the Interpersonal
Circle
Various instruments have been used to represent the
interpersonal domain as a circumplex. Among them are the Interpersonal
Checklist (ICL), Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS), Revised Interpersonal
Adjective Scales (IAS-R), Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scales
(IIP-C), and Inventory of Interpersonal Goals (IIG).
We will review these models in more details in the
following posts.
About
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis
Leary (October 22, 1920
– May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy
of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs such as LSD and psilocybin were
legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard
Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison Experiment and the Marsh
Chapel Experiment. Both studies produced useful data, but Leary and his
associate Richard Alpert were fired from the university.
Leary believed LSD
showed therapeutic potential for use in psychiatry. He popularized catchphrases
that promoted his philosophy, such as "turn on, tune in, drop out",
"set and setting", and "think for yourself and question
authority". He also wrote and spoke frequently about transhumanist
concepts involving space migration, intelligence increase and life extension
(SMI²LE), and he developed the eight-circuit model of consciousness in his book
Exo-Psychology (1977).
During the 1960s
and 1970s, Leary was arrested regularly and was held captive in 29 different
prisons throughout the world. President Richard Nixon once described Leary as
"the most dangerous man in America".
Sources
and Additional Information:
