Introduction to the Special Series-Interpersonal Theory and the Interpersonal Circumplex: Timothy Leary's Legacy

1996 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Strack
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochen Luo ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood ◽  
Evan W. Good ◽  
Joshua E. Turchan ◽  
Katherine M. Thomas ◽  
...  

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) integrates several theoretical models of personality functioning, including interpersonal theory. The interpersonal circumplex dimensions of warmth and dominance can be conceptualized as traits similar to those in AMPD Criterion B, but interpersonal theory also offers dynamic hypotheses about how these variables that change from moment to moment, which help to operationalize some of the processes alluded to in AMPD Criterion A. In the psychotherapy literature, dynamic interpersonal behaviors are thought to be critical for identifying therapeutic alliance ruptures, yet few studies have examined moment-to-moment interpersonal behaviors that are associated with alliance ruptures at an idiographic level. The current study examined the concurrent and cross-lagged relationships between interpersonal behaviors and alliance ruptures within each session in the famous Gloria films (“Three Approaches to Psychotherapy”). Interpersonal behaviors (warmth and dominance) as well as alliance ruptures (i.e., withdrawal and confrontation) were calculated at half minute intervals for each dyad. We identified distinct interpersonal patterns associated with alliance ruptures for each session: Gloria (patient)’s warmth was positively related with withdrawal ruptures concurrently in the session with Carl Rogers; Gloria’s dominance and coldness were related with increased confrontation ruptures in the session with Fritz Perls concurrently, while her coldness was also predicted by confrontation ruptures at previous moments; lastly, both Gloria’s dominance and Albert Ellis’s submissiveness were positively related with withdrawal ruptures. These interpersonal patterns demonstrated the promise of using AMPD dimensions to conceptualize momentary interpersonal processes related to therapy ruptures, as well as the clinical importance of attuning to repetitive, dyad-specific interpersonal cues of ruptures within each session.


Author(s):  
Aaron L. Pincus ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood ◽  
Aidan G. C. Wright

This chapter reviews structural and process assumptions of the Contemporary Integrative Interpersonal Theory of personality and presents the interpersonal situation as a synthetic and widely applicable framework for integrating the structure and dynamics of persons and situations. It is an interactional-dynamic perspective that is variable-centered and dimensional (agency and communion; valence and arousal), specifies the important characteristics of situations, synthesizes objective and subjective perspectives, and is applicable to multimethod, multi-informant, multi-timescale assessments in situ, juxta situm, or ex situ organized by the interpersonal circumplex. Emphasizing clinical implications, the chapter reviews multimethod, multi-timescale empirical research employing intensive repeated measures designs (event-contingent recording, continuous assessment of interpersonal dynamics) supporting the interpersonal situation and its relevance for studying personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. It then elaborates on the utility of the interpersonal situation framework for psychotherapy practice and training. Finally, it identifies future directions for advancing this contemporary interpersonal perspective on psychological situations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 441-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Schut ◽  
Jan van Tartwijk ◽  
Erik Driessen ◽  
Cees van der Vleuten ◽  
Sylvia Heeneman

Abstract Low-stakes assessments are theorised to stimulate and support self-regulated learning. They are feedback-, not decision-oriented, and should hold little consequences to a learner based on their performance. The use of low-stakes assessment as a learning opportunity requires an environment in which continuous improvement is encouraged. This may be hindered by learners’ perceptions of assessment as high-stakes. Teachers play a key role in learners’ assessment perceptions. By investigating assessment perceptions through an interpersonal theory-based perspective of teacher–learner relationships, we aim to better understand the mechanisms explaining the relationship between assessment and learning within medical education. First, twenty-six purposefully selected learners, ranging from undergraduates to postgraduates in five different settings of programmatic assessment, were interviewed about their assessment task perception. Next, we conducted a focussed analysis using sensitising concepts from interpersonal theory to elucidate the influence of the teacher–learner relationship on learners’ assessment perceptions. The study showed a strong relation between learners’ perceptions of the teacher–learner relationship and their assessment task perception. Two important sources for the perception of teachers’ agency emerged from the data: positional agency and expert agency. Together with teacher’s communion level, both types of teachers’ agency are important for understanding learners’ assessment perceptions. High levels of teacher communion had a positive impact on the perception of assessment for learning, in particular in relations in which teachers’ agency was less dominantly exercised. When teachers exercised these sources of agency dominantly, learners felt inferior to their teachers, which could hinder the learning opportunity. To utilise the learning potential of low-stakes assessment, teachers are required to stimulate learner agency in safe and trusting assessment relationships, while carefully considering the influence of their own agency on learners’ assessment perceptions. Interpersonal theory offers a useful lens for understanding assessment relationships. The Interpersonal Circumplex provides opportunities for faculty development that help teachers develop positive and productive relationships with learners in which the potential of low-stakes assessments for self-regulated learning is realised.


Assessment ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 688-705
Author(s):  
Chloe F. Bliton ◽  
Aaron L. Pincus

Assessment of interpersonal dispositions (e.g., traits, problems) commonly employs self- and informant-report measures that conform to the two-dimensional interpersonal circumplex (IPC) model. Here, we adopted the IPC and interpersonal theory as a framework for mapping the universe of content of interpersonal influence. Although there are existing measures of influence tactics used in influence research, this literature is divided among disciplines with varying construct definitions and no unifying theory. Here, we define interpersonal influence as the conscious maneuvering of one’s behavior to engender desired responses from others in interpersonal situations. The current article details the construction and validation of the Interpersonal Influence Tactics Circumplex (IIT-C) Scales in two samples ( Ns = 862, 608). The 64-item IIT-C assesses a comprehensive taxonomy of interpersonal influence tactics conforming to the structure of the IPC. Circumplex structure of the IIT-C was confirmed and replicated. Using the structural summary method for circumplex data, associations with other IPC measures, existing measures of influence, normal personality traits, and pathological personality traits supported the validity of IIT-C scores. The IIT-C assesses a theoretically based and empirically derived set of interpersonal influence tactics and provides a common language for integrating distinct streams of influence research by conforming to the IPC.


Author(s):  
Aaron L. Pincus ◽  
Christopher J. Hopwood

We present a model of personality psychopathology based on the assumptions; descriptive metastructure; and developmental, motivational, and regulatory processes of the contemporary integrative interpersonal theory of personality. The interpersonal model of personality psychopathology distinguishes between the definition of personality pathology and individual differences in the expression of personality disorder. This approach facilitates interdisciplinary conceptualizations of functioning and treatment by emphasizing the interpersonal situation as a prominent unit of analysis, organized by the metaconstructs of agency and communion and the interpersonal circumplex model. Linking personality psychopathology to agentic and communal constructs, pathoplastic relationships with those constructs, patterns of intraindividual variability, and interpersonal signatures allows personality dysfunction to be tied directly to psychological theory with clear propositions for research and treatment planning. The model’s relevance for DSM-5 is highlighted throughout the chapter. We conclude by bringing the interpersonal model from bench to bedside with an articulation of its clinical implications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Svitlana Kuzikova ◽  
Valeriy Zlivkov ◽  
Svitlana Lukomska

This article is devoted to the concept of integrative interpersonal theory of personality. The origins of the interpersonal theory of personality are found in interpersonal theory of psychiatry. This approach facilitates interdisciplinary conceptualizations of functioning and treatment by emphasizing the interpersonal situation as a prominent unit of analysis, organized by the metaconstructs of agency and communion and the interpersonal circumplex model. The interpersonal circumplex can serve as both companion and guide for those interested in exploring the interpersonal domain of personality. It is outlined the major assumptions and key concepts of the contemporary integrative interpersonal theory of personality. The features and the variety of studies, including several recent studies that extend integrative interpersonal theory are outlined. It is established that applications of the model for exploring both the idiographic (person‐centered) and nomothetic (variable‐centered) realms of personality. The contemporary interpersonal tradition assumes a pathoplastic relationship between interpersonal functioning and many forms of psychopathology. Key concepts of interpersonal theory: Copy process, Catalysts of internalization, Interpersonal motives, Regulatory Metagoals are described. The interpersonal nexus in psychology is a nomological net that provides the architecture to coordinate definition of personality. Given the advances in interpersonal theory and description discussed here, we would argue that agentic and communal personality characteristics should be essential components of an interdisciplinary science of personality psychology. Стаття присвячена аналізу сучасної інтегративної міжособистісної теорії особистості, що базується на міжособистісній теорії психіатрії, згідно з якою міжособистісна ситуація як одиниця аналізу дозволяє реалізувати міждисциплінарний підхід до діагностики, терапії та лікування пато­психологічних станів. При цьому наголошується, що утворений метаконструктами контекст комунікації по суті є моделлю міжособистісного комплексу, який дозволяє вивчати особистість комплексно, в кон­тексті інтегративного підходу, базуючись не лише на принципах патології, а й на принципах гуманізму. Окреслено основні поняття сучасної інтегративної міжособистісної теорії особистості: копінг-процеси, каталізатори інтерналізації, міжособистісні мотиви, регуляторні метацілі. Проаналізовано  численні дослідження (зокрема сучасні), що не лише розкривають основні поняття інтегративної міжособистісної теорії, а й демонструють можливості її використання у практичній психології та психотерапії. Вста­новлено, що застосування інтегративної міжособистісної теорії для вивчення ідеографічних (орієнтованих на людину) та номотетичних (орієнтованих на норми) сфер дозволяють розглядати особистість комп­лексно, у взаємозв’язку її різних властивостей. Сучасна міжособистісна традиція передбачає зумовленість соціального функціонування міжособистісним контекстом, тобто міжособистісний аспект у психології є номологічною мережею, яка забезпечує основу для інтегративного визначення особистості. З урахуванням надбань міжособистісної теорії та досвіду її використання у практичній психології та психотерапії, констатується, що ключові її аспекти можуть вважатися основними компонентами міждисциплінарної психології особистості.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Gurtman

Summary: Social competence is an alluring, yet elusive, construct. The purpose of this article is to examine social competence in relation to a model of interpersonal behavior, the interpersonal circumplex. The circumplex can serve as descriptive taxonomy for social competence constructs; it also gives rise to a set of analytic methods useful for validating particular measures and analyzing item characteristics. The value of the approach was demonstrated in studies done on an array of self-report measures. The results suggested that most social competency measures can be reconceptualized as some blend of Dominance, Extraversion, and Friendliness. When linked to interpersonal theory, the circumplex model provides an integrative framework for understanding social competence, and a springboard for generating and testing relevant hypotheses.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista K. Trobst

Summary: The present article relied upon interpersonal theory ( Sullivan, 1953 ), the interpersonal circumplex model ( Leary, 1957 ), resource exchange theory ( Foa & Foa, 1974 ), and the meta-constructs of agency and communion ( Bakan, 1966 ; Wiggins, 1991 ) in the attempt to explicate a theoretical and measurement model of social support. The Support Actions Scale - Circumplex (SAS-C; Trobst, in press ) provides a circumplex measure of social support whose psychometric characteristics are comparable to the best circumplexes reported in the literature. Empirical findings using this recent measure are summarized and interpreted with respect to an interpersonal theory perspective.


1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 196-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Martínez-Arias ◽  
Fernando Silva ◽  
Ma Teresa Díaz-Hidalgo ◽  
Generós Ortet ◽  
Micaela Moro

Summary: This paper presents the results obtained in Spain with The Interpersonal Adjective Scales of J.S. Wiggins (1995) concerning the variables' structure. There are two Spanish versions of IAS, developed by two independent research groups who were not aware of each other's work. One of these versions was published as an assessment test in 1996. Results from the other group have remained unpublished to date. The set of results presented here compares three sources of data: the original American manual (from Wiggins and collaborators), the Spanish manual (already published), and the new IAS (our own research). Results can be considered satisfactory since, broadly speaking, the inner structure of the original instrument is well replicated in the Spanish version.


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