Exploring Personality with the Interpersonal Circumplex
Abstract
The interpersonal circumplex can serve as both companion and guide for those interested in exploring the interpersonal domain of personality. This article offers a relatively nontechnical overview of the model and its various applications in the study of personality. I begin by defining the interpersonal circumplex, its structure and in what sense it is ‘interpersonal’. As part of that, I will briefly consider how circumplex measures of personality, such as the Interpersonal Adjective Scales, are typically evaluated for fit to the model. I will next describe applications of the model for exploring both the idiographic (person‐centered) and nomothetic (variable‐centered) realms of personality. In person‐centered research, the circumplex leads to useful ways of summarizing the basic interpersonal features of a given individual. In variable‐centered research, the circumplex can help elucidate the essential interpersonal meaning of personality constructs such as traits, problems, and motives. To explain how the circumplex can help us explore personality – idiographically and nomothetically – I will draw on a variety of studies, including several recent studies that extend the model in new ways.
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Status and connection are pivotal to explaining social behavior across many domains.
“Status and connection are pivotal to explaining social behavior (Abele & Wojciszke, 2013; Fiske et al., 2007; Gurtman, 2009) across many domains.”
From Social Drivers and Algorithmic Mechanisms on Digital Media. (2024) · cites this paper as Gurtman, 2009
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Social Drivers and Algorithmic Mechanisms on Digital Media.
Metzler, H., & Garcia, D. (2024) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916231185057 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
“Status and connection are pivotal to explaining social behavior (Abele & Wojciszke, 2013; Fiske et al., 2007; Gurtman, 2009) across many domains.”
BackgroundEagly, A. H., & Revelle, W. (2022) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/17456916211046006 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Forster, D. E., Billingsley, J., Russell, V. M., McCauley, T. G., Smith, A., Burnette, J. L., Ohtsubo, Y., Schug, J., Lieberman, D., & McCullough, M. E. (2020) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspi0000227 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
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“A relevant,well-developed framework for measuring such problems is the interpersonal circumplex (IPC), which assesses a wide variety of interpersonal characteristics and behaviors (Gurtman, 2009).”
- Authors
- Gurtman, M. B.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Parkside (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gurtman, Michael B.
- Venue
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-07
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 601-619
- ISSN
- 1751-9004 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1590613953
- Cited by
- 271
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 64 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 6.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Social and Personality Psychology Compass (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Keywords
- interpersonal circumplex, circumplex model, personality traits, personality problems, motives
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