From communications to interpersonal theory: a personal odyssey

This contribution to the special issue reviews my theoretical and research journey into contemporary interpersonal theory and research. A seminal period involved conceptualization of a "communications" approach to psychotherapy and culminated in development of the Impact Message Inventory (IMI). Generation of the IMI necessitated immersion within the interpersonal circumplex measurement tradition and resulted in an "interpersonal communication" theory, combining concepts from both traditions, which appeared initially in the Handbook of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (Anchin & Kiesler, 1982). Subsequent research has concentrated on circumplex refinement of both the IMI and a second inventory, the Check List of Interpersonal Transactions, which was derived directly from the Interpersonal Circle. A continuing theme is the notion that precise and replicable tests of contemporary interpersonal theory, especially of interpersonal complementarity, require circle inventories that possess ideal psychometric and circumplex properties.