Different Types of Circumplexes 

In addition to integrating so many theoretical constructs without having to adapt them, the circumplex approach has provided empirically researched measurement instruments for charting a person’s range of interpersonal behaviour or behavioural repertoire.


At present, the most accurate test for charting someone’s interpersonal behaviour is the IAS-R (Interpersonal Adjective Scales – Revised) by the late psychologist Jerry Wiggins and colleagues (1988). In Belgium, Danny Rouckhout and Rik Schacht have developed the N-IAS (Dutch Interpersonal Adjectives Scale) and the N-IHS (Dutch Interpersonal Behaviours Scale). 

In 2007, the first version of the Circumplex Leadership Scan 360° (CLS360) was developed by Danny Rouckhout (Antwerp University), Filip de Fruyt (Ghent University), and Patrick Vermeren (PerCo). In 2009, the second (and current version) was developed in collabortion with Marleen Redeker and Reinout de Vries (both from the Free University of Amsterdam). 

Here is a current, extensive list of scientific circumplex tests: 

  • IASR (Interpersonal Adjective Survey – Revised) by Wiggins, 1988.  
  • NIAS ( Nederlandse Interpersoonlijke Adjectieven Schaal or Dutch Interpersonal Adjectives Scale) by Rouckhout and Schacht, 2005 (Dutch) – an assessment of ʻordinaryʼ interpersonal behaviour. 
  • NIHS ( Nederlandse Interpersoonlijke Handelingen Schaal or Dutch Interpersonal Behaviours Scale) by Rouckhout and Schacht (Dutch, French, and German) – a variation of the NIAS using sentences (descriptions of behaviour) instead of adjectives. 
  • CLS360 (Circumplex Leadership Scan 360°) by Redeker, De Vries, Rouckhout, Vermeren, and De Fruyt, 2009; 2012;(Dutch, French, and English)-- this measures leadership styles by means of a multirater or 360° assessment. Status: the test meets all psychometric requirements including test-retest reliability, an investigation into convergent validity with, amongst others, MLQ by Bass and Avolio and some examinations for predictive validity.
  • IIP (Inventory of Interpersonal Problems) initially by Horowitz, Rosenberg, Baer, Ureño, and Villaseñor, 1988; Horowitz, Alden, Wiggins, and Pincus; Dutch version by Stijn Vanheule of Ghent University.
  • IMI (Impact Measure Inventory) by Perkins, Kiesler, Anchin, Chriico, Kyle, and Federman, 1979; Kiesler, Anchin, Perkins et al., 1985; IMI-C, Kiesler and Schmidt, 1993);  Dutch version (IMI-C) by Hafkenscheid and Rouckhout, 2009.
  • AB5C (The Abridged Big Five-Dimensional Circumplex) by Hofstee, de Raad, and Goldberg, 1992.  
  • CSIV (Circumplex Scales of Interpersonal Values) by Locke, 2000.
  • ICL-R (Interpersonal Checklist) by Laforge and Suczek, 1955, 2000; Leary, 1957.
  • CLOIT-R (Check List of Interpersonal/Psychotherapy Transactions – Revised) by Kiesler, 1987; Kiesler, Goldston, and Schmidt, 1991. 

These circumplex tests are among the few for which there is a major consensus on their reliability and validity in the academic world, due to extensive empirical research. At present, the circumplex is one of the most accepted and researched models, but it is not widely disseminated in its present, scientific form.
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