The Interpersonal Circumplex as a Behavior Map

Using lexical and statistical techniques, Wiggins (1979) developed a comprehensive taxonomy of trait-descriptive terms in the domain of interpersonal behavior, the interpersonal adjective scales. The interpersonal adjective scales fulfill the qualities required of circumplex models, and their internal psychometric characteristics are sound. So far, however, little evidence about how the interpersonal adjective scales are related to actual interpersonal behavior has been advanced. Indeed, researchers have criticized them as merely tapping response styles or cognitive categories. Two studies confirm the hypothesis that social behaviors (preferred interpersonal distance and conversational participation) are ordered by the interpersonal adjective scales in an incremental manner that strongly accords with the theoretical basis of the circumplex. The interpersonal adjective scales do not merely represent cognitive categories for dispositions, nor are they merely a function of response biases; they map actual interpersonal behaviors.