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History of the Four
Interaction Styles
Throughout the ages, observers of human
behavior have repeatedly identified patterns
or configurations of behavior. Such holistic
sorting of behavior patterns has been
recorded for at least twenty-five centuries.
Ancient philosophers described four dispositions
called temperaments—a choleric, a
phlegmatic, a melancholic, and a sanguine.
Interpretations of these patterns have
varied over the years, with two distinct
interpretations, one is David Keirsey’s
temperament theory and the other relates
to the Interaction Style Model.
Most twentieth-century
psychologists abandoned holistic observation
of human behavior for a microscopic examination
of parts, fragments, traits, and so on.
To them, all human beings were basically
alike—and individual differences
were due to chance or conditioning—yet
many of them ultimately described patterns
that resemble our holistic view.
The seeds were sown for
the Interaction Style Model in the 1920s.
In 1928, William Marston wrote about the
emotional basis for our behavior. John
Geier built on Marston’s work and
developed the DiSC® instrument. Geier
looked at traits and clusters of traits
that would help us understand how we behave
in the “social field.” Then
came a long string of frameworks and instruments
that described the social styles of people.
These frameworks yielded descriptions
similar to Geier’s interpretation
of Marston’s work.
Many of these authors
referenced the work of Carl Jung, Isabel
Myers, and Katharine Briggs. Their primary
focus, in contrast to Jung, was on outer
behavior, not inner states. Some even
reference Keirsey’s temperament theory.
They seemed to not realize they were referencing
separate models.
All of these models suggest
that these styles or types are inborn.
In the meantime, studies continue to be
conducted on the various “temperamental”
traits that can be identified and tracked
over time with physiological measures.
Many of these traits seem to relate to
the Interaction Styles patterns.
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