INTRODUCTION
A. Interpersonal Theory: A Cord of Three Strands
The circumplex tradition in interpersonal psychology was inspired by the interpersonal theory of Harry Stack Sullivan (1953), and made more explicit and accessible to research by Timothy Leary (1957), who introduced the circular ordering of variables known as the interpersonal circumplex. Interpersonal theory comprises three strands of leading ideas: the principle of complementarity, the principle of vector length, and the principle of circumplex structure.
The first strand of interpersonal theory is the principle of complementarity (Carson, 1969; Kiesler, 1983; Orford, 1986; Wiggins, 1982), which contends that people in dyadic interactions negotiate the definition of their relationship through verbal and nonverbal cues. This negotiation occurs along the following lines: dominant-friendliness invites submissive-friendliness, and vice versa, while dominant-hostility invites submissive-hostility, and vice versa.
The second strand of interpersonal theory is the principle of vector length, which contends that within diagnoses of personality type on the Interpersonal Circle, vector length (a measure of statistical deviance) is an index of psychopathology (psychiatric deviance; Wiggins, et al., 1989). In general, people with rigid, inflexible personalities have more problems--even if such people are inflexible in a friendly direction--while people with flexible, adaptive personalities have fewer problems--even if such people are generally more hostile than friendly.
The third strand of interpersonal theory is the principle of circumplex structure, which contends that variables that measure interpersonal relations are arranged around a circle in two-dimensional space (Leary, 1957). The present study represents an attempt to break this third strand by subjecting it to empirical test.
Two circumplex models have been proposed to represent the interpersonal domain, the Interpersonal Circle (Leary, 1957) and the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB; Benjamin, 1974). These models are shown in Figure 1. [Note: This figure is not yet available on the internet.] The Interpersonal Circle has dimensions of affiliation (love vs. hatred) and power (dominance vs. submission). The SASB shares the dimension of affiliation, but differs on the dimension of enmeshment (involvement vs. freedom). This study tested the circumplex structure of two measures of these models, the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (Horowitz, et al., 1988; Alden, et al., 1990), and the Intrex Questionnaire (Benjamin, 1993), respectively.
The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) is a 127-item questionnaire that was composed from the most common complaints of psychiatric patients at intake interviews. Alden, et al. (1990) created a 64-item version of the IIP with eight circumplex scales corresponding to the eight octants of the Interpersonal Circle.
The Intrex Questionnaire (Benjamin, 1993) is a 108-item inventory comprised of theoretically-derived items designed to measure a subject's behaviors in relation to a specific other person, the other person's behaviors toward the subject, and the subject's general feelings about him- or herself. These items correspond to three surfaces in the SASB model, the self, other, and introject surfaces, respectively.
B. Circumplex Versus Simple Structure: The Very Simple Structure Criterion
An alternative to circumplex structure is simple structure. Figure 2 shows a representation of circumplex and simple structure in which the circles represent items (or scales) on a questionnaire. Notice that in a circumplex, items are evenly distributed around the circle, while in a simple structure, items fall exclusively on one of the two axes. Figure 3 shows a structural model of circumplex and simple structure. Notice that some items in a circumplex (those that lie on the diagonals) load on more than one factor, while items in a simple structure load on one and only one factor.
The means used to detect circumplex structure in this study was the Very Simple Structure criterion (VSS; Revelle & Rocklin, 1979). VSS is a procedure for determining the optimal number of factors to extract from a correlation matrix. VSS also gives an index of the degree to which a factor matrix departs from simple structure (or, alternatively, the degree to which it approaches circumplex structure) called the complexity of the factor matrix. VSS works by degrading the factor matrix, replacing the smallest factor loading with zero. Therefore,
VSS provides an index of the difference in goodness-of-fit between complexity 3, complexity 2, and complexity 1. The goodness-of-fit criterion is calculated as follows: First, in keeping with the general factor model, the Model = Rpredicted = F F' + U^2. Second, Rresiduals = Rdata - Rpredicted. Third, the VSS goodness-of-fit index = VSSgoodness-of-fit =
1 - (Sum of Rresiduals^2 / Sum of Rdata^2) = (Data - Model)^2 / Data^2.
In order to test the effect of the general factor--the first and largest factor, which loads on every item--data were analyzed in both raw and ipsatized form. Ipsatizing is subtracting the mean of the subject from the subject's score on each item. Ipsatizing has the effect of removing the general factor.
Due to an interest in computer adaptive testing, data were collected in two ways--using a paper-and-pencil format and using a computer format--to see if there would be any reliable differences. No differences in results between the two formats were found.
Complexity 3 Complexity 2 Complexity 1
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
.11 .20 .15 ---> 0 .20 .15 ---> 0 .20 0
.42 .21 .13 ---> .42 .21 0 ---> .42 0 0
.23 .25 .14 ---> .23 .25 0 ---> 0 .25 0
METHOD
RESULTS
