FROM COMMUNICATIONS TO INTERPERSONAL THEORY - A PERSONAL ODYSSEY

This contribution to the special issue reviews my theoretical and rese arch journey into contemporary interpersonal theory and research. A se minal period involved conceptualization of a ''communications'' approa ch to psychotherapy and culminated in development of the Impact Messag e 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 concen trated on circumplex refinement of both the IMI and a second inventory , the Check List of Interpersonal Transactions, which was derived dire ctly from the Interpersonal Circle. A continuing theme is the notion t hat precise and replicable tests of contemporary interpersonal theory, especially of interpersonal complementarity, require circle inventori es that possess ideal psychometric and circumplex properties.