Defining interpersonal behavior by measuring the impact messages
of another person
Donald J. Kiesler & James A. Schmidt
The Impact Message Inventory-Circumplex (IMI-C) helps clarify interpersonal transactions in any dyad (e.g. friends, teacher-student, employer-employee, therapist-client, physician- patient). It offers an innovative method of assessing interpersonal behavior by measuring the attitudes and feelings that the person being studied arouses in the respondent, such as dominance, hostility, submissiveness, and friendliness. The IMI-C is suitable for use with older adolescents and adults.
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| Bundle of 200 ($0.75 each) | |
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| Bundle of 300 ($0.70 each) | |
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Translations of this instrument are available. For a complete list of translations, along with more details on our translation policy, please visit our translations index page.
About the Impact Message Inventory—Circumplex
The Impact Message Inventory—Circumplex (IMI-C), by Donald J. Kiesler and Associates, is a self-report transactional inventory designed to measure a target person's interpersonal behavior. It was constructed on the assumption that the interpersonal or evoking behvior of one person (A) can be validly defined and measured by assessing the covert responses or "impact messages" of another person (B) who has interacted with or observed A.
The IMI-C is used to assess the interpersonal behvior of normal and maladjusted individuals by measuring the interpersonal consequences of their behavior as they interact with other persons. It serves to tap the automatic, relatively unconscious sets of emotional and other covert responses we have to others. Since the IMIC is both a self-report and a transactional inventory, it is the first of its kind in psychological measurement.
Uses of the IMI-C:
- Studies of psychotherapist-patient dyads
- Studies of maladjusted patient groups
- Studies of therapist-supervisor dyads and “parallel process”
- Interpersonal studies of personality and health psychology
- Interpersonal studies of physician-patient dyads
There are eight interpersonal styles measured by the IMI-C:
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The IMI-C measures eight categories of interpersonal behavior arranged equidistantly around the circumference of the interpersonal circle. The eight scales are (in counterclockwise order around the circle beginning at the top center): dominant, hostile-dominant, hostile, hostile-submissive, submissive, friendly-submissive, friendly, and friendly-dominant. Each of the eight scales is measured by 7 items, yielding a total of 56 IMI-C items. The 7 items for each scale consist of mixtures of content measuring direct feelings, action tendencies, and perceived evoking messages. The table below presents examples of impact items for the eight IMI-C scales.
Example:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Not at all | Somewhat | Moderately so | Very much so |
| "When I am with this person, he/she makes me feel ..." |
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Therapeutic Metacommunication: Therapist Impact Disclosure as Feedback in Psychotherapy by Donald J. Kiesler
In Donald Kiesler’s Interpersonal Communication Therapy, metacommunicative feedback occurs when therapists disclose to patients inner, covert reactions (feelings, thoughts, fantasies, action tendencies) that they experience as directly evoked by a patient’s recurrent behaviors during their transactions. A companion to IMI-C, this resource is offered primarily to psychotherapists and supervisors who wish to understand the important principles that guide delivery of feedback to patients during individual psychotherapy.
Section I includes interpersonal communication definitions of maladjusted behavior and psychotherapy. Section II describes the distinctive advantages of metacommunication, Kiesler’s process-stage model, crucial “disengagement” techniques for use by therapists and supervisors, and ten principles that guide therapists’ impact feedback during psychotherapy sessions.
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| TherMeta Therapeutic Metacommunication | $15.00 | |
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