Content is coming here as you probably can see.Content is coming here as you probably can see.

Impact Message Inventory --Circumplex

Defining interpersonal behavior by measuring the impact messages of another personflower icon for imic

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.

 

Paper by
mail

 

Digital download (PDF)

IMIC Manual/Sampler Set

Includes non-reproducible instrument and scoring key marked “sample”

envelope icon   $40.00 PDF icon

IMIC Reproduction License

Whether you order the paper form or the PDF/ electronic form, you will receive just one copy of the instrument and written license to reproduce/ administer the purchased number. Includes one copy of the scoring key - does not include the Manual.

Pricing depends on quantity - please see below.

  License to Reproduce/Administer  
 

Number of
Participants

Paper by
mail

 

Digital download (PDF)

 
  1-50 $100.00
51-100 $110.00
101-150 $135.00
151-200 $160.00
201-250 $200.00
251-300 $228.00
301-350 $252.00
351-400 $288.00
401-450 $324.00
451-500 $360.00
 

For pricing for larger quantities, please click here

Translations of this instrument are available. Click here to see a complete list of translations, along with more details on our translation policy.

Return to top

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:

There are eight interpersonal styles measured by the IMI-C:

  • Dominant (D)
  • Hostile-Dominant (HD)
  • Hostile (H)
  • Hostile-submissive (HS)
  • Submissive (S)
  • Friendly-submissive (FS)
  • Friendly (F)
  • Friendly-dominant (FD)

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 ..."
  • D     bossed around
  • HD   that I want to stay away from him/her
  • H     distant from him/her
  • HS   that I should tell him/her not to be so nervous around me
  • S      in charge
  • FS   that I could tell him/her anything and he/she would agree
  • F     appreciated by him/her
  • FD   I could relax and he/she'd take charge

 

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.

 

Digital download (PDF)

TherMeta Therapeutic Metacommunication $15.00 PDF icon

 

Return to top