The Development of DiSC® Personality System

The DiSC Model of Behavior was first proposed by William Moulton Marston, a physiological psychologist with a Ph.D. from Harvard. His 1928 book, Emotions of Normal People, explains his theory on how normal human emotions lead to behavioral differences among groups of people, and how a person’s behavior might change over time. His work focused on directly observable and measurable psychological phenomena. He was interested in using practical explanations to help people understand and manage their experiences and relationships.

Marston theorized that the behavioral expression of emotions could be categorized into four primary types, stemming from the person’s perceptions of self in relationship to his or her environment. These four types were labeled by Marston as Dominance (D), Inducement (I), Submission (S), and Compliance (C).

1. Dominance – direct, strong-willed and forceful
2. Influence – sociable, talkative and lively
3. Steadiness – gentle, accommodating and soft-hearted
4. Conscientiousness – private, analytical and logical

Walter V. Clarke, an industrial psychologist, was the first person to build an assessment instrument (personality profile test) using Marston’s theories, even though that was not initially his intent. In 1956 he published the Activity Vector Analysis, a checklist of adjectives on which he asked people to mark descriptors they identified as true of themselves. The tool, used by Clarke since 1948, was intended for personnel selection by businesses. The four factors in his data (aggressive, sociable, stable, and avoidant) were based on Marston’s model.

About 10 years later, Walter Clarke Associates developed a new version of this instrument for John Cleaver for business use. It was called Self Discription. Instead of using a checklist, this test forced respondents to make a choice between two or more terms. Factor analysis of this assessment added to the support of a DISC-based instrument.

Personality assessments in psychology

Psychologists have been measuring personality traits since the 1930s. Since that time they have strived to better understand personality and to create a way of measuring it. They have become more aware of the complexity of interactive forces that are responsible for any one behavior.

DiSC assessments differ in method and purpose from instruments used in clinical settings to determine the emotional health of individuals. DiSC is used only to help people understand themselves and others in the range of normal human behavior.

Most personality psychologists believe that traits and situations are interactive. This is one reason why DiSC can be so helpful — you can learn to adapt your own responses depending on the DiSC style of the person you’re speaking with or your situation. For example, as a manager, you might choose not to use the behavior you’re most comfortable with, but instead use one you know will be more effective with your entire team.