Myth 7
DiSC is a good and valid tool for understanding and adapting work-related behaviors The DiSC construct was originally developed by William Marston, who proposed ideas about emotions that deviated from conventional wisdom about emotions gathered by biologists and psychologists at that time. Today, his views on emotions and his claim of the existence of a psychon are simply ignored. Why did he use the ‘four primary colors’ in his model? Did he believe in synesthesia, the phenomenon where stimulation of one sensory pathway (e.g. color vision) leads to automatic experiences in other sensory pathways? And why do his color choices deviate so much from other models that use colors, such as Discovery Insights (based on Jung)? If we use Ockham’s razor, the simplest explanation is that the use of colors in any of these models or questionnaires is probably just BS. Key words Wonder Woman, dominance-submission, inducement-compliance, (primary) colors, yellow = cowardly What is the DiSC about? It is an assessment tool based on the ideas of William Moulton Marston (1893-1947). Walter Clarke was allegedly the first person to construct a questionnaire based on the ideas of Marston. He used a checklist of adjectives and asked people to rate themselves. Later the test was used in a forced choice (ipsative) format. Today, most proponents of the DiSC model claim it captures four constructs: ● Dominance (D) ● Influence (I) (the original name for this construct was Inducement) ● Steadiness (S) (the original name for this construct was Submission) ● Conscientiousness (C) (the original name for this construct was Compliance) There are several questionnaires that allegedly measure the DiSC. ● DiSC Classic ● DiSC Indra (Indra stands for IN-Depth Relationship Assessment) ● DiSC Persolog ● Puzzle DISC ● Everything DiSC ● Everything DiSC for Managers ● Everything DiSC Work of Leaders ● Everything DiSC 363 for Leaders ● The Thomas Test ● Performax Personal Profile System ● DISCUS ● PAL-Topas Some of these instruments, such as the former DiSC Indra and the Everything Disc, have divided the four quadrants into up to 18 subscales.
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A skeptic’s HR Dictionary