This model of human behaviour was developed by Dr William Moulton Marston in 1928. In the 1950's Thomas Hedrickson turned it into a a Personal Profile Analysis System using a forced choice (ipsative) method.

In 1928, Dr. Marston published a book, "The Emotions of Normal People," in which he described the theory we use today. Dr. Marston believed that people tend to learn a self-concept which is basically in accord with one of four factors. It is possible, therefore, using Marston's theory, to apply the powers of scientific observation to behavior and to be Objective and Descriptive rather than Subjective and Judgmental.

This is the theory that the DISC system is based on.

D - Dominance - Challenge: How you respond to problems or challenges.
I - Influence - Contacts: How you influence others to your point of view.
S - Steadiness - Consistency: How you respond to the pace of the environment.
C - Compliance - Constraints: How you respond to rules and procedures set by others.

The model is workplace focused and attempts to determine the extent to which individuals see themselves as seeking out and/or reacting to situations they perceive as friendly or challenging and to reveal if the response pattern is one of activity or passivity. More detailed information can be found at: http://onlinedisc.com/whatisdisc.htm

The PPA questionnaire is a quick and easy forced choice method using 24 tetrads of descriptive words that are selected on the basis of what most and least describes you at work. The theory and comparisons with other personality profiles such as Myers-Briggs can be found at the website below.

The British Psychological Society's evaluation of the PPA system to be on a par with Myers-Briggs, but having greater validity in its assessment of behaviour. It is the oldest and most validated system for assessing human behaviour in the world. Myers-Briggs has the advantage of assessing thinking as well.

The power of the DISC system is that it can be used to produce a wide range of meaningful profiles to help match people to jobs, inform managers and coaches to get the best out of people, address relationship issues within teams and between individuals, assessing emotional intelligence to raise self awareness, interviewing job applicants, improving leadership behaviours, even workforce planning.

More info at: http://www.inscapepublishing.com/pdf/PPSMOPO-232.pdf
Read: Personality: A Psychological Interpretation by Allport, G.W.
Rinehart & Winston 1937

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