The DISC system was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston as a simple but powerful way to describe people's emotions and behavior. In his 1928 book, Emotions of Normal People , Marston described four basic personality types: Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance. Each of these types had its own way of managing emotions and behavior, especially interpersonal behavior.
The DISC system can help you to understand people's behavior and the way they interact with one another. It can help you to better predict how people will react in different situations, and tailor your communication to get along with a more diverse range of personalities. Because there are only four personality types in the DISC system, it is easy to learn. However, it describes some of the most fundamental differences between individuals, so it is also very powerful in terms of understanding behavior.
In describing the DISC personality types, we use terminology that is a bit different than the original developed by Marston, but more easily understood today. Here, you will find profiles for each of the four types, described as Drive , Influence , Support , and Clarity .
Although everyone uses all four styles, most of us depend on one or two most of the time. Understanding your dominant style can help you to understand how others see you, where conflict is likely to arise, and what sorts of work roles will suit you best.
The DISC theory has been incorporated into a variety of personality assessments, for instance the Everything DiSC ® published by Wiley and Truity's own free DISC assessment . Although different publishers have different approaches to this system, the underlying concepts are similar for all DISC assessments.
DISC assessments are frequently used in the workplace to help teammates better understand one another and how to work together.
Curious about your DISC personality type? Take the free DISC personality test.
