Leary's work in academic psychology expanded on the research of Harry Stack Sullivan and Karen Horney, which sought to better understand interpersonal processes to help diagnose disorders. Leary's dissertation developed the interpersonal circumplex model, later published in The Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality. The book demonstrated how psychologists could use Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scores to predict how respondents might react to various interpersonal situations. Leary's research was an important harbinger of transactional analysis, directly prefiguring the popular work of Eric Berne.
leary's work in academic psychology expanded on the research of harry stack sullivan and karen horney which sought to better understand interpersonal processes to help diagnose disorders leary's dissertation developed the interpersonal circumplex model later published in the interpersonal diagnosis of personality the book demonstrated how psychologists could use minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (mmpi) scores to predict how respondents might react to various interpersonal situations leary's research was an important harbinger of transactional analysis directly prefiguring the popular work of eric berne