Generalities

FIRO-B stands for Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation - Behaviour. The FIRO-B was devised by William Schultz, an American psychology professor who introduced his theory of Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO) in 1958. He brought his approach to body therapy and team dynamics.

The FIRO-B gained popularity around the same time as the MBTI, originating from the Esalen Institute in teh 1980s. The FIRO-B is published by the Myers-Briggs Company (Ex CPP Inc.), Mountain View, CA, USA.

Assessment

The FIRO-B questionnaire comprises 54 items, with 24 questions completed on a six-point scale (ranging from “nobody” to “most people”), where respondents compare their behavior preferences and patterns with those of other people. The remaining 30 questions are completed on a 6-point scale (from “never” to “usually”), which describes usual patterns of behavior.

It is a forced-choice questionnaire and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete.

For each of the three dimensions, the participant receives two scores: The extent to which the person expresses, manifests, or shows a particular behavior (overt and observable), and The extent to which the person wants from other people with respect to the specific class of behaviors among the three.

FIRO-B theory is based on people’s fear of rejection, failure, and intimacy, which are the three dimensions measured by the questionnaire. It asserts that a significant difference between the two scores results in conflict for each of the three dimensions. Striving for compatibility in interactions leads to the development of three primary interpersonal needs that must be satisfied. The three dimensions measured by FIRO-B are the following:

Dimension	Description	GRI a priori
Inclusion	The need to maintain a relationship with other people, to be included, and to include others in their activities. Individuals often seek to belong to a group, yet simultaneously desire to be left alone.	Low 1 versus high 1
Control	The need to exert control or direction over others while also remaining independent from them. Individuals often feel the need to be controlled, directed, or structured by others, yet they also desire to maintain their freedom and personal discretion.	High 1, low 4, versus Low 1, High 4
Affection - Openness	The need to form close personal relationships with others, while avoiding becoming overcommitted or smothered by them.	Low 1, high 2, high 4 versus high 1, low 2, low 4.

Shultz constantly revisited the theory. For instance, “Affection” was renamed “Openness,” and the “needs” were redefined as “what people want.” The results are presented in reports with a colored grid and comments. It is available in various formats, suitable for individual participants, leaders, and entire teams or organizations. The Firo-B is also proposed to be administered in conjunction with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), with reports combining the results of both assessments.

Statistics

The publisher states that the test manual provides impressive evidence of the measure's reliability, as well as evidence of concurrent and predictive validity.

Usage

The publisher sells the Firo-B for planning career development, increasing job satisfaction, increasing team effectiveness, and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the leadership style.

Comments

Although the FIRO three dimensions are said to be necessary and sufficient for understanding human and group dynamics, and despite the fact that they share commonalities with the Big Five and OCEAN models, the FIRO model may benefit from a fourth dimension, greater orthogonality between the dimensions, and border coverage of all forms of social beahviors to be able to analyze human and group behaviors more effectively.

The publisher suggests using MBTI with FIRO-B to help understand other individual dimensions not covered by FIRO-B. However, this adds confusion to what precisely the dimensions of the two models are, the potential overlaps, and what can be done with them exactly. The same considerations of orthogonality, coverage, and parsimony of personality assessments apply to the dimensions of the two models being used together.

The originality of the model stands out in the measured gap between what individuals spontaneously manifest and what they want for themselves. This gap relates to the adaptation between the Natural and Role profiles, as measured by the GRI. However, the FIRO theory shifts the discussion toward therapy, while the GRI promotes better self-awareness, improved management, job fit, and refined understanding of leadership styles.

The Firo-B sells for $20 to $50 per report, depending on the report. Manuals, presentations, introductions, and other reports are also available online at around $50 per document. The price per report was around $7 to $10 in 2006. The certification is a two-day virtual instructor-led training that costs $2,000 (as of 2025).

References

See here about the FIRO model on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_interpersonal_relations_orientation

See here about William Shultz on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Schutz

See the paper by Adrian Furnham from the University of London, which compares the FIRO-B with MBTI and the BIG 5: Personality and Management Level: Traits That Differentiate Leadership Levels published in Psychology, January 2015.