The foundation of what we call DiSC was first described by William Moulton Marston is 1928 in his book Emotions of Normal People. Marston identified what he called four "primary emotions: and associated behavioral responses, which today we know as Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. Marston never used his ideas as a typology - or a way to lable people as a specific type. And he did believe that each person would project a greater intensity and frequency of behaviors of one or two of the styles. Marston believed that by understanding how our we adapted our responses in relation to people, situations, and societal expectations, we could become better integrated people living happy and independant lives.

Nearly half a century later, Inscape Publishing created an assessment based on the analytic statistical methods applied to adjectives that Marston used in his book.