Gulenko has emerged as the one of leading figures in socionics. He is the 2nd most cited socionist and is respected for making a number of important discoveries. Gulenko has offered a number of hypotheses, including the "DCNH" subtype system, the first such system to be empirically validated. Gulenko considers himself an analytical psychologist and a disciple of Carl Gustav Jung. In his work he has sought to bring clarity to Jung's assertions and to show how socionics can justify them. He is also credited with Alexander Bukalov and Gregory Reinin, as a chief player in the later developments and standardization of socionics theory after Aušra Augustinavičiūtė.
DCNH
In 1995, Gulenko proposed a series of sub-categorizations to account for variations in behavior between people of the same type. According to Gulenko, these categorizations are necessary because functional strength, represented in terms of frequency of usage, can differ between functions. The DCNH is itself an extension of an earlier subtype system, also proposed by Gulenko, which distinguished between "accepting" and "producing" subtypes.
Other systems
Gulenko has proposed other extensions to socionics beyond DCNH. In a 1990 paper, Gulenko proposed the existence of 16 "counter-types" opposite the sixteen identified by Augustinaviciute. Gulenko argues that the functions of these types process information differently and have different behavior and thinking from the other 16. In 1989, Alexander Bukalov cited the human shadow or inner function circuit as being describable using the counter-types paradigm.
Multiple types
In a 2000 paper, Gulenko proposes the existence of two or more types in one person. Particularly, he proposes that numerous intra-type differences can be explained by proposing a second dimension of personality which has processing functions of its own. Socionists have argued for the existence of functional "accentuation" factors since the 1980s to account for these differences. In recent years, Gulenko has published several papers on the 2nd type dimension through the Humanitarian Socionics Institute. He has concluded that it is a processor of energy, as opposed to information, and a determinant of the efficacy level of the individual when dealing with various tasks. The research stands to be highly influential, having applications in career placement, psychotherapy, and informatics. Additionally, it brings clarity to some questions concerning the function order, explaining how information aspects can be processed in apparent violation of the functional succession rules..
