The sociometry of Jacob Levy Moreno?

Jacob Levy Moreno's sociogram is a tool that can be used by psychologists to study a person's social networks. Through a social diagram we can obtain a more or less accurate map in the way someone relates to their surroundings. In this way, it is possible to detect problems that could exist within a group of individuals and develop strategies to improve them.

This tool is derived from sociometry, a method developed by Moreno to measure social relations quantitatively. Next, we will know more about this concept and what are its potential applications to increase well -being.

Content

• Jacob Levy Moreno's sociometry
• What is a sociogram?
• What can we observe in a sociogram?
• What are sociograms for?
  • References

Jacob Levy Moreno's sociometry

Jacob Levy Moreno was an Romanian and Jewish psychiatrist and psychosociologist. He is known worldwide for being the founder of Psychodrama, one of the many therapeutic schools that exist in Psychology. He is also recognized as one of the main pioneers in the field of group therapy.

Following this line, Moreno's psychodrama is a psychotherapy model focused on action, spontaneity and creativity. According to the author, people suffer in different situations because of the lack of spontaneity and creativity. Therefore, what this therapy seeks is to enhance these qualities for people to have a broader repertoire of behaviors. Thus, you can find creative solutions for your problems.

Also, psychedrama is characterized by being a psychotherapeutic method thinking about its origins as a group therapy. Jacob Levy Moreno gave much importance to the culture of the individual and social roles because his different behaviors arose. For this reason, it develops sociometry, a quantitative method to measure people's social relations.

Through sociometry it is possible to observe the organization, structure and cohesion of a certain group. This is an important process within the psychodrama because most of the time are worked with groups to achieve therapeutic objectives.

What is a sociogram?

Continuing with the above, if you want to measure the structure of a group or interpersonal relationships, a technique or instrument is needed. Within sociometry, the sociogram is the most suitable tool for this purpose. It is a way that we can analyze the preferences or elections within a group and the way you are giving rise to its structure.

To illustrate it better, let's imagine that we want to carry out a study on group structure and cohesion in an office. To build the social diagram, it is necessary to know the different preferences found within said environment. For example, perhaps the receptionist prefers to spend time or work with employees working in cubicles. However, he does not feel so attracted to be with executives or with whom they work in large offices.

So, depending on the degree of attraction or repulsion, people occupy certain positions within a social diagram. Thus is that a map can be created on how a group is structured and how their relationships work.

With the aim of preparing a sociogram, the psychologist or therapist must follow certain steps. First, it must be contextualized within the group, participating in its social structure. Then, you must apply certain evidence to determine the degree of empathy or rejection experienced by group members with each other.

The above can be achieved with evidence where group members are placed in different situations. For example, we could ask something like “Who would you go with if you are going through a bad moment?”And they must answer by writing the name of the other.

What can we observe in a sociogram?

Continuing with the above, then obtain the results and graph the social diagram, we can appreciate several things. First, we can see how cohesive the group is based on the level of attraction or repulsion among its members.

It is also possible to realize who are the most popular individuals within a group. That is, those who are chosen by the majority in many situations for the degree of sympathy they generate. At the same time, we can see who are the least integrated people and are not chosen so frequently within the group.

Individuals who are chosen are very often known as stars, while the others are the isolated. Similarly, there are mutual elections that occur when two people choose each other. As well as single -sense elections When someone chooses another, but the second does not choose back. The gangs They are groups of three or more people within a larger group that are chosen mutually and share interests.

It is important to highlight that a sociogram can be elaborated taking into account different factors: social relationship, influence, communication channels, etc. Everything will depend on what is exactly what we want to study within the group or in the social network of the person.

What is and how a genogram works

What are sociograms for?

Once we have the data of a social diagram, we can establish therapeutic objectives that are according to the needs of the group. For example, if it is a group that is little integrated, the main goal would be to make better integrated. On the other hand, if we are facing a group where there are many gangs or subgroups that collide, perhaps it would be better to focus on cooperation.

In school environments, social diagrams can be used as a measure to improve improper behaviors. In that case, affiliation between classmates and the degree of acceptance of bad behavior between them are measured.

In conclusion, Jacob Levy Moreno's sociogram is a useful tool for the evaluation of social relations. In addition, it serves to select the most suitable therapeutic objectives for group psychedramatic therapy.

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References

• BEZANILLA, J. M. (2022). Sociometry: a psychosocial research method. PEI Editorial.
• Blatner, a. (2009). Psychodrama bases. Pax Mexico Editorial.
• Kings, g. (2005). Psychodrama. Four winds.