THE FUNCTION OF THE SOCIAL INVESTIGATOR IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHODRAMA
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PSYCHODRAMAAbstract
The experimental psychodrama has shown that controlled experiments in the social sciences can be carried out-for the first time, it is believed, in the evolution of the social sciences-with the same precision as in the so-called natural sciences. More particularly, it is possible to make the social investigator,' who is inside the social situation, an objective part of the material studied-to have him, so to speak, both inside the experiment and outside of it. What has hitherto been, in the strict sense, impossible, now becomes possible: man can be made his own "guinea-pig."
References
1. J. L. Moreno, "A Frame of Reference for Testing the Social Investigator,'' Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 4, Pp. 317-327, and "Developments in Social Psychology, 1930-1940," by L. S. Cottrell, Jr., and Ruth Gallagher, Sociometry Monograph, No. 1, 1941, pp. 57 and 58.
2. Julian Huxley, "Science, Natural and Social," Scientific Monthly, Jan., 1940, and G. A. Lundberg, "The Future of the Social Sciences," Scientific Monthly, Oct., 1941.
3 . J . L. Moreno, "Psychodramatic Treatment of Psychoses," Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 2, 1940, p. 122.
4. Paul Horst and associates, "The Prediction of Personal Adjustment," Social Science Research Council, 1941, pp. 223 and 224.
5. Theodore Lipps, "Das Wissen von Fremden Ichen," Psychologische Untersuchungen, I, pp. 694 and 722, 1907.
6. J. L. Moreno, "Mental Catharsis and the Psychodrama," Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 3, 1940.
7. Directions for giving these tests, as well as some sample results will be found in: J. L. Moreno, "A Frame of Reference for Testing the Social Investigator," Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 4, 1940, pp. 317-327; and "Who Shall Survive?" Pp. 176-191.
8. A description of this process, known as the "double-ego" technique will be found in a subsequent portion of this paper.
9. Grateful acknowledgment for the stenographic records of this case is due to Mr. Joseph Sargent and Mr. and Mrs. Ward H. Goodenough.
10. "In obsessional neuroses and in some psychotic conditions which display symptompatterns of this sort, the following technique has been found to bring relief: The patient's two egos, so to speak, are portrayed on the stage. The surface ego-that face of himself which he manifests in ordinary life and with which he is commonly identified-is acted out by an auxiliary ego. The deeper ego which is invisibly· torturing and trying to defeat the "official" ego is acted out by the patient. The surface ego . . . not only gives expression to the patient's ordinary, superficial conduct, but fights back at the deeper ego . . . . The result is an objectification of the violent fight going on between the two alternating factors in the patient's mind.'' J. L. Moreno, "Psychodramatic Treatment of Psychoses," Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 2, 1940, p. 124.
11. The directorial method here employed is known as the "projection" technique. Cf. J. L. Moreno, "Psychodramatic Treatment of Psychoses,'' Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 2, 1940, pp. 122-123.
12. The reader who is interested in this phase of the psychodrama will do well to consult the following articles: J.L. Moreno, "Mental Catharsis and the Psychodrama," Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 3, 1940, pp. 209-244, with special reference to the section headed: "Spectator and Group Catharsis," pp. 236-240; and P. T. Hodgskin, "Group Catharsis with Special Emphasis upon the Psychopathology of Money," Sociometry, Vol. IV, No. 2, 1941, pp. 184-192, with special reference to the section headed: "The Effect of the Psychodramatic Session on the Group," pp. 188-190.
Moreno postulates the laws which govern this spectator reaction and discusses possible therapeutic uses of it in large institutions. Hodgskin takes a single case and obtains an account from each spectator of his own reaction to a certain scene.
13. What follows here will be of interest to readers of "Developments in Social Psychology, 1930-1940," Sociometry Monograph No. 1, 1941, by L.S. Cottrell, Jr., and Ruth Gallagher.
14. See J.L. Moreno, "Psychodramatic Treatment of Psychoses,'' Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 2, 1940, p. 117.
15. An interesting comparison here is the treatment of a boy who was laboring under the delusion that he might turn, or be turned, into a girl. At a strategic point in this treatment, he was placed in the role of a psychiatrist, and an auxiliary ego, in the role of a man suffering from the same delusion, came to him for advice. A description of this incident will be found in the following article: J. L. Moreno, "Psychodramatic Treatment of Psychoses," Sociometry, Vol. III, No. 2, 1940, p. 123.
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