The pattern of role relations around an individual as their focus is called his cultural atom. Every individual, just as he has a set of friends and a set of enemies, – a social atom – also has a range of roles facing a range of counter-roles.
Psychodrama v. 1 p. 84
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I am reflecting on how the “imago match” relates to role theory.
The interpsyche occurs then when the role cluster of a couple is particularly intertwined. Love. Upon investigation I imagine there would be a particular quality to the role relationships. The tele would be strong at least in some areas. In the interpsyche the roles in a current relationship are likely to match the roles and social atom of the family of origin. The tele with the roles matched to the original social atom of each party would be strong. The mutual and positive/negative matches would outweigh the neutral?
This is a psychodramatic look at what Harville Hendrix calls the “Imago”. Sociometrically it can be explored in great depth. In couple therapy we are looking at role relationships. The assessment is a sociometric role analysis.
It would be good to explore this on the stage as part of the role assessment, working with a couple or in a sociodrama or in supervision of couple therapy.
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More moreno quotes follow on the cultural atom
The use here of the word “atom” can be justified if we consider a cultural atom as the smallest functional unit within a cultural pattern. The adjective “cultural”can be justified when we consider roles and relationships between roles as the most significant development within any specific culture (regardless of what definition is given to culture by any school of thought). Psychodrama v. 1 p. 345
The focal pattern of role-relations around an individual is called his cultural atom. We are here coining a new term, “cultural atom”, since we know of no other which expressed this peculiar phenomenon of role relationships. Obviously, the term is selected as an analogue to the term “social atom”. The use of
the word “atom” here can be justified if we consider a cultural atom as the smallest functional unit within a cultural pattern. The adjective “cultural” can be justified when we consider roles and relationships between roles as the most significant development within any specific culture. The socio-atomic organization of a group cannot be separated from its cultural-atomic organization. The social and cultural atoms are manifestations of the same social reality.
Who Shall Survive? p. 70
The following quote sheds some light on how strong the cultural aspect is in the cultural atp
The auxiliary egos are actors who represent absentee persons as they appear in the private world of the patient. The best auxiliary egos are former patients, who have made at least a temporary recovery and professional therapeutic egos who come from a sociocultural environment similar to the patient’s. if there is a choice, “native” auxiliary egos are preferable to professional egos, however, well trained the latter may be.
Psychodrama v. 1 p. xvii Introduction to 4th edition
Sociodrama is introducing a new approach to anthropological and cultural problems, methods of deep action and of experimental verification. The concept underlying this approach is the recognition that man is a role-player, that every individual is characterized by a certain range of roles which dominate his behavior, and that every culture is characterized by a certain set of roles which it imposes with a varying degree o success upon its membership.
Psychodrama v. 1 pp. 354-355