social and cultural atom

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

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.

More moreno quotes follow on the cultural atom

Continue reading “Social and cultural atoms – Interact”

When does the interpsyche kick in?

Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons,
Wise men never try.

I’ll be foolish enough to try. In group work the underlying dynamics do not take long to surface, and they can even be predicted, for example if a new person joins we can expect inclusion/exclusion dynamics. The interpsyche is co-created yet has a life of its own that the participants don’t have a lot os say in, the members participate but they bring their history with them, their baggage, their culture and there specific family cultures & dynamics.

When does the interpsyche kick in? It does not take much!

Interpsyches are complex varied and each different from the other. If it were a landscape how would it look?

How does this relate to the social and cultural atom?

You can see some of my cultural bagage below:

Continue reading “Entangled”