WHAT IS SOCIOMETRY?

The Hoop and the Tree
Sociometry
Introduction to Sociometry
Chris Hoffman
Copyright © 2001 Chris Hoffman
WHAT IS SOCIOMETRY?

The word sociometry comes from the Latin “socius,” meaning social and the Latin “metrum,” meaning measure.  
  As these roots imply, sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of relatedness among people.  Measurement of relatedness can be useful not only in the assessment of behavior within groups, but also for interventions to bring about positive change and for determining the extent of change.  For a work group, sociometry can be a powerful tool for reducing conflict and improving communication because it allows the group to see itself objectively and to analyze its own dynamics.  It is also a powerful tool for assessing dynamics and development in groups devoted to therapy or training.

Jacob Levy Moreno coined the term sociometry and conducted the first long-range sociometric study from 1932-38 at the New York State Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York.  As part of this study, Moreno used sociometric techniques to assign residents to various residential cottages.  He found that assignments on the basis of sociometry substantially reduced the number of runaways from the facility. (Moreno, 1953, p. 527).  Many more sociometric studies have been conducted since, by Moreno and others, in settings including other schools, the military, therapy groups, and business corporations.

A useful working definition of sociometry is that it is a methodology for tracking the energy vectors of interpersonal relationships in a group.   It shows the patterns of how individuals associate with each other when acting as a group toward a specified end or goal (Criswell in Moreno, 1960, p. 140).  Moreno himself defined sociometry as “the mathematical study of psychological properties of populations, the experimental technique of and the results obtained by application of quantitative methods” (Moreno, 1953, pp. 15-16).

            Sociometry is based on the fact that people make choices in interpersonal relationships. Whenever people gather, they make choices--where to sit or stand; choices about who is perceived as friendly and who not, who is central to the group, who is rejected, who is isolated.  As Moreno says, “Choices are fundamental facts in all ongoing human relations, choices of people and choices of things.  It is immaterial whether the motivations are known to the chooser or not; it is immaterial whether [the choices] are inarticulate or highly expressive, whether rational or irrational.  They do not require any special justification as long as they are spontaneous and true to the self of the chooser.  They are facts of the first existential order.” (Moreno, 1953, p. 720).

SOCIOMETRIC CRITERIA