Sociometry
• Sociometry is a quantitative method for
measuring social relationships.
• It was developed by psychotherapist Jacob L.
Moreno in his studies of the relationship
between social structures
and psychological well-being.
• The term sociometry relates to
its Latin etymology, socius meaning companion,
and metrum meaning measure. Jacob Moreno
defined sociometry as "the inquiry into the
evolution and organization of groups and the
position of individuals within them.“
• Sociometric explorations reveal the hidden
structures that give a group its form: the
alliances, the subgroups, the hidden beliefs, the
forbidden agendas, the ideological agreements,
the ‘stars’ of the show
• The term “sociometry” has several meanings, but
historically the closest association is with the
work of J. L. Moreno, particularly his analysis of
inter-personal relations in Who Shall
Survive? (1934).
• Sociometry is traditionally identified with the
analysis of data collected by means of
the sociometric test—a type of questionnaire in
which, roughly speaking, each member of a
group is asked with which members he would
most like to carry out some activity.
• sociogram, a systematic method for graphically
representing individuals as points/nodes and the
relationships between them as lines/arcs.
• Sociometric description. The patterns of
expressed choices can be represented graphically
in the sociogram, which involves the use of some
geometric figure to indicate each person (for
example, a circle with a name in it) and
connecting lines or arrows showing the direction
of the choices
• The simplest concept is that of
the unchosen, who may be viewed as the
person socially isolated by others. In the early
tradition, the isolate is the person who makes
no choices and receives none; in this sense he
is totally apart from the group.
• The highly chosen person has been viewed as
being in a desirable position-sociometric star