by Adaline Starr and Gudrun Alcock
Mrs. Adaline Starr is a Chicago psychodramatist,
columnist, and director oj role-playing at Downey
Veterans Administration Hospital. Gudrun Alcock
is a free-lance writer whose articles on family and
social problems have appeared in leading magazines.
drill-press operator suddenly hails his floor
supervisor and asks angrily, "Say, how come
Joe makes more money than me?" What should
the supervisor do?
If he works in one of the many large industries
which teach their supervisors how to handle em
ployee grievances, he'll know just what to do. He
will put into use the "listening-adjustment" method.
Or, in simpler words, he'll give the worker a chance
to "let off steam."
Only this isn't as simple as it sounds. Industrialists,
from floor manufacturers to brewers to oil producers,
now use a new teaching method to show their super
visors how to handle employees effectively. They use
"role-playing," a technique whereby a person learns
by "acting out" rather than by listening.
Technically, role playing is a form of psychodrama,
the scientific name for this teaching-by-action pro
cedure developed by Dr. J. L. Moreno of New York.
It is now used in such hospitals as Downey Veterans
Hospital in Downey, 111., to resocialize patients. At
the University of Michigan, it is used to train teach
ers; at the University of Chicago, a study of family
relationships is based on role-playing.
If you were a supervisor in a large plant, you would
be assigned, along with about 10 other supervisors,
to meet for a concentrated period of study under the
A New
--7 f ' 'e? j-
- - f r .
- v i
i v? V) ';l
1 v.
The barber's chair will hold no fear for this young
ster who works off qualms in role-playing at school.
company's trained instructor. After a thorough brief
ing on what is considered the most successful way
to handle grievances, you act out what you've learned
in a series of test cases.
For example, you are given an outline which says
you are to play a supervisor in charge of a drilling
and punching department of 30 employees; that Fred,
the complainant, is 28, has been there for two years,
has a good production record; that Joe is an older
man, handles more difficult jobs, has slightly higher
earnings. That's all you know.
Another supervisor in your group is assigned to
play Fred and is given the dialogue he is to use on
you. The two of you stand before the group and the
role-playing begins.
"Say," Fred asks, "how come Joe makes more
money than me?"
Your goal is to find out the real cause for Fred's
discontent. Is it due to unsatisfactory working con
ditions? Have you slighted Fred? Is it because of
Fred's personal problems?
You know you are to start with some "W" ques
tions: "Who, what, why, when, or where?" So you
ask, "Why are you concerned about what Joe makes?
He's' only one of 30 men on the floor."
"Well," Fred answers, "the guys think it's pretty
funny that married men get all the breaks here."
You know this isn't a fact, but instead of starting
an argument you ask, "What makes you feel the mar
ried men get all the breaks?"
Fred replies, "My girl friend always says how
peculiar it is that married guys with kids seem to
have their own homes, TV sets, and new cars, and
we don't have enough dough to get married."
It's called role-playing, and
it's proving effective in a
Way to Solve
Problems
wide variety of social and
emotional situations.
Adults, too, find acting out problems leads to clearer thinking and a solution. Here a tenant discusses an issue with "landlord
26 Family Weekly. January 19, 1958