Role Playing Procedures Applied To Research,
Clinical Settings And Educational Environments
Carol A. Puthoff- Murray
KentStateUniversityAshtabula
Edward J. Murray
KentStateUniversityAshtabula
Meghan P. Murray
AlliantInternationalUniversitySan Diego
LITERATURE REVIEW
The early research concerning the use of the role-playing concentrated on attitude change. The theoretical and philosophical hypotheses emphasized ego-involving issues Hovland and Pritzker (1957, p. 102). Zimbardo (1960) recognized the importance of involvement, p. 165. Janis and King (1954 and 1956) pinpointed the importance of active role-playing through active participation exemplified by verbalizations, pps. 360 and 362.
Elms (l969) discussed the practical applications of role playing in that children incorporated the attitudes of family and the immediate society. He extended the applied use of role playing to organizational structures, because young officers in the military and young executives in business were expected to take on certain roles and behaviors. The authority figures demanded a mind-set of specific values. Elms also described the value of role playing in the training of nurses and teachers. He argued that these practical uses had serious implications for communications between union and management.
The Zimbardo (1975) Mock Prison research raised role playing to a new realistic reflection of life. The study randomly assigned 22 college students to the condition of prisoner or guard. These middle class students were previously tested for both physical and emotional stability. During this experiment, emotions ran very high in that the guards expressed excessive commands, insults and dehumanizing - demeaning references. The guards also demonstrated aggression and threats. The prisoners responded with resistance. After four days in the role playing experiment, six of the ten prisoner subjects desired to leave the experiment. All the guards exhibited aggression and some were described as sadistic. The prisoner's behaviors degenerated and they manifested symptoms of psychological deterioration. Ultimately, the experiment was stopped, because the arousal of emotions and the signs of stress had reached an extreme height, (Haney, Banks and Zimbardo, l976), Zimbardo, (l975. p. 388, p 418).
The previous research provided insights into the condition of role playing. The process of role playing was helped significantly by engagement, involvement, emotions and verbalizations. The variables suggested a motivational perspective concerning role playing.
Role playing excited thoughts, ideas and verbal communication. These functions activated the intellectual process of long and short- term memory combined with analytical reflections. All these interactions contributed to human cognitions and an arousal of the cerebral cortex.
Other variables activated by role playing were the reticular activating system in conjunction with the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, sympathetic of the automatic nervous system and the limbic system. These functions created physiological arousal. These systems were necessary to express fear, anxiety and anger. For control, these various physiological functions needed modifications and modulation.
With cognitive and physiological arousal, the limbic system continued to respond to the activation of the hypothalamus and the neurotransmitters facilitated arousal and contributed to positive and negative emotional responses.
The activation of cognitions, physiology and emotions generated conditions highly geared for behavior and in this case role play. The role playing behaviors flowed out from the thoughts, physical arousal and the emotional correlates (Schacter, l964, Schacter & Singer, l962, p 408, Sapolsky, l994 and Seligman l990).
EXPERIMENTAL ROLE PLAYING
The experimental design in this study created four conditions of disability and one control condition. The first study examined attitudes toward the physically disabled, psychological disabled and non- disabled. In the study, sex of the disabled and sex of the control were part of the manipulations. The setting for the experiment was a professional office and a young attorney performed the role of interviewer. The disabled and non-disabled conditions were played by two actors, one male and the other one female. These actors played various levels and types of disability.
The disability conditions covered two physical disabilities and two psychological disabilities with a control condition of no disability. The physical conditions had a person with a mild physical disability – paralyzed right arm and the same actor with a severe physical disability – cerebral palsy. The actors in the control manipulation played a relaxed and assertive character. In the psychologically disabled conditions, the actors exhibited a mild psychological disability – anxiety reaction. In the severe psychological condition, the actors portrayed a severe psychological disability – paranoid behavior.
After the actors were trained in these roles, each actor was video taped in a job interview situation. Each of the ten conditions was video taped for a future manipulative study concerning attitudes about the disabled.
The script and interview setting were the same for the ten conditions and the interviewer also followed the set script. These video taped sessions were evaluated by three professional judges and their decisions indicated that role playing reflected accurately the disabled and control conditions. The undergraduate research course also supplied 13 student judges who supported the previous findings. Ultimately, 200 students were randomly assigned to one of the ten conditions. In each condition, half the subjects were male and the other half were female.
The second empirical research study examined the impact of the induced state of depression, anxiety, assertiveness and anger on the response variables of depression, anxiety, self-acceptance and locus of control. In this study, another ripple was added in that the induced subjects also experienced an emotional Role Playing manipulation.
The four induction procedures were read individually to each subject by the same female coach. The 48 female subjects and the 48 male subjects were randomly assigned to the four induced states. Then the coach said, "for part of our study, you are asked to role play seriously your cognitive experiences, you are asked to role play not a character but an emotion reflected in some cognitive attitudes and that emotion was expressed by the following attitudes."
The following statements were examples of seven cognitions induced for the individual emotion.
Depression:
I am worthless.
I am a social failure, (Beck, l987).
Anxiety:
I am going to be injured.
I might be trapped, (Beck, l987).
Anger:
How awful for anyone to have treated me so unfairly.
Life is always unfair to me – as it shouldn't be, (Ellis, l977).
Assertiveness:
Just roll with the punches.
There is no point in getting mad.
After the initial inductions, the process was repeated two more times. On these occasions, the subjects were asked to recall scenes and circumstances when they experienced the specific emotion. The subjects were requested to visualize the specific time and place that included the sky or the walls, color or paint and standing or sitting.
When the induction procedures were completed, each subject read a letter from Dr. John K. Mahan, the Dean of Kent State University Ashtabula. The letter indicated that course credit and course curriculum were under review. The subject read the letter and immediately. The Dean played by an older student requested that the student subject enter his office for an interview.
The Dean actor engaged the student subject in a monologue presentation of problems subsequent to the initial cordial greeting. The Dean actor concentrated on the problem that Kent Psychology Courses did not meet federal guidelines and course credit was removed from the transcript. However, no tuition refunds were anticipated. Another aspect of the monologue indicated that the loss of psychology credit dropped the student below the full time enrollment requirements. Therefore, they were required to return financial aid and pay back grants. The Dean actor apologized for the problems but he emphasized that the federal government had instituted this program across the country. The Dean actor stated further that the student subject would receive a bill detailing the amount owed and without payment of the financial aid and grants, transcripts were with held.
COMMUNITY SETTINGS AND ROLE PLAYING
The municipal court of Ashtabula, Ohio prosecuted exhibitionists. These offenders were frequently placed on probation for two years. The judge expected interventions and treatments that reduced these behaviors. These role playing procedures implemented emotional engagement to break the defensive façade. These techniques employed the Janis and Mann (l965) research that use fear inducted role playing to reduce smoking. The hypothesis was generated that if emotion flooding can reduce anxiety and fear then emotional flooding can produce the opposite effect, (Stampfl and Levis, l967). The fear induction techniques were used three times during a year of therapy.
The client came to the therapist's office for court-referred treatment. During the third session the therapist requested that the client close his eyes and generate images. The clients verbally participated by describing the judge's chambers with the wall color, heavy wood bench and the jury box. Other qualities were added like the traits of the bailiff and the client’s interactions with this court person.
The client was asked to describe the judge and was encouraged to verbalize the judge's negative comments concerning the offense. The therapist embellished these described interactions with the emotional verbal reactions of scum, pervert, dirt-bag, screw up and fool. These comments had interjections of four letter words.
With the scene set, the judge through the words of the therapist made a connection between the sexually deviant behaviors and the attributions descriptive of the client. For the next 30 minutes, the therapist engaged the client's imagination and proceeded to bring through the court relatives, friends and neighbors. Many work companions were introduced. Through the emotional role playing, the client heard the judge discuss the sexually deviant behavior and attribute negative evaluations to the client in front of his relatives, friends and peers.
These procedures had a very strong emotional impact. The therapist was viewed from a negative perspective and frequently the judge was requested to remove the therapist. However, the judge declined.
The second fear induction project was also community based and performed in conjunction with the Ashtabula, Ohio Municipal Court. Judge John Olsen desired a program to impact emotionally DUI drivers.
This induction procedure was used to trigger an evaluation of attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, the emotional role playing attempted to encounter the client in a psycho-dramatic setting that activated the total personality through the arousal of cognitions, emotions and physiology.
The role playing began with a 15-minute movie that contained three different accidents. The subject was asked to imagine that he/she drove the car under the influence of alcohol. With the movie completed, the subject had a 10-minute meditation period to reflect on drinking and driving.
The subject was taken from the meditation room by a Kent student dressed as a nurse. The nurse proceeded with a monologue that discussed the physical effects of the accident and indicated that a loved one was in intensive care and the loved one was unconscious. During the monologue, there were gaps for the subject to make comments and respond. The nurse's monologue continued with comments about drinking, e.g., the subject deserved intensive care and the subject should feel terrible and responsible for the accident and drunkenness. The nurse further stated that she had a friend convicted of manslaughter, who received prison time and his children were placed in a foster home. The nurse left for three minutes and returned. She informed the subject that the loved one regained consciousness. The nurse said that it looked like the loved one will be okay. The doctor was to appear shortly for a discussion.
The doctor came into the room and informed the subject that the loved one died from a head injury and serious internal bleeding. The damage was too extensive for surgery. Then, the nurse took the subject to the loved one's bedside and emphasized the following thoughts: what a waste, you were drunk and what about the donation of body parts. The subject was left to make funeral arrangements or cremation, while he/she waited for the police to arrive.
EDUCATIONAL ROLE PLAYING
Emotional role playing psychodrama and assertive techniques were used in Organizational Psychology to help students comprehend and adjust to leadership styles, communications and group process. These techniques concentrated on the internal mechanisms of the organization and not global interactions.
Students received a theoretical lecture at a Tuesday class meeting and on Thursday, various students were assigned to specific role playing conditions. The actors created the drama in the center of the room, while the other students sat outside the group and observed behaviors. This arrangement created a fish bowl environment.
The role playing procedures incorporated Etzioni's model of coercive, rational-legal and moral authority. The role playing also included drama based upon Theory X and Theory Y. Other projects focused on Bale's Model concerning task and socio-emotional leadership. Sherif's inter-group conflict model was introduced in the role playing designs. The International Harvester supervisory training program was integrated into the role playing in that upper management had no insight into the training procedures and new ideas, while middle management, who received the training, attempted to make organizational changes, (Shien, l972 and Peters and Waterman, l9982). These roles gave students a deeper appreciation of organizational structure and dynamics.
The second use of educational role playing resulted from a communication with the local high school. The Ashtabula School Psychologist and Special Education Director requested a training program for their Developmentally Disabled Students. During the initial planning session, role playing was introduced and the argument was made that role playing engaged the total personality of the individual. Specifically, role playing activated cognitions, emotions and physiology. The two representatives from the Ashtabula Schools agreed with the concept. The use of video feedback was also introduced into the discussion and again, agreement was reached.
The training program worked with ten, eleventh grade high school students for ten weeks of the semester and three reinstatement sessions later in the year. Each session consisted of a two hour training periods. Within two years, four different groups of students experienced the role playing training with video feedback.
The role playing emphasized encounters experienced at work, home and school. The "in vivo" environment included interactions and communications with peers, adults, parents, teachers, administrators, customers and strangers. The first session literally began with aggression in that a male trainer pushed a male student. Further on in the session, a female trainer pushed a female student. These behaviors were discussed and it was made clear to the students that these actions were not acceptable. Before the first session ended, the trainers demonstrated passive flight behaviors and assertive behaviors.
The second session began with a group process to define behaviors. The trainers played the roles of flight, fight and assertiveness. The students defined fight behaviors as “brat behaviors” and flight behaviors as “wimpy.” Assertive behaviors were called "cool, calm, and collected." For the Developmentally Handicapped Students, the group discussion was in simple declarative and interrogatory sentences.
During the third session, the video camera was introduced and used for the rest of the sessions. Specific assertive behaviors were demonstrated during this session. "Fogging", Broken Record" and "Walking away from a nasty argument" were modeled by the trainers and acted out by the students.
The remaining sessions used all the techniques and placed students in multiple life situations and environments. The students were able to role play effectively with each other and with the trainers. The program produced an 80% job placement and retention rate. Many of these students were previously judged as unemployable due to their sudden outbursts and inappropriate behaviors.
The third educational use of Role Playing concentrated on the training of Human Service Students. The students needed an opportunity to empathize with and appreciate the problems confronting the disadvantaged in society. Through the process of role playing, video feedback and student and faculty feedback, these students learned to validate feelings and identify problems of the underprivileged.
Frequently, the training began with the camera running and the professor gave examples of poor techniques and wrong intervention procedures. Students were paired up for Role Playing and they acted out the wrong techniques. In the paired environment, they also reversed roles. The class viewed the video and made corrective criticisms in order to raise Socratic Questioning that enabled the role playing clients to wrestle with making decisions and judgments. Within three classes, all students played the role of client and facilitator. Student feedback was very helpful and provided insights into the process of Helping. When a student experienced difficulties within the role of validation and Socratic Questioning, another student jumped in to demonstrate more effective behaviors.
The fishbowl technique was used to develop group cohesiveness, leadership skills and the team building process. Through repeated exposure to various roles, anxiety and the fear of role playing were reduced. The constant presence of the video camera further created a climate for the reduction of self-consciousness and provided an environment open to habituation and extinction.
The role playing concentrated on non-verbal skills that included eye contact, posture, body language, gestures, stress and tension, cultural diversity and mirroring. Other verbal skills received significant attention and the following traits were emphasized: Active listening, open ended questions, paraphrasing, encouraging, validations, summarizing and conflict management.
The role playing produced other skills like building rapport, focusing on collaboration, taking risks in the interview and assessment techniques of identifying clients, needs, strengths and problems. The students were expected to generate a general system of assessment and were trained to identify short and long term goals. These interventions were formulated within the framework of operational definitions and with the collaboration with the role playing client. Observations and data from the various role playing venues indicate that these techniques impact the total personality. These data are consistent with the motivational models of Schacter, (l964), Sapolsky, (l994) and Seligman (l990).
Definitely, emotional role playing engages cognitions emotions and physiology. The role playing subject has the experience of "in vivo" flooding (Stampft and Levis, l967).
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