Transferring blame : the covert role of scapegoat

The main purpose for this research was to provide pre-adolescent females the opportunity to explore their understanding and personal experience of social aggression with similarly-treated individuals. A common practice among girls, social aggression damages a peer's social status and self-esteem through direct and indirect means (Galen & Underwood, 1997). Due to a lack of qualitative research attending to the narratives of socially aggressed girls, an art therapy group composed of four pre-adolescent females who had experienced some form of social aggression was implemented in a metropolitan elementary school. For 15 sessions, the group members congregated for lunch and creative exploration. Preplanned art activities enlightened facets of social aggression in the interest of augmenting the confidence and self-esteem of the participants. Following the completion of the group, investigation into group roles led to the scapegoat archetype. Though suggested to be a prominent role in group therapy, nominal research has focused specifically on the scapegoat role in therapeutic groups. Conscious and unconscious mental mechanisms compound group interactions, affecting the role one assumes. A retrospective examination of the group's proceedings showed that one member's conduct encapsulated facets of the scapegoat archetype, and it seemed that this group member covertly adopted the scapegoat role. The following case study subsumes an elaborate investigation of six group art therapy sessions. I discovered that the group member's covert identification with the scapegoat role materialized in her behaviour, art, and interaction with the other girls