TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis

Introduction

Transactional Analysis is a theory developed by Dr. Eric Berne in the 1950s. He said that verbal communication, particularly face to face, is at the centre of human social relationships and psychoanalysis.  It is one of the most accessible theories of modern psychology.   It is a social psychology and a method to improve communication. The theories outlines “how we have developed and treat ourselves, how we relate and communicate with others, and offers suggestions and interventions which will enable us to change and grow”.

Eric Berne’s starting-point was that when two people encounter each other, one of them will speak to the other. This he called the Transaction Stimulus. The reaction from the other person he called the Transaction Response. The person sending the Stimulus is called the Agent. The person who responds is called the Respondent.

Throughout history, and from all standpoints: philosophy, medical science, religion; people have believed that each man and woman has a multiple nature. When we communicate we are doing so from one of our own alter ego states, our Parent, Adult or Child.  When we respond, we are also doing this from one of the three states, and it is in the analysis of these stimuli and responses that the essence of Transactional Analysis lies.

Structural Analysis:

Just as we have a physical structure, we have a psychological structure too.  Berne devised the concept of ego states to help explain how we are made up, and how we relate to others. These are drawn as three stacked circles and they are one of the building blocks of Transactional Analysis. They categorise the ways we think, feel and behave and are called Parent, Adult, and Child. Each ego state is given a capital letter to denote the difference between actual parents, adults and children.

An ego state is the sum total of a persons feeling, thinking and behaving at a given time. The process of analyzing personality in terms of ego states is called structural analysis. It is important to remember that ego states do not have an existence of their own, they are concepts to enable understanding.

Parent ego - state:

This is a set of feelings, thinking and behaviour that we have copied from our parents and significant others. We were conditioned by our real parents, teachers, older people, aunts and uncles, etc. As we grow up we take in ideas, beliefs, feelings and behaviours from our parents and other elders.  For example, we may notice that we are saying things just as our father, mother, grandmother may have done, even though,  we don't want to. We do this as we have lived with this person so long that we automatically reproduce certain things that were said to us, or treat others as we might have been treated. When an individual is in this state of his ego, he tends to feel, think, act, talk and respond just as one of his parents did.  In other words, for time being the individual is transformed into the parent.

Adult ego - state:

The Adult ego state is about direct responses to the here and now. Our 'Adult' is our ability to think and determine action for ourselves, based on received data. It is neither repetition nor imitation.  It is based on one’s current information about the world. The Adult ego state is being spontaneous and aware with the capacity for intimacy. When in our Adult we are able to see people as they are, rather than what we project onto them.

When one feels, thinks and behaves in ways which are a direct ‘here and now’ response to events, the individual is said to be in the adult ego state. In this structural model, the  Adult ego state circle is placed in the middle to show how it needs to orchestrate between the Parent and the Child ego states.

Child ego - state:

The Child ego state is a set of behaviours, thoughts and feelings which are replayed from our own childhood.  Every human individual would have been a child once. That child would have been subjected to a wide range of experiences. When appropriate situation arises, these experiences would be unconsciously repeated. The individual may be said to have a child for time being.  When one feels, thinks and behaves when he had been a child, the individual is said to be in the Child ego state.   

If we are to change our Parent or Child we must do so through our adult.

In other words:

·   Parent is our 'Taught' concept of life

·   Adult is our 'Thought' concept of life

·   Child is our 'Felt' concept of life

To analyse a transaction you need to see and feel what is being said as well.

Only 7% of meaning is in the words spoken.

38% of meaning is paralinguistic (the way that the words are said).

55% is in facial expression.

Transactional Analysis

Transaction is a unit of social intercourse involving communication between two or more people. The application of ego-state model to analyse sequence of transaction is called transactional analysis. It is a theory of personality as well as a method of psychotherapy developed by Eric Berne. It provides an account of how people are structured in terms of the different ego-state models.

 A transaction consists of two or more components of behaviour known as strokes.  Strokes are the recognition, attention or responsiveness that one person gives another. A stroke may be a world, a phrase, a gesture, facial expression, etc. It may be positive like a smile or negative like a frown. The two strokes make-up a transaction.

Every transaction is based any one of the ego-states of the individuals entering into the transactions. Six ego states are involved in a transaction between two persons.  TA attempts at determining which ego state in one person is transacting with which ego state in another and in what ways. There are three basic kinds of transaction. They are Complimentary transaction, Crossed transaction and Ulterior transaction.

1. Complementary Transaction:

A complementary transaction occurs when both partners are addressing the ego state the other is in. These are also called reciprocal transactions. In this type of transaction, the stimulus person and response person are in identical or complementary ego-states and hence the vectors or transaction arrows are parallel. There are nine possible types of complementary transactions- they are:

PP=PP        PA=AP       PC=CP

AP=PA        AA=AA      AC=CA

CP=PC       CA=AC      CC=CC

As long as the transactions are complementary with parallel arrows, communication may proceed unhindered.

 Example 1

A: "Have you been able to write the report?"

B: "Yes - I'm about to email it to you." (This exchange was Adult to Adult)

Example 2

A: "Would you like to skip this meeting and go watch a film with me instead?"

B: "I'd love to - I don't want to work anymore, what should we go and see?" (Child to Child)

Example 3

A: "You should have your room tidy by now!" (Parent to Child)

B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent)

2. Crossed Transaction: 

This type of transaction occurs when communication takes place between different pairs of ego-states. Communication failures are typically caused by a 'crossed transaction' where partners address ego states other than that their partner is in. When a message sent from one person gets an unexpected response indicating a different ego level, the arrows representing the vectors cross each other.  

                    Adult-Adult & Child-Parent       Child-Child & Parent-Child

  In the first illustration, an Adult-to-Adult (AA) stimulus receives a Child-to-Parent (CP) response.  In the second illustration a Child-to-Child stimulus receives the Parent-to-Child response. So, instead of being parallel, the stimulus and response arrows are crossed with one another. The most common crossed transaction is the pattern of an Adult-Adult stimulus with a Child-Parent response. Adult-Adult and Parent-Child;  Parent-Child and Parent-Child; Child-Parent and Child-Parent are the other types of crossed transaction.

Example 1:

A: "Have you been able to write that report?" (Adult to Adult)

B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent)

This is a crossed transaction likely to produce problems in the workplace.   

Example 2:

A: "Is your room tidy yet?" (Parent to Child)

B: "I'm just going to do it, actually." (Adult to Adult)

This is a more positive crossed transaction.   

3. Ulterior Transaction: 

It is a two level transaction in which beyond the obvious transaction, there is a hidden transaction between two different ego-states of the persons concerned. In such communications a non verbal message is sent along with the spoken words. Here, there are two distinct levels of transactions – the social or overt level transactions and the psychological or covert level transactions.

There are two types of ulterior transactions. They are angular transaction and duplex transactions.  

Angular Transaction:

Angular transaction involves three ego states. Salesmen are particularly adapt this kind of transaction. They convey their message in social level as Adult ego-state, but it contains a hidden psychological message intending the Child ego-state of the customer. Here, the Child ego-state of the customer is active and the intention of the sales man thus gets realized. However, as a result, at both levels the ultimate transaction is complementary since the customer's reply is accepted at face value as an Adult purchasing contract.

Example:                

Sales man: "This one is better, but you can't afford it" -        (Adult-Adult but Adult-Child)

House wife: "That's the one I will take". I'll show that arrogant guy I'm as good as any of his customers (Child-Adult)

Duplex Transaction:

This is a two level transaction in which beyond the obvious transaction, there is a hidden transaction between the two ego states of the persons concerned.  A duplex transaction involves four ego states and is commonly seen among college students. (the hidden or psychological transactions are always represented by doted arrows.)

For example: A boy said to his girl friend: “College is closing for study leave. I have not completed my lessons”.

Girl friend: “Don’t worry. We will go to park and have combined study”

Example 2:  

A: "I need you to stay late at the office with me to complete my works." (Adult words) - body language indicates sexual intent  

B: "Of course." (Adult response to Adult statement).  (Child accepts the hidden motive).

At the social level these are Adult conversations but in the psychological level these are Child conversations about sex play.

LIFE POSITIONS

Transactional Analysis constructs four possible life position held with respect to oneself and others. Dr. Thomas A. Harris's pioneering work in Transactional Analysis has had a fundamental impact on our understanding of interpersonal behavior. There are four fundamental life positions. They are:

I am not OK                   -                  You are OK

I am not OK                 -                  You are not OK

I am OK                 -                  You are not OK

I am OK               -                  You are Ok

Life positions works with the assumption that we choose very early on in our life, before the age of 2, a basic attitude towards ourselves and other people. It represents the fundamental attitude a person takes about the essential value he or she perceives in him or herself and other people. Once a child has taken up a favorite position, they're likely to construct the rest of their world view to match that life position. 

Our life position is like a set of glasses through which we see the world. If we end up with gray tinted glasses the whole world will look gray to us. If they are clear, we can see ourselves and the world as things are good and bad, but mostly all sorts of colors and shapes.

It shows the four basic life positions we can assume: 

1. "I am not ok, you are ok," short for "There is something fundamentally wrong with me, but everybody else is ok.".  This is the universal position of early childhood in social transaction when the child arrives at the logical conclusion that “I am not OK’. This NOT OK-ness arises from the helplessness of the child. Such people feel inferior when they compare themselves with others. These people are depressed and withdraw from others.

2. "I am not ok, you are not ok," short for "There is something fundamentally wrong with me and other people are unreliable, untrustworthy, wrong in some way too." Such people become deeply sick and lose interest in living. They might end up in mental hospitals or kill themselves or others.

3. "I am ok, you are not ok," short for "I am ok, but I can't rely on or trust you. I feel there is something wrong with other people around me." A child who is brutalized by the parents will switch over the third life position, that is : I AM OK – YOU ARE NOT OK. Dr. Harris consider this as a criminal position as there is every chance for such a child to develop a criminal personality type. Such people feel victimized, and they blame others for their miseries. These people may turn persecutors.

4. "'I am ok, you are ok," which is short for "I am ok with myself and with you too."  Such people are mentally healthy. This OK position is experienced by children who have received an exposure situation in early life in which they can prove, to themselves, their own worth and the worth of others.  In this position, a person recognize that both you and I have worth, value and dignity as people have. People in this position are happy and have intimate relationships.

It's easy to see that the best place to come from is "'I am ok, you are ok!"

A brief study of the Four Life Position

I am not ok, you are ok (Therefore the best I can do is to get away from others or hide myself) DEPRESSIVE POSITION	I am not ok, you are not ok (Therefore there is no hope. I can never be ok nor could you give me what I need) FUTILE   POSITION (worthless)
I am ok, you are not ok (Therefore I best get rid of you to be ok) PARANOID POSITION (mentally depressed)	I am ok, you are ok (Therefore you and me can get on with being open with each other) GOOD LIFE POSITION

It is important that you find a way to relate from an "I am ok you are ok" position as much as possible to your partner. And that he or she relates in the same way to you. Only then you are in a place where you can trust and respect yourself and the other person and you can  be secure in knowing that you both are committed to working things out together when things get tough.