What is Transactional Analysis

The concept of Transactional Analysis (TA) was developed by Dr. Eric Berne, an American psychiatrist. A transaction is a unit of communication and TA is the analysis of communication between individuals. If two or more people encounter each other sooner or later one of them will speak or give some other indication of acknowledging the presence of others, this is called the Transactional stimulus. Another person will then say or do something which is in some way related to the stimulus and that is calledthe transactional response.

TA: ego states

Ego states
A consistent pattern of feeling and experience directly related to a corresponding consisting pattern of behavior. The concept of ego states helps people to identify their own selves and hoe they relate to people with whom they interact. Each transaction has two constituents- a stimulus and a response. TA deals with finding out the ego state from which a transactional stimulus and transactional response originate.

Parent
The parent is a huge collection of recordings in the brain of unquestioned or imposed external events perceived by a person in his early years. The child sees everything that the parents do and hears everything that the parents say during this period. Recording take place in the childs brain without any editing and everything that the child sees or hears or experiences is recorded as it is. Foe Example: children are often told to look on both sides while crossing the road or dont accept gifts from strangers.

 The parent Ego state take the form of Critical parent or Nurturing Parent. For example, when person says Why cant you complete this in time? it is the case of Critical Parent He/She says if you cannot complete the task in time, tell me. I will help you complete it. it is a case of Nurturing Parent.

Child
The child ego state consist of all the recordings of behavior, thoughts or feelings of a person from childhood. It is the recording of internal events made during childhood. At this stage , the child has no vocabulary or words with which to record the experiences. Therefore they are recorded as feelings.

 This feelings may be positive or Negative experiences. For Example: a sense of love, joy, friendship etc. come from positive experiences. While feelings like nervousness, anger etc. come from negative experiences that were similar to those they faced during their childhood.

 The child ego state can take various forms. When the child is hateful or affectionate, spontaneous or playful it is called the Natural child. When the child is considerate or imaginative it is called the little professor. When the child is frightened, guilty or embarrassed it is called the Adapted child.

 The Adult ego state is the logical thinking side of personality This state refers to balanced thinking, collecting and processing information, etc. This ego state is a direct response to the current situation faced by an individual and is not influenced by his/her past. For example, it may not be considered appropriate for a person to shout at his/her boss. Anger, the emotion felt in this situation arises from the child ego state. But the Adult ego state helps the person to keep the emotion balanced.

Adult

 Another important function of the Adult ego state is the ability to estimate probability. This is the ability which helps a person to anticipate the occurrence of any problem and to find solutions for it.

Types of Transactions
Transactional analysis - Transactions between people are seen as having 3 levels: Complementary both people are operating from the same ego state Crossed the other person reacts from an unexpected ego state Ulterior two ego states within the same person but hidden meaning which is different from what is actually said. The verbal meaning may indicate a different ego state, but gestures and facial expressions may convey a different story.

Complementry Transection
Manager: Get this report finished by evening Subordinate: Sure Sir
P P

Crossed Transaction
Manager: Get this report finished by evening Subordinate: Dont you see that I am busy? I will see.
P P

Ulterior Transaction

 Overall Goal of Transactional Analysis Make yourself aware of your triadic personality structure. Increase awareness of your own ego state and the ego states of others

 Be aware of both social and psychological messages which exist within communication transactions. Pay attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues. Increase the chance for complementary transactions. Be able to change from crossed communication to complementary communication when you realize different ego states are not talking to each other, but other ego states.

Strokes
Transactions can be viewed as a series of strokes and counter strokes. A stroke is a recognization of the presence of another person. Stroke can be positive and negative. For Ex. good morning or a manager complementary transactions that are relevant Positive Stroke.

 Ex. Scolding, warning or even nonrecognition of presence. Strokes are very important at workpalace. People usually crave for strokes in the form of recognition or appreciation for their work.

Life Position
Life positions are acquired by us at early stage and generally endure. They influence our behavior. Life position stems from a combination of two viewpoints, First, how people view themselves? Second, how do they view other people in general. Either positive(OK) or a negative response (not OK) results in four possible life position. That are

Life Positions or Windows on the World (Cont...)

Im okay Youre not okay Im okay Youre okay

Youre okay Im not okay

Im not okay Youre not okay