Transactional analysis
- 2. Introduction • Transactional analysis is a social psychology developed by Eric Berne, MD (d.1970). • Over the last 40 years, Berne’s theory has evolved to include applications in counselling, education, organizational development and psychotherapy. • Transactional analysis is primarily concerned with the following: Analysis of SelfAwareness Analysis of Ego States Analysis ofTransactions ScriptAnalysis Stroking Game Analysis Analysis of Life Positions
- 3. Analysis of Self Awareness What is unique about the SelfAwareness Analysis is it explores not only an individual’s ‘soft skills’ and working style preferences but also how participants like to learn; their learning styles. In an education or business environment this can be a great enabler for a teacher or trainer to ensure all the members of the group are motivated and able to achieve their full potential. The Johari window as a tool does have its drawbacks: •Some things are perhaps better not communicated with others. •People may pass on the information they received further than you desire or use it in a negative way. •Some people or cultures have a very open and accepting approach to feedback and some do not.
- 4. Analysis of Ego States Transactional analysis (TA) is a psychoanalytic theory and method of therapy wherein social transactions are analyzed to determine the ego state of the patient (whether parent-like, child-like, or adult-like) as a basis for understanding behaviors
- 5. Parent Ego State Parent –The parent represents a massive collection of recordings in the brain of external events experienced or perceived in approximately the first five years of life. Since the majority of the external events experienced by a child are actions of the parent, the ego state was appropriately called Parent. Examples of recordings in the Parent include: •“Never talk to strangers” •“Always chew with your mouth closed” •“Look both ways before you cross the street”
- 6. Child Ego State Examples of recordings in the Child include: • “When I saw the monster’s face, I felt really scared” • “The clown at the birthday party was really funny! Child – In contrast to the Parent, the Child represents the recordings in the brain of internal events associated with external events the child perceives. Stated another way, stored in the Child are the emotions or feelings which accompanied external events. Like the Parent, recordings in the Child occur from childbirth all the way up to the age of approximately 5 years old.
- 7. Adult Ego State Adult – The Adult is the last ego state. Close to one year of age, a child begins to exhibit gross motor activity.The child learns that he or she can control a cup from which to drink, that he or she can grab a toy. In social settings, the child can play peek-a-boo. One of the key functions of the Adult is to validate data in the parent. An example is: “Wow. It really is true that pot handles should always be turned into the stove” said Sally as she saw her brother burn himself when he grabbed a pot handle sticking out from the stove.
- 8. Analysis ofTransactions Transactions occur when any person relates to any other person. Each transaction is made up a stimulus and a response and transactions can proceed from the Parent, Adult or Child of one person to the Parent, Adult or Child of another person. Depending on the Ego states of the person involved in the transactions, there may be three types of transactions 1) ComplementaryTransactions 2) CrossedTransactions 3) CovertTransactions
- 9. A complementary transaction involves one ego state in each person. Communication can continue between two people as long as transactions are complementary In a crossed transaction the transactional response is addressed to an ego state different from the one which started the stimulus. Crossed transactions are important because they disrupt communication. Covert transactions occur when people say one thing and mean another. Covert transactionsare the basis of games and are especially interesting because they are deceptive. They have a social (overt) and a psychological (covert) level.
- 10. Script Analysis The purpose of script analysis is to aid the client (individual or organizational) to achieve autonomy by recognising the script's influence on values, decisions, behaviors and thereby allowing them to decide against the script. Berne describes someone who is autonomous as being 'script free' and as a "real person". For organizations, autonomy is responding to the here and now reality, without discounting the past, the present or the possibilities for the future. A script is a complete plan of living, offering prescriptions permission and structure which makes one a winner or loser in life.