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.
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