Eric Berne – Transactional

Analysis
Transactional Analysis (T.A.)

A psychoanalytic theory of psychology

developed by psychiatrist Eric
Berne in the late 1950’s
Very useful for
 Analysing interactions with others

 Improving communication with

others
Transactional Analysis:
~Essential Principles

 People’s interactions are

made up of transactions

 These involve a stimulus

and response
Transactional Analysis:
Essential Principles

Earliest transactions include

Stimulus: I cry
Response: I get fed
Stimulus: I wet my nappy
Response: My nappy is
changed
TA primarily concerned with
 Analysis of self awareness
 Analysis of ego states
 Analysis of Transactions
 Analysis of Life position
 Game analysis
 Stroking
Analysis of self awareness
 The Johari Window is a
communication model that can be
used to improve understanding
between individuals.
 Developed by Joseph Luft and Harry
Ingham (the word “Johari” comes
from Joseph Luft and Harry
Ingham).
Two key ideas behind the tool:
 Individuals can build trust between
themselves by disclosing
information about themselves.
 They can learn about themselves
and come to terms with personal
issues with the help of feedback
from others.
Using the Johari model, each person is
represented by their own four-quadrant,
or four-pane, window. Each of these
contains and represents personal
information - feelings, motivation - about
the person, and shows whether the
information is known or not known by
themselves or other people.
The four quadrants are:
 Quadrant 1: Open Area
 What is known by the person about
him/herself and is also known by
others.
 Quadrant 2: Blind Area, or "Blind
Spot"
 What is unknown by the person about
him/herself but which others know. This
can be simple information, or can involve
deep issues (for example, feelings of
inadequacy, incompetence,
unworthiness, rejection) which are
difficult for individuals to face directly,
and yet can be seen by others.
 Quadrant 3: Hidden or Avoided
Area
 What the person knows about
him/herself that others do not.
 Quadrant 4: Unknown Area
 What is unknown by the person
about him/herself and is also
unknown by others.
 Key Points:
 In most cases, the aim in groups should be to
develop the Open Area for every person.
 Working in this area with others usually allows for
enhanced individual and team effectiveness and
productivity. The Open Area is the ‘space’ where
good communications and cooperation occur, free
from confusion, conflict and misunderstanding.
 Self-disclosure is the process by which people
expand the Open Area vertically. Feedback is the
process by which people expand this area
horizontally.
 By encouraging healthy self-disclosure and
sensitive feedback, you can build a stronger and
more effective team.
Analysis of ego states

3 Ego States:
 Parent
P
 Adult
 Child
A

C
(T.A.) The Parent
 Unconsciously
acting in similar
ways to our
parents
Can be:
 Nurturing:
permission,
security, guidance
 Critical: controlling
 (T.A.) The Adult

 Living in the present

and responding to
situations through
rational thought.
(T.A.) The Child

Unconsciously reverting to childhood

behaviours
 Primitive

 Impulsive

 Demanding

 Creative
The Three Ego States

 Parent- “Do as I do”

 Child- “What shall I do?”

 Adult- “I will be frank with

you”
Look at the sentences below and match the
ego state to the sentence.

1. It’s not my fault my

drink got spilt on
your new carpet
2. I wonder what might CHILD
have caused that
accident ADUL
3. For goodness sake, T
clean up that mess.
4. Shall we clean up the
mess together with a
wet cloth?
5. I refuse to get
involved in this PARENT
incident.
Analysis of Transactional
 Three Basic Concepts: Parent, Adult
and Child
 Transactions: Among P, A and C
 P < -- > P
 A < -- > A
 C < -- > C
 There are 9 possible transactions
We Can be:
 Child
 Adult

 Parent in our Transactions.

 We shift from one ego state to

another in transactions.
Transactions
 Berne said that when people are in their different
ego states and they interact with other people, 3
main types of transaction (or interaction) can
happen.
 To make it easy to analyse what is happening,
Berne developed a little diagram like this, to
represent a person with their three ego states
P Adult and Child.
Parent, P
Interacts with Person B on
A right A

C C
Types of Transaction
Complementary Transactions
This is a
complementar
P P y transaction
because the
employee
A A accepts the child
ego state
assigned to him
C C by the manager
and responds in
child ego state.
MANAGER EMPLOYEE
“You’re three hours “I’m really sorry, I
late, I want an slept through the
explanation.” alarm, it won’t
happen again, I
promise.”
Types of Transactions
 Complementary Transactions:
Appropriate and Expected
Transactions indicating healthy
human relationships.
 Communication takes place when
transactions are complementary. A
stimulus invites a response; this
response becomes a stimulus
inviting further response and so on.
Crossed Transaction
This is a crossed
transaction because
P P although the manager,
parent ego state,
attempted to address
A A the employee as a
child, the employee
refuses this ego state
C C and responds in adult
ego state to the
manager’s ego state.
MANAGER EMPLOYEE
A crossed transaction
“You’re three “Oh, didn’t you is any transaction
hours late, I get held up by where the person
want an that crash on being spoken to
explanation.” the motorway refuses the ego state
as well?” they are assigned by
the first speaker.
Types of Transactions (Con..)
 Crossed Transaction: This causes
most difficulties in social situations.
 “May be, you should improve your
teaching”.
 “You always find fault with me
whatever I do” Parent-Child
interaction.
Ulterior transaction
This is an Angular
Transaction
P P because the sales
person is talking on
more than one level,
A A appearing to
address the
customer’s Adult
C C ego state but trying
to hook the
customer’s Child
SALES ego state, because
CUSTOME the Child is
PERSON R impulsive and may
“That’s the latest “Wow, that’s be seduced by the
iPod and there’s amazing – I’ll 50% off the iPod
50% off at the take one!” and buy it! This is
moment, if you are what happens, and
interested” the customer
(T.A.) Transactions

Crossed:
‘What time is it?’
‘Forget about what time it
is, get that report
finished.’
 The ‘2 Rules of Communication’ in TA

 
 1st Rule of Communication
 
 So long as transactions remain
complementary, communication can
continue indefinitely.
 
  
 2nd Rule of Communication
 When a transaction is crossed, a
break in communication results, and
one or both individuals will need to
shift ego states in order for the
communication to be re-established
  
 Using TA for effective communication

 For effective communication you need to

keep the transaction complementary i.e.
focus on sender to receiver and receiver
to sender where the message is sent to
the ego state from which you expect a
reply. Using ego states we can look at
how others communicate and how we
communicate with others. It’s possible
to identify which ego state we are in and
which ego state we are expecting a reply
from.
 TA and communication

 We can also use TA to help us plan

transactions. For example we can identify which
ego state would be most valuable for us to
send the message from and which ego state it
would be better for it to be received by. If we
receive a reply from the wrong (non expected)
ego state then we can either try to shift the
other person’s ego state; or if we cannot do
this it may be better to stop the communication
and try again another time when the person
may be in a different ego state.
TA & communication
 We can listen to people’s
communication to identify if they
are habitually in one ego state and
then decide if communication to
that ego state would be appropriate
or not.
Invite them to move into Adult by:
 

 Asking a question
 Stating a few facts
 Asking for their opinion
 Asking for their preference
 Asking for their view
 Invite them to move into Nurturing
Parent by:

  
 Asking for their help
 Asking for their advice
 Asking for their expert opinion
 Communicating your fears/worries
 
 
Invite them to move into Natural
Child (Free Child) by:
 Being one yourself
Showing the funny side of the
situation
Going to nurturing parent
Being enthusiastic
Showing an unconventional way of
looking at things.
 
Analysis of Four life positions

 The phase "I'm OK, You're OK" is

one of four life positions that each
of us may take. The four positions
are:
1. I'm Not OK, You're OK
2. I'm Not OK, You're Not OK
3. I'm OK, You're Not OK
4. I'm OK, You're OK
Life positions (continued)
Berne believes that everyone is born in the same Life
Position
I’m not OK, You’re OK

The reason you are not OK

when you are born is because
you are dependent on others
for all your needs. They are
OK, because they have the
ability to satisfy their own
needs and your needs.
The Ideal Life Position
 Berne says the ideal life position to reach is I’m
OK, You’re OK, where you are in a position to
satisfy your own needs and are happy that others
are able to satisfy their needs.
 However, some people don’t progress to this
happy state, they get stuck in either

I’m not OK, You’re not OK

I’m OK, You’re not OK

He says this happens because of the wrong kind of

experiences in childhood which result in either very
low self
esteem or too high self esteem.
How do life positions affect people’s
communication?
 Berne thinks that people’s life positions
tend to determine the ‘script’ of their life –
in other words, if you think the world is
against you “I’m not OK, You’re not OK”,.
Your ‘script’ will be a negative one, which
makes your communication with others
negative and makes negative things
happen. Your non-verbal communication
may be off-putting – aggressive or
withdrawn, your words may be the same.
Games
Berne felt that people in the life position

“I’m not OK, You’re OK” or “I’m not OK,
You’re not OK” were people with low self
esteem. He felt that these people find it
hard to interact with people in a
straightforward way so they play ‘games’.
 Games
 His definition of ‘game’ was ‘sets
of ulterior transactions, repetitive
in nature, with a well defined
psychological ‘pay off’. In other
words, an interaction with a
hidden motive where one of the
participants is gaining something
underhand from the encounter.
Games
(T.A.) Strokes

Strokes are the recognition one

person gives another

 These begin in infancy as hugs

 Later in life become more
verbal/abstract
(T.A.) Positive strokes
 Praise
 Positive feedback
 Compliments
 Expressions of appreciation
 Good reports
TA: How to use it
 Be aware of your own ego state as
well as the client’s
 Try and stay in the Adult state
 Be aware of any Games being
played
 If a Game is being played, find a
fresh approach that seeks to
engage the Adult in the client
 T.A. Final Thoughts
 Be aware of your own language/posture
 Keep discussions result focussed
 Beware going into Parent mode
 Stick to the agreed Plan as much as you
can
 Understanding of TA
 Improved interpersonal communication
 Positive approach to life and hence positive
actions
 Understanding the ego states
 Motivation
 To maintain adult transactions
 To iminize destructive game playing
 Identify and untangle quickly crossed
transcations
 1. do u usually reveal urself to other
people?
 2. do u express your feelings to
others easily?
 3.Do u trust others?
 4.Do u think other people are willing
to listen to you?
 5. do u like urself?
 6. do u listen to others?
 7. do u feel comfortable when
others tals to u about ur behavior?