TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

A model for explaining why and how:

 People think like they do
 People act like they do
 People interact/communicate with others
Our Brain (according to Berne)
 Determines what we think and how we act
 Acts like a tape recorder while recording
1) Events
2) Associated feelings
 Has 3 distinct parts or ego states
1) Parent
2) Adult
3) Child

We Are
 Child
 Adult Ego states displayed in our transactions
 Parent
 Biological conditions are irrelevant to these ego states.
 We shift from one ego state to another in transactions.

Shift in Ego States

 Parent to Child: "Why don't you prepare a time-table?"
 Child to Parent: "What is the point when one cannot follow it?" (Becomes an Adult)
 Interviewer to Candidate: "Have you read this book?" (Adult to Child)
 Candidate to Interviewer: "No", "But how can anyone read all books print” (Becomes a
child)

Transactional Stimulus and Response

 The initiator of the transaction is called the transactional stimulus.
 The response of the respondent is called transactional response.
 The transactional response becomes again the transactional stimulus for next
transactional response and so on.

Ego States
 Ego states to help explain how we are made up, and how we relate to others.
 They categorize the ways we think, feel and behave and are called Parent, Adult and
Child.
Parent Ego State
 Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behavioral patterns based on messages or lessons learned
from parents and other 'parental' or authoritarian sources a
 Shoulds and should nots; oughts and ought nots; always and never
 Prejudicial views (not based on logic or facts) on things such as:
religion dress salespeople
traditions work products
money raising children companies
 Nurturing views (sympathetic, caring views)
 Critical views (fault finding, judgmental, condescending views)

Adult Ego State

 Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behavioral patterns based on objective analysis of
information (data, facts)
 Make decisions based on logic, computations, probabilities, etc. (not emotion)

Child Ego State

 Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behavioral patterns based on child-like emotions, impulses,
feelings we have experienced
 Child-like examples
Impulsive Happy Self-centered Pleasure seeking Angry Rebellious Fearful

Ego Portraits
People have favorite, preferred ego state, depicted by larger circle in a diagram
Parent Adult Child
P
P P

A
A A

C
C C
Human Interaction Analysis
 A transaction = any interaction or communication between 2 people
 People send and receive messages out of and into their different ego states
 How people say something (what others hear?) just as important as what is said

Types of communication, interactions

 Complementary
 Crossed
 Ulterior

Complementary 'Transactions'
 Interactions, responses, actions regarded as appropriate and expected from another
person.
 Parallel communication arrows, communication continues.

P P
Example1: Example2:
A A What time is it? You’re late again!
C C Its 11:15 am. I’m sorry. It won’t happen
again.

Crossed ‘Transactions
 Interactions, responses, actions NOT regarded as appropriate or expected from another
person.
 Crossed communication arrows, communication breakdown

P P Example1: Example2:
What time is it? You’re late again!
A A
Yes, I know, I had a flat tire
There’s a clock on the wall,
C C why don’t you figure it out
yourself?

Ulterior Transactions
 Interactions, responses, actions which are different from those explicitly stated

P P Example1:

How about coming up to my

A A room and listening to some
C C music?
Four basic life concepts
Life positions are basic beliefs about self and others, which are used to justify decisions and
behavior. These life positions are perceptions of the world. The reality is I just am and you just
are, therefore how I view myself and others are just that "views" not fact. However, we tend to
act as if they are a fact. Four life positions are:
 I’m OK, you’re OK – ideal
 I’m OK, you’re not OK – get away from me
 I’m not OK, you’re OK – I’ll never get anywhere
 I’m not OK, you’re not OK – get rid of each other

Four Transactional Styles of Four Life Positions

I’m not OK I’m OK

You’re not OK Avoidant (A) Bossing (B)

You’re OK Diffident (D) Competent (C)

Elaboration of Transactional Styles

A B C D
I’m not OK I’m OK I’m OK I’m not OK
You’re not OK You’re not OK You’re OK You’re OK

Regulating Traditional Prescriptive Normative Indifferent

Parent
Nurturing Overindulgent Patronizing Supportive Ingratiating
Task-
Adult Cynical Problem -Solving Over-whelming
Obsession
Adaptive Sulking Complaining Resilient Dependent
Child Reactive Withdrawn Aggressive Confronting Intropunitive
Creative Humorous Bohemian Innovative Satirical

Strengths
 Supported by a great deal of research on the subconscious mind
 Promotes self-analysis and self-correction
 Applications go beyond the classroom, into the people’s personal lives
 Helps people understand their own messages and those of others
 Helps people avoid destructive roles that are often played in interpersonal relationships
 Provides a framework for communication and understanding.
Weaknesses
 Only appropriate for individual guidance
 Cannot be used as an intervention technique
 Overcoming the automatic behaviors from the parent and child ego state may be difficult
 Cannot be applied as readily to discipline problems other than those involving verbal
exchanges
 People may not have the language, cognitive, or reasoning skills necessary to use this
technique
 Making distinctions between the ego states is difficult
 Training can be lengthy and time consuming.