35_Transactional Analysis.pdf - Dr.Bhim Rao Ambedkar College

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Commerce

PAPER No. 1: Management Concepts & Organizational Behavior

MODULE No. 35: Transactional Analysis

Subject COMMERCE

Paper No and Title 1: Management Concept and Organizational Behaviour

Module No and Title 35: Transactional Analysis

Module Tag COM_P1_M35

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Learning Outcomes

2. Introduction

3. Types of Ego States

4. Types of Transactions

5. Strokes and Types

6. Implications of Transactional Analysis

7. Summary

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1. Learning Outcomes

After studying this module, you shall be able to

Understand the basic concepts of transactional analysis.

Analyse the types of transactions

Appreciate the significance of strokes

Understand the implications of transactional analysis

2. Introduction

Transactional Analysis (TA) can be referred to as a theory which depicts personality of an

individual. TA is based on the premise or foundation that the present decision making depends

upon the past experiences. The past of an individual becomes the very basis for laying the

foundation stone for the future; however it may be that the past experiences which used to be

appropriate at a point in time, may not hold as good today. The purpose of transactional analysis

is providing autonomy. Autonomy can be referred to a phenomenon which integrates

responsiveness, impulsiveness, and the competence for familiarity. In the process of achieving

autonomy individuals take new decisions, which can be referred to as taking the decision again

and in the process changing the way their life is at present and thus empowering themselves. TA

can be also credited to be a blend of psychology and psychotherapy, and thus integrated

description of psychoanalytic, humanist, and cognitive approaches.

TA was developed by Eric Berne, who was born in Canada and worked in USA as a psychiatrist.

TA was conceived by Berne as he was largely dissatisfied with the slow pace in which

psychoanalysis was used as a tool to rid people of their problems. He objected the traditional

psychoanalysis for the inordinate time delays, unnecessary complex details, and poor

communication with the clients. TA was developed as an extension of psychoanalysis with

extended concepts and techniques designed specifically to address people and treat them in a

group. Berne used to pay deft attention to what his clients used to say. He was able to gauge that

the children build up a plan which strategizes physical and psychological survival of them. This

planning and strategizing is then utilized as a script which would guide the person for the rest of

her/his life. His work published in the form of a book named “Games People Play”, changed the

way people perceived the psychology of human beings. Before the publication of the actual book,

Berne took several years to formulate the framework through which transactional analysis could

be brought out for the world. If we try to delve deeper into this terminology, then transaction

would mean the most essential unit of social interaction. Earlier, psychotherapy was considered to

be lacking scientific measurement in terms of not having quantifiable basic unit of study, Berne

provided that basic unit in the form of transaction which further lead to rigorous analysis. Berne

defines transactions in the book Games People Play as “The unit of social intercourse is called a

transaction. 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 the others. This is

called transactional stimulus. Another person will then say or does something which is in some

way related to the stimulus, and that is called the transactional response.” Going by this

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definition transactional analysis is used as a tool to measure the

interactions among the individuals.

3. Types of Ego States

An ego state can be referred to as a basket of thought processes, feelings experienced, and

behaviour exhibited which are somewhat related to each other, in which elements of an

individual’s individuality is noticeable at a given point in time (Stewart & Joines, 1987). All the

transactional analyses are based on the ego states of an individual. Ego states take into

consideration all the vital facets of the human personality and could be deemed to be very

significant part of TA. Each individual human being has all the three ego states viz., Parent,

Adult, and Child ego state (P-A-C). The behaviour of an individual at a particular point in time

depends upon the employment of an ego state and the behaviour resembles congruency of the

behaviour and the ego state employed.

Figure 1: Types of Ego State

Parent Ego State: This state comprises of the values, beliefs, core ideals, morals, and behaviour

which portrays significant authority which could be principally seen in the parents. These are

learned or in a way borrowed from our parents or elderly well wishers. There are basically two

ways to express the parent ego state, one which is critical and the other nurturing behaviour. We

must have experienced that we are having a nurturing parent and also a critical parent or the same

parents behave in both the manners at opportune times. A nurturing parent would be loving,

caring, permission giving, soft, and mild; on the contrary the critical parent may be prejudiced by

specific thought processes, feelings, and beliefs. When a person goes into a parent ego state, even

if s/he is not a parent presently, would behave as a parent. This is a state where people behave in a

way their parents would have behaved with them (child). This state contains all the ‘should have’

and ‘ought to be’, meaning thereby a set of rules covering the conduct of behaviour. In this state

the behaviour of an individual could be strikingly similar to their parents for example using the

exact phrases verbatim, showing similar gestures, exact replication of voice, posture, mannerism

etc.

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Adult Ego State: This state could be construed as a data

processing centre, where the data i.e., the happening around the

world are processed. This becomes the part of our personality which can process the data in an

accurate manner. This ego state also talks about the seeing, hearing, and thinking prowess which

can assess the situation and come up with solutions. These solutions therefore are well though off

and well analyzed unlike the pre-judged thoughts and child like emotions. The decisions taken are

based on real time facts and real time data which are real and authentic.

Child Ego State: The Child ego state is the innate element of human beings and explains the real

and natural personality of a person. It comprises of feelings, desires, and impulsive actions and

also includes the previous recordings i.e., the previous happenings in the life of a person.

The Child ego state is further divided into Natural Child (Free Child) and Adapted Child having

positive as well as negative aspects. The positive features of the Natural Child which can be noted

are spontaneity, lovable, charming, and innocent. Natural Child also brings creativity, curiosity,

and intuition. The Natural Child also expresses her emotions in freely whether she be happy, sad,

angry, or fearful depending upon the situation prevailing. On the contrary, negative features and

the responses thereby are that the Natural Child can be reckless when they perceive that there is

danger to their safety, or when safety is compromised.

An Adapted Child is one whose behaviour is influenced by her/his parents, for instance they

would behave in a way which their parents would like them to behave. Therefore, obedience,

discipline and behaving in a cultured manner depict the positive behaviour of an Adapted Child

and thus they respond appropriately in social situations. The negative aspect of an Adapted Child

is seen when gives up her/his autonomy and takes actions which disregard their own values

systems, worth, and dignity. This type of disregard can also be termed as rebellion when the child

refuses to acknowledge what the parents are directing and do things which soothe their own

instincts. This Rebellious Child ego can is supposedly opposite of a complying ego of a child. For

instance, a child starts playing in the rain and she is really enjoying in the rain. Suddenly her

mother turns up and asks her not to play in the rain and come back, instead of complying to her

mother the child shouts back “I don’t care if I get drenched in rain”

For understanding the transactional analysis in a better way, it is imperative to understand the ego

states. Paying greater attention to details, an individual can gauge which ego state is being

employed. For example, paying deeper attention to voice tone, observing the body posture and

gestures, paying attention to the choice of words, and analyzing the emotional state can be some

ways through which ego state could be deciphered.

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4. Types of Transactions

Figure 2: Types of Transactions

1. Complementary Transactions or Straight Transactions: When an ego state is

responded in a manner which is complimentary to the question put up, in that case

complementary or straight transaction is recorded. For example if a person asks in a calm

tone from his/her fellow passenger in the train that what is the time, and the reply from

the other individual is also calm and after checking his/her watch, he/she informs the

exact time to the person who asked for it can be regarded as complementary transaction.

This can be seen from the diagram below on the left where two adults are transacting in a

straight path. Another example which can be given here is a father asking his son to study

instead of watching television, and the son replying in affirmative that he is going to

study in an hour. This can be seen in the diagram below on the right hand side where

Figure 3: Complementary Transactions

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2. Crossed Transactions: Where the vectors in the

diagram are crossed: When the ego state addressed is different for the one responding the

communication ceases. This is the second rule of communication. The diagram shows a

Parent to Child stimulus is crossed with an Adult response on the right side of the

diagram. For example, an adult asks “what time it is”, instead of a giving a straight adult

response, the response is of a critical parent who would say “since you are almost always

late, why would you care what time it really is”. There are varied ways in which

transactions can be crossed. Another example can be when a child ego is talking about

sledding in the snow, however, the parent ego rebuffing and saying “you should grow up

and act your age, and that I do not have time to waste on foolishness.”

Figure 4: Crossed Transactions

3. Ulterior Transactions: These transactions are the most complex transactions and they

involve more than two ego states, when an adult to adult talk takes place. For instance, a

person says to his colleague “We need to make a lot out of this situation” (showing

ulterior motive to earn money by duping others), in reply to this the other colleague

winks and says “Of course” (providing and adult reply to an adult questions, however

winking at the same time showing hidden motive of a child.

Figure 5: Ulterior Transactions

P

A

C

P

A

C

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5. Strokes and Types

Eric Berne defines a stroke as a fundamental unit of human recognition. A stroke can take the

form of a nod, a smile, a touch, or a spoken word. Therefore, if a human being does something to

recognize fellow human being then that can be referred to as stroke. Small babies need strokes to

survive. Strokes are very important for human beings and it decides the type of personality a

person will have. Children require positive strokes, but if because of some reason they do not get

positive strokes they would do everything to get the negative strokes. The reason for this is that

negative strokes are somewhat better than having on stroke at all. This explains why some

individuals are more comfortable with negative strokes. Strokes can be regarded as a reflection of

a person. Stroking patterns which are developed in an individual likely support the natural,

existential life position of that individual. The strokes reflect on how a person feels about his/her

own self with regards to other people in the closer environment. Strokes can be of two types:

1. Unconditional Strokes: These strokes come to us because we exist, i.e., by virtue of

existence some of the strokes can be received. Such strokes are very well-off; for instance

if a small kid receives a lot of unconditional love from their closed ones, thrive well.

Same is the case with adults, if they are given a good foundation of positive stroke which

is unconditional then they too thrive well.

2. Conditional Strokes: These strokes are given to an individual when a necessary

condition is met, or simply put it is a given for accomplishing something or even in lieu

of a particular character or trait possessed by a person. These strokes are said to be

conditional because they depend upon a condition which needs to be fulfilled. For

example, if an employee is praised by the supervisor on the pretext that her past

performance appraisal gave her an outstanding rating, then this praise is a positive

conditional stroke. Similarly, if a person dances or sings well, or is a good sports person,

or swims really well, and because of these attributes someone else recognises these and

praises the person then this can be regarded as positive conditional stroke. These strokes

give us the necessary momentum to make us feel very good. Some of our hidden needs

like being appreciated are fulfilled by conditional positive strokes.

Taking interest in the strokes helps us to keep happy. It is then very important to pay closer

attention to the type of conditional strokes which makes a person happy, an individual can also

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ask for different strokes and this does not diminish the

importance of the stroke! The most dangerous kind of stroke is

the unconditional negative stroke, which signifies that something is wrong with us, and that there

is no condition to blame for it. This type of stroke can severely affect the self esteem of the

person concerned. When negative strokes are conditional, they are a bit less harmful than the

unconditional negative ones. At least the person can believe that there is something good about

himself or herself, since the negative strokes are limited to certain specific characteristics or

behaviours. “I hate when you shout like that” is more limited in its negative impact than “I hate

you!”

6. Implications of Transactional Analysis

If transactional analysis is practiced and understood, it can help a person understand

himself/herself better. It also makes people aware that it is not the world outside but they

themselves who have created their own life and are hence responsible for their future and

no one else. If there is anything in the person intrinsically which the person does not like,

then transactional analysis can be of great help as it provides the requisite tools to change

oneself. For instance, what type of a parent ego would serve one better and then

practicing the same and developing such ego state in oneself.

Similarly, individuals would do well if they analyze which ego state to employ more

often and which to use rarely. Certain type of strokes can also be practiced and also

asking for certain kinds of strokes would one want to receive. Transactional analysis also

helps in exerting control over conversations to assure that the communication goes

unperturbed in an honest, straightforward manner without any apparent complications.

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7. Summary

Transactional Analysis can be referred to as a theory which depicts personality of an

individual.

Transactional Analysis was developed by Eric Berne, who was born in Canada and

worked in USA as a psychiatrist. It was conceived by Berne as he was largely dissatisfied

with the slow pace in which psychoanalysis was used as a tool to rid people of their

problems.

All the transactional analyses are based on the ego states of an individual.

Each individual human being has all the three ego states viz., Parent, Adult, and Child

ego state.

Parent Ego State comprises of the values, beliefs, core ideals, morals, and behaviour

which portrays significant authority which could be principally seen in the parents.

Adult Ego State could be construed as a data processing centre, where the data i.e., the

happening around the world are processed.

Child ego state is the innate element of human beings and explains the real and natural

personality of a person. It comprises of feelings, desires, and impulsive actions and also

includes the previous recordings i.e., the previous happenings in the life of a person.

When an ego state is responded in a manner which is complimentary to the question put

up, in that case complementary or straight transaction is recorded.

Crossed Transactions happen When the ego state addressed is different for the one

responding the communication ceases.

Ulterior Transactions are the most complex transactions and they involve more than two

ego states, when an adult to adult talk takes place.

A stroke can take the form of a nod, a smile, a touch, or a spoken word. The strokes reflect on how a person feels about his/her own self with regards to other

people in the closer environment. Strokes can be of two types: Unconditional Strokes and

Conditional Strokes.

Transactional Analysis makes people aware that it is not the world outside but they

themselves who have created their own life and are hence responsible for their

future and no one else.

Documents

35_Transactional Analysis.pdf - Dr.Bhim Rao Ambedkar College