1 s

An Introduction to Transactional Analysis Every human being is born a Prince or a Princess ; early experiences convince some that they are frogs ,and the rest of the pathological development follows this' Eric Berne 1966 BACKGROUND AND BASIC ASSUMPTIONS TA is a form of therapy devised by Eric Berne and modified by others. It is based on some basic assumptions . These are founded on the quotation (from Berne) and on the basic statement that People are OK. ' It expands this as in the following way: 1. People are OK (I'm OK - You Are OK.) Everybody has a capacity to think (most people unless they have some damage to their brain) )People decide their own destiny and can change 2. Secondly, that people have an in-built drive towards both mental and physical health. People live in two different, but related, worlds. These worlds are : * An Inner World This is a world of dreams, emotions, fears, hopes and memories. This world contains feelings and images of both ourselves and others. It is our private world. * An Outer World In this outer world we act out our beliefs and feelings. This is the world where we act out our ' games ', roles' and transactions'. How and what we do in our inter-personal relationships depends upon the relationship we have between these two worlds.. Are they congruent or in conflict. These states of congruency or conflict vary with time and circumstances. Berne was originally a psychoanalyst and TA has its roots in this approach or model of counseling. However, it has (like Gestalt) developed over many years in the Humanistic Approach to counseling and it uses many of the concepts of Person Centered Counseling. It is a highly experiential model and requires a mainly practical and not a theoretical approach. However, it has a strong theoretical foundation. This series of notes will deal with the theoretical aspects but will be backed up by a complementary series of practical exercises which will influence our approach to all our work in TA. TA is technique to understand the dynamics of self and its relationship to other. It provides a method and approach of analyzing and understanding interpersonal behaviour.

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

2 s

According to the International Transactional Analysis Association,[1] TA 'is a theory of personality and a systematic psychotherapy for personal growth and personal change'. 1. As a theory of personality, TA describes how people are structured psychologically. It uses what is perhaps its best known model, the ego-state (Parent-Adult-Child) model, to do this. The same model helps explain how people function and express their personality in their behavior 2. It is a theory of communication that can be extended to the analysis of systems and organizations. 3. It offers a theory for child development by explaining how our adult patterns of life originated in childhood. This explanation is based on the idea of a "Life (or Childhood) Script": the assumption that we continue to re-play childhood strategies, even when this results in pain or defeat. Thus it claims to offer a theory of psychopathology. 4. In practical application, it can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of many types of psychological disorders and provides a method of therapy for individuals, couples, families and groups. 5. Outside the therapeutic field, it has been used in education to help teachers remain in clear communication at an appropriate level, in counseling and consultancy, in management and communications training and by other bodies. So we can say TA is technique to understand the dynamics of self and its relationship to other. It provides a method and approach of analyzing and under sting interpersonal behaviour. Kinds of transactions There are basically three kinds of transactions: 1. Reciprocal/Complementary (the simplest) 2. Crossed 3. Ulterior - Duplex/Angular (the most complex) Reciprocal or Complementary transactions A simple, reciprocal transaction occurs when both partners are addressing the ego state the other is in. These are also called complementary transactions. Example 1: A: "Have you been able to write the report?" (Adult to Adult) B: "Yes - I'm about to email it to you." (Adult to Adult) Example 2: A: "Would you like to skip this meeting and go watch a film with me instead?" (Child to Child)

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

3 s

B: "I'd love to - I don't want to work anymore, what should we go and see?" (Child to Child) Example 3: A: "You should have your room tidy by now!" (Parent to Child) B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent). Communication like this can continue indefinitely. (Clearly it will stop at some stage - but this psychologically balanced exchange of strokes can continue for some time). Crossed transactions Communication failures are typically caused by a 'crossed transaction' where partners address ego states other than that their partner is in. Consider the above examples jumbled up a bit. Example 1a: A: "Have you been able to write that report?" (Adult to Adult) B: "Will you stop hassling me? I'll do it eventually!" (Child to Parent) This is a crossed transaction likely to produce problems in the workplace. A may respond with a Parent to Child transaction. For instance: A: "If you don't change your attitude, you'll get fired." Example 2a: A: "Is your room tidy yet?" (Parent to Child) B: "I'm just going to do it, actually." (Adult to Adult) This is a more positive crossed transaction. There is however the risk that A will feel aggrieved that B is acting responsibly and not playing their role, and the conversation will develop into: A: "I can never trust you to do things!" (Parent to Child) B: "Why don't you believe anything I say?" (Child to Parent) ... which can continue indefinitely. Ulterior transactions Another class of transaction is the ulterior transactions, where the explicit social conversation occurs in parallel with an implicit psychological transaction. For instance:

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

4 s

A: "I need you to stay late at the office with me." (Adult words), body language indicates sexual intent (flirtatious Child) B: "Of course." (Adult response to Adult statement), winking or grinning (Child accepts the hidden motive). SELF-AWARENESS SELF-AWARENESS INCLUDES A RECOGNITION OF OUR PERSONALITY, OUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES, OUR LIKES AND DISLIKES. A PREREQUISITE FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION RELATIONS,AND MANAGING CONFLICT AS WELL AS FOR DEVELOPING EMPATHY FOR OTHERS. The Johari window is a technique created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955[1] in the United States, used to help people better understand their relationship with self and others. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise. Charles Handy calls this concept the Johari House with four rooms. Room 1 is the part of ourselves that we see and others see. Room 2 is the aspects that others see but we are not aware of. Room 3 is the most mysterious room in that the unconscious or subconscious part of us is seen by neither ourselves nor others. Room 4 is our private space, which we know but keep from others. The concept is clearly related to the ideas propounded in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator program, which in turn derive from theories about the personality first explored by psychologist Carl Jung. An alternative mechanism for determining an individual's Johari Window is to plot the scores from the Personal Effectiveness Scale (PES). The Scale comprises three factors : Self-Disclosure, Openness to Feedback & Perceptiveness. The Self-Disclosure score is to be plotted horizontally, whereas the Openness to Feedback score is to be plotted vertically. The Johari Window formed naturally displays the sizes of the Open, Hidden, Blind Spot & Unknown areas, giving a perspective into the individual's personality.

The individual may also plot another Window, the Dream Johari Window. The sizes of the areas in the Dream Johari Window may be different from the sizes of the same areas in the current Johari Window. The Dream Johari Window represents what an individual wants his/her personality to be like. The individual having a Dream Johari Window identical to the current Johari Window may have a balanced personality. The Perceptiveness score from the PES indicates how likely it is for the individual to achieve the Dream Johari Window. For example, a LOW score on the PES indicates less possibility of transition.

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

5 s

Open: Adjectives that are selected by both the participant and his or her peers are placed into the Open quadrant. This quadrant represents traits of the subjects that both they and their peers are aware of. Hidden: Adjectives selected only by subjects, but not by any of their peers, are placed into the Hidden quadrant, representing information about them their peers are unaware of. It is then up to the subject to disclose this information or not. Blind Spot: Adjectives that are not selected by subjects but only by their peers are placed into the Blind Spot quadrant. These represent information that the subject is not aware of, but others are, and they can decide whether and how to inform the individual about these "blind spots". Unknown: Adjectives that were not selected by either subjects or their peers remain in the Unknown quadrant, representing the participant's behaviors or motives that were not recognized by anyone participating. This may be because they do not apply or because there is collective ignorance of the existence of these traits.

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

6 s

PERSONALITY AND EGO STATES Our basic personality is based on many things. Much of it is unknown - unconscious and, as many psychoanalysts believe, primitive. It is affected by many influences family, culture, religion social life etc. However, self- awareness, and encouragement of its growth, enables us to understand our two worlds and to make sense of their congruence and conflict. This conflict often takes the form of an' inner dialogue'. The task of TA counseling, and all growth in self - awareness, is to allow individuals to get in touch with this inner dialogue, make sense of it and grow towards their full and true potential. EGO STATES Berne called the parts of us that contribute to the inner dialogue - Ego States. This links with the Psychoanalytical and Freudian concept of the ' ego' . But Berne insisted that these states were real - they allow us to contact reality. Initially we will examine three (3) basic states. Other sub-states exist and these will be examined in later notes. These 3states begin, and continue, to develop throughout our life. All states are equally important in developing our true potential. PARENT This is our collection of attitudes, behaviors, feelings and thoughts , which we have taken in ( copied from the past ) , usually unconsciously , from significant parental figures and role models. BORROWED EGO -STATE ADULT This is our collection of attitudes, behaviors, feelings and thoughts , which are directress sponge in the here and now PRESENT EGO-STATE CHILD This is our collection of attitudes, behaviors, feelings and thoughts, which are replayed from our childhood our own past ARCHAIC EGO STATE We will now explore the above through participating in a complementary exercise. This will be followed by a series of presentations ( with notes) and other exercises. Transactions and Strokes

Transactions are the flow of communication, and more specifically the unspoken psychological flow of communication that runs in parallel. Transactions occur simultaneously at both explicit and psychological levels. Example: sweet caring

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

7 s

voice with sarcastic intent. To read the real communication requires both surface and non-verbal reading. Strokes are the recognition, attention or responsiveness that one person gives another. Strokes can be positive (nicknamed "warm fuzzies" or negative ("cold pricklies"). A key idea is that people hunger for recognition, and that lacking positive strokes, will seek whatever kind they can, even if it is recognition of a negative kind. We test out as children what strategies and behaviours seem to get us strokes, of whatever kind we can get.

People often create pressure in (or experience pressure from) others to communicate in a way that matches their style, so that a boss who talks to his staff as a controlling parent will often engender self-abasement or other childlike responses. Those employees who resist may get removed or labeled as "trouble". Transactions can be experienced as positive or negative depending on the nature of the strokes within them. However, a negative transaction is preferred to no transaction at all, because of a fundamental hunger for strokes. The nature of transactions is important to understanding communication. 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. Its possible to identify which ego state we are in and which ego state we are expecting a reply from. 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 persons 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. We can listen to peoples 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. TA therefore can be used to elicit the reactions you want from other people (and this will happen consciously or unconsciously). We can help communication if we need to by trying to shift the other persons ego state by inviting people to move into a different ego state (they may not always move into it though, particularly if someone is habitually in one ego state).

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

8 s

Do this by acknowledging their current ego state (by the appropriate message or response) and then invite them into another ego state by the words (and body language) which you use. 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. TA implies that you can have considerable impact on modifying unsatisfactory behaviour by the way you communicate with others. You use your Adult ego state to think about what behaviour is appropriate. The Adult ego state has the capacity to control the other two ego states. Life positions In TA theory,"Life Position" refers to the general feeling about life (specifically, the unconscious feeling, as opposed to a conscious philosophical position) that colours every dyadic (i.e. person-to-person) transaction. Initially four such Life Positions were proposed: 1. 2. 3. 4. "I'm Not OK, You're OK" (I-U+) "I'm Not OK, You're Not OK" (I-U-) "I'm OK, You're Not OK" (I+U-) "I'm OK, You're OK" (I+U+)

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

9 s

However, lately, an Australian TA analyst has claimed that in order to better represent the Life Position behind disorders that were not, allegedly, as widespread and/or recognized at the time when TA was conceptualized as they are now (such as borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder) the above list requires alteration. Also, two additional Life Positions are proposed:[8] 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. "I'm not-OK, You're OK" (I-U+) "I'm not-OK, You're not-OK" (I-U-) "I'm not-OK, But You're Worse" (I-U--) "I'm not-OK, You're Irrelevant" (I-U?) "I'm a Bit More OK Than You Are" (I++U+) "I'm OK, You're OK" (I+U+) "I'm OK, You're Irrelevant" (I+U?)

The difference between one's own OK-ness and other's OK-ness captured by description "I'm OK, You're not-OK" is proposed to be substituted by description that more accurately captures one's own feeling (not jumping to conclusions based only on one's perceived behavior), therefore stating the difference in a new way: "I'm not-OK, but You're worse" (I-U--), instead. Life (or Childhood) script

Script is a life plan, directed to a reward.[9] Script is decisional and responsive; i.e., decided upon in childhood in response to perceptions of the world and as a means of living with and making sense of the world. It is not just thrust upon a person by external forces. Script is reinforced by parents (or other influential figures and experiences). Script is for the most part outside awareness. Script is how we navigate and what we look for, the rest of reality is redefined (distorted) to match our filters.

Each culture, country and people in the world has a Mythos, that is, a legend explaining its origins, core beliefs and purpose. According to TA, so do individual people. A person begins writing his/her own life story (script) at a young age, as he/she tries to make sense of the world and his place within it. Although it is revised throughout life, the core story is selected and decided upon typically by age 7. As adults it passes out of awareness. A life script might be "to be hurt many times, and suffer and make others feel bad when I die", and could result in a person indeed setting himself up for this, by adopting behaviours in childhood that produce exactly this effect. Though Berne identified several dozen common scripts, there are a practically infinite number of them. Though often largely destructive, scripts could as easily be mostly positive or beneficial.

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

10 s

Games and their analysis Definition of game A game is a series of transactions that is complementary (reciprocal), ulterior, and proceeds towards a predictable outcome. Games are often characterized by a switch in roles of players towards the end. Games are usually played by Parent, Adult and Child ego states, and games usually have a fixed number of players; however, an individual's role can shift, and people can play multiple roles. Berne identified dozens of games, noting that, regardless of when, where or by whom they were played, each game tended towards very similar structures in how many players or roles were involved, the rules of the game, and the game's goals. Each game has a payoff for those playing it, such as the aim of earning sympathy, satisfaction, vindication, or some other emotion that usually reinforces the life script. The antithesis of a game, that is, the way to break it, lies in discovering how to deprive the actors of their payoff. Students of transactional analysis have discovered that people who are accustomed to a game are willing to play it even as a different "actor" from what they originally were. Analysis of a game One important aspect of a game is its number of players. Games may be two handed (that is, played by two players), three handed (that is, played by three players), or many handed. Three other quantitative variables are often useful to consider for games:

Flexibility: The ability of the players to change the currency of the game (that is, the tools they use to play it). In a flexible game, players may shift from words, to money, to parts of the body. Tenacity: The persistence with which people play and stick to their games and their resistance to breaking it. Intensity: Easy games are games played in a relaxed way. Hard games are games played in a tense and aggressive way.

Based on the degree of acceptability and potential harm, games are classified as:

First Degree Games are socially acceptable in the players' social circle. Second Degree Games are games that the players would like to conceal, though they may not cause irreversible damage. Third Degree Games are games that could lead to drastic harm to one or more of the parties concerned.

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

11 s

Games are also studied based on their:

Aim Roles Social and Psychological Paradigms Dynamics Advantages to players (Payoffs)

Contrast with rational (mathematical) games Transactional game analysis is fundamentally different from rational or mathematical game analysis in the following senses:

The players do not always behave rationally in transactional analysis, but behave more like real people. Their motives are often ulterior.

Some commonly found games Here are some of the most commonly found themes of games described in Games People Play by Eric Berne:

YDYB: Why Don't You, Yes But. Historically, the first game discovered. IFWY: If It Weren't For You WAHM: Why does this Always Happen to Me? (setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy) SWYMD: See What You Made Me Do UGMIT: You Got Me Into This LHIT: Look How Hard I've Tried ITHY: I'm Only Trying to Help You (becoming a neglected martyr) LYAHF: Let's You and Him Fight (staging a love triangle) NIGYYSOB / NIGYSOB: Now I've Got You, You Son Of a Bitch (escalating minor disagreements or errors into major interpersonal conflicts) RAPO: A woman falsely cries 'rape' or threatens to; related to Buzz Off Buster, a milder version in which a woman flirts with a man and then rejects his advances

Berne argued that the logic of games is wholly subjective; one person's Parent state might interact with another's Child, rather than as Adult to Adult. Benefits and uses TA Developing positive thinking Interpersonal effectiveness Motivation Organization development

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS

12 s

Limitation of TA Difficult to understand ego states and transactions b/w people in practice May lead to more cuteness Can be used as a put-down in inter-personal relation

Prepared By Mrs Neha Rathi Faculty of KKPIMS