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Eric Berne Transactional

Analysis

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Ego States Berne believed that when we interact with other people, our state of

mind affects what happens

He believed that there were three states of mind in all humans, no

matter how old they were, called ego states

ADULT

CHILD

PARENT

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!haracteristics of Ego States

Each ego statehas particular verbal and

non"verbal characteristics, which can be

observed, if you are watching people

Each ego statehas a positive and

negative aspect

#ead pages $%&"$%' in (Between

)urselves* +ae notes on the bullet

points above

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-oo at the sentences below and match the

ego stateto the sentence

$ .t/s not my fault my dringot spilt on your newcarpet

0 . wonder what might

have caused thataccident

1 2or goodness sae,clean up that mess

3 Shall we clean up the

mess together with awet cloth4

5 . refuse to get involvedin this incident

CHILD

ADULT

PARENT

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Transactions

Berne said that when people are in their different ego

states and they interact with other people, four main

types of transaction6or interaction7 can happen

To mae it easy to analyse what is happening, Berne

developed a little diagram lie this, to represent a person

with their three ego states 8arent,Adult and !hild

P

A

C

.nteracts with 8erson B on right

P

A

C

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Types of Transaction

!omplementaryTransactions

P

A

C

P

A

C

(9ou/re three hours late, .

want an e:planation*

MANAGER EMPLOYEE

(./m really sorry, . slept

through the alarm, it

won/t happen again, .

promise*

This is a

complementary

transaction

because the

employee acceptsthe child ego state

assigned to him by

the manager and

responds in child

ego state

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Try your own complementary transaction

;raw a little diagram lie this on a piece of paper

P

A

C

P

A

C

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!rossed Transaction

P

A

C

P

A

C

MANAGER EMPLOYEE

(9ou/re three

hours late, . want

an e:planation*

()h, didn/t you get

held up by that

crash on the

motorway as

well4*

This is a crossedtransaction because

although the manager,

parentego state,

attempted to address the

employee as a chld, the

employee re!"sesthisego state and responds in

ad"ltego state to the

manager/s ego state

A crossedtransaction is

any transaction where theperson being spoen to

re!"sesthe ego state they

are assigned by the first

speaer

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Try your own crossed transaction=

;raw the diagram aslast time, but start fromeither adult or childego state and invent

an imaginary situationwhere someone doesnot respond as the firstspeaer e:pects

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>lterior Transaction

P

A

C

P

A

C

ATTRACTI#E

$OYATTRACTI#E

GIRL

(;o you come

here often4*(?o, not really,

do you4*%hoar&

yo"'re(or(eo"s

%sh

yo"'d

)"st *ss

me=

This is a >lterior

Transaction because thewhole interaction is woring

on two levels Both people

are pretending to address

Adult ego state and be in

Adult ego state but they are

both in !hild ego state and

want to address !hild ego

state but can/t because of

social norms and manners

Social -evel

8sychological -evel

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Try your own ;uple: Transaction

.magine two parentsdiscussing theirchildren/s e:am resultsor two children playing

families

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Transactional Analysis in Action

Transactional Analysis is a practical method which is used

by psychologists to analyse and help people withbehavioural and relationship problems

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-ife 8ositions

Berne believed that a lot of people get stuc inone ego state more than the other two and thatthis may be due to early childhood e:periencesHis theory was that in childhood we have a lifeposition assigned to us, because of thee:periences we have from birth onwards

He thins there are four possible life positions

./m not )@, 9ou/re )@

./m not )@, 9ou/re not )@

./m )@, 9ou/re not )@

./m )@, 9ou/re )@

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-ife positions 6continued7

Berne believes that everyone is born in the same -ife8osition

./m not )@, 9ou/re )@

The reason you are not )@when you are born is because

you are dependent on others

for all your needs They are

)@, because they have the

ability to satisfy their own

needs and your needs

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The .deal -ife 8osition

Berne says the ideal life position to reach is ./m )@,9ou/re )@, where you are in a position to satisfy yourown needs and are happy that others are able to satisfytheir needs

However, some people don/t progress to this happy

state, they get stuc in either

./m not )@, 9ou/re not )@

./m )@, 9ou/re not )@

He says this happens because of the wrong ind of

e:periences in childhood which result in either very low self

esteem or too high self esteem

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How do life positions affect people/s

communication4

Berne thins that people/s life positions tend to determinethe script/ of their life in other words, if you thin theworld is against you (./m not )@, 9ou/re not )@*, you willtend to mae this a self"fulfilling prophecy 9our script/

will be a negative one, which maes your communicationwith others negative and maes negative things happen9our non"verbal communication may be off"putting aggressive or withdrawn, your words may be the same

.t is a bit lie being an optimistic person or a pessimisticperson Howyou approach life and encounters withother people, affect howthese encounters progress

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!hild Ego State

Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behavioral patterns based onchild"lie emotions, impulses, feelings we have e:perienced

?atural !hild68#.?!E7" Hateful loving spontaneous playful

.ntuitive !hild6-.TT-E 8#)2ESS)#7" Thoughtfulimaginative creative Adapted !hild62#)C7" fearful guilty ashamed !hild"lie e:amplesD

.mpulsive

Self"centeredAngry

2earful

Happy

8leasure seeing#ebellious

Happy

!urious

Eager to please

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8arent Ego State

A collection of pre"recorded, pre"udged,

preudiced codes for living

;ecides, without reasoning, how to react

to situations

!an be over"controlling and oppressive or

life giving, supportive and tender

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Adult Ego State

Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behavioral

patterns based on obective analysis of

information 6data, facts7

+ae decisions based on logic,computations, probabilities, etc 6not

emotion7

Has no emotions able to detach fromfeelings

-ogical

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8arent Ego State

Thoughts, feelings, attitudes, behavioral patterns basedon messages or lessons learned from parents and otherparental/ or authoritarian sources

Shoulds and should notsF oughts and ought notsF always

and never 8reudicial views 6not based on logic or facts7 on things

such asD

religion dress salespeople

traditions wor products

money raising children companies ?urturing views 6sympathetic, caring views7 !ritical views 6fault finding, udgmental, condescending

views7