Detecting Discounts

Prepared By Manu Melwin JoyResearch Scholar

School of Management StudiesCUSAT, Kerala, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

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Detecting discounts

• The discounting, not

observable in itself, can be

inferred by the person’s

showing any of the four

passive behavior.

• There are many other ways

of detecting discounts.

Detecting discounts

• Driver behavior always

indicates a discount.

• Remember that when I show a

driver, I am internally replaying

the script belief : “ I am only OK

if I try hard / please others etc.

• The reality is that I am OK

whether or not I follow these

driver messages.

Detecting discounts

• Schiff specify certain thinking

disorders as clues to

discounting.

• One of these is over detailing.

• Asked a simple question , the

person showing this disorder

will reply with a long tirade of

minute details.

Detecting discounts

• Over generalization is the opposite of

over detailing in which the person

expresses ideas only in sweeping,

global terms.

• Ex : “Well, my problem is something

huge. People are after me. Things are

getting me down”.

Verbal Clues• One of the skills of TA is to

identify discounting by listening to the words people use.

• The difficulty in practice is that everyday speech is full of discounts, so much so that we become desensitized to them.

• We need to re learn the skill of listening to what is really being said and testing each statement against reality.

Verbal Clues• When someone says “ I

can’t..”, he will most often be discounting.

• “I will try to…” is usually a discount, since what it implies is usually “ I will try to, but I won’t do it”.

• The same is true will all driver wordings. Be strong discounts are particularly common. Ex: “What you say is boring to me.”

Verbal Clues• Sometimes, a discount is

signaled by leaving out a part of the sentence.

• For instance, a member of the TA group may ask “I want a hug”.

• She doesn’t say from whom she wants hug from.

• She is omitting information relevant to the solution of the problem.

Non verbal Clues• Equally important is the skill

of identifying discounts from non verbal clues.

• Here, the discount is signaled by a mismatch between the words being said and the non verbal signals that go with them.

• This mismatching is called incongruity.

Non verbal Clues• For example, teacher asks his

pupil : “Do you understand the assignment I have set you?”.

• The pupil replies : “Sure”. • But at the same time, he

puckers his brow and scratches his head.

• If teacher is aware about the thinking martian, he will ask more questions to check whether his pupil is discounting.

Gallows• One frequent indication of a

discount is gallows laughing. • Here, the person laughs when

making a statement about something unpleasant.

• Ex: “That was silly of me, ha ha”.

• In gallows, there is incongruity between the laugh and the painful content.

Gallows• When someone gives a gallows

laugh, he is making a non verbal invitation to the listener to reinforce once of his script belief.

• The straight response to gallows is to refuse to join in the laughing.

• You may also say : “That is not funny”, if you are in a situation where it is socially appropriate to do so.

Stroke Filter / Discount

• When someone gets a stroke that doesn’t fit in with her preferred stroke quotient, she is likely to ignore it or belittle it.

• Discounts are an internal mechanism by which people minimize or maximize (grandiosity) an aspect of reality, themselves or others.

• In other words they are not accounting for the reality of themselves or others or the situation.

Activity

• Think about the strokes you gave and received.

• Was it counterfeit, marshmallows, straight?

• Who received it openly, who discounted it?

• Which strokes you received and which one you discounted?

Strokes Vs Discounts

• A discount always entails some distortion of reality unlike a straight negative

stroke.

• NCS – You spelled the word wrong.

• Discount – I see you can’t spell

• NUCS – I hate you.

• Discount – You are hateful.

• Unlike a straight negative stroke, a discount gives me no signal on which I

can base constructive action.

Thank you

Other TA topics available on slideshare1. Strokes - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/strokes-24081607.

2. Games People Play - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/psychological-games-people-play.

3. Structural Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/the-ego-state-model.4. What is TA? - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/what-ta-is5. Cycles of Development -

http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/cycles-of-developement-pamela-levin-transactional-analysis.

6. Stages of Cure - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stages-of-cure.7. Transactions - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/transactions-33677298.8. Time Structuring - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/time-structuring.9. Life Position - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/life-position.10. Autonomy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/autonomy-33690557. 11. Structural Pathology - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/structural-pathology.12. Game Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/game-analysis-33725636.13. Integrated Adult - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/integrated-adult.14. Stroke Economy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stroke-economy-33826702.