Transactional Analysis Theory
Introduction
Once I was scolded extremely badly by my teacher in front of the whole class. Though, I was aware that my mentor had been suffering from emotional trauma as she recently got divorce from her Middle Eastern husband and that day came from court hearing regarding her two kids’ custody. That day she was not giving the lecture attentively and was clearly not in a good mood. That is why that despite the topic was interesting; the lecture seemed to be very boring but, still everybody was trying to focus and noting down her words speedily as she was speaking too fast and incoherently which made the lecture incomprehensible and inaudible. Thus, in the process, I missed some of the lecture and looked into the notebook of my friend seated just next to me. Unfortunately, she also missed the same thing at which I made a face without any negative intention regarding the lecture but on missing it. This was seen by my teacher who misunderstood it and asked what my problem was. Initially, her angrily tone caught me off guard but after a little pause I politely replied that its nothing and I was just trying to copy down the missed lecture but it seemed as if she had found someone to take out her frustration as she sarcastically remarked with a bitter smile that “I found people mostly from Middle East quite slow, they have a lot of wealth to waste by sending their kids to foreign universities though knowing well that knowledge is something out of their kin”. Startled at her sudden outburst and unable to restrain my anger over her remarks I retorted back and accused her for being a racist and said why you people do not take this into consideration before marrying them. Fortunately, I was about to leave the class but the loud bell already indicated that period is over and I immediately left the class. Most of my class fellows supported me as she started it first without any reason and it was her who behaved so rudely and I just responded on what she had said but at the same time particularly who knew me well were very surprised that my response was something beyond my nature.
My Reflection
But, I was strongly thinking that she does not have any right to take out her tantrum over me particularly when I did not deserve such kind of reaction over such a minor issue. The scolding was really shocking for me as I was not expecting such reaction from this particular teacher as I was always in her good books and a good student. Moreover, the issue was not as such that can make her furious at that level. Above all, the thing that irritated me the most was her sarcastic remarks based on racism. Her racially prejudiced remarks provoked a sudden fist of extreme anger inside me. The whole situation made me upset, shocked and angry on a teacher who once used to be my favorite one. So, the day was a disastrous one for me and I went home. Though, at that time there was nothing but wrath regarding the whole situation but now when I tried to figure out the situation again on rational basis and started to look the whole scenario from the explanatory approach on the basis of Transactional Analysis given by Dr Eric Berne, the outcomes are very different. Now, within the framework of transactional analysis and on the basis of my personal experience, I better understand that how we can communicate effectively and avoid conflicts, thus, ultimately save ourselves from bad experiences and its consequences like anger, frustration and depression etc. For example, in my own case when my teacher treated me harshly particularly with the racial comments on something that might be irritating to her but not something major. When I learnt that she is saying something along the lines which clearly contains the expression of racial discrimination and at which point I lost my control due to unawareness of my ego state and accused her angrily for being racist. At that time, I was quite confident that I have done the right thing by replying her back but presently, I do not think so that was the right approach and that was not something to be proud of. On consideration, I recognized that I responded from my Child ego to her Parent ego. If at that time I was well aware of my ego state or in other words about the ego state my teacher was calling out from me, I would have reacted more properly and genuinely for sure to that situation and can save myself from all the unfavorable consequences. The work of Dr. Eric Berne is associated to the phenomena of healthy transactions and about understanding regarding explanation of behaviors and how these reactions proceed and the effects caused by these communication transactions.
Theory
The theory of transactional Analysis is developed by Dr. Eric Berne in the 1950s and is associated with communication either verbal or non verbal and treats the communication like a transaction occurred between two people. Transactional Analysis therapy, similar to various other psychoanalysis theories is mainly “talk therapy”. People did extensive work on the foundation of the particular structured theory which was initially presented by Dr. Eric Berne and ever since, after his untimely demise in 1970, this theory was further modified and studied by various other researchers of the field (English, 2005). To arrive at a passive disagreement solution, transactional analysis gives four necessary stages such as focusing yourself, involving with the opponent, controlling the aggression hence, none of the individuals get harm, and peaceful closing of the communication. Transactional analysis is capable to be functional in cross-cultural, communal, and organizational surroundings. Similarly, some researchers performed investigational study to make analysis regarding the efficiency of communication ability’s program on transactional analysis ego and the analytical scores of potential educators. Uses of transactional analysis in establishments are presented by a model to comprehend the ‘software’ and ‘hardware’ of a establishment and the ways through which they play their part in the environment and society are elaborately described. And the association among employees at different stages plus, their actions from different transactional analysis point of view has been studied by some researchers.
The central point of transactional analysis lies in facilitating individuals to build up the guts to develop constructive potentials at the individual level but as well as in the shared civilized society.
According to Berne, social relationships and psychoanalysis of human being revolve around their communications verbal communication in particular. Transactional Analysis turned out to be the technique of examining the transaction where something is done by a person and the other person also does something in return. It means the starting-point is when two individuals come across with each other and conversation is started. Berne called this Transaction Stimulus and the person who is initiated the Stimulus is called the Agent whereas the response from the other individual is known as the Transaction Response and the person who is responsible for this response is said to be the Respondent.
People often experience dead end transactions which make both parties with worn out and somewhat depressive feelings. Dr Eric Berne examined thoroughly the ways they occur and the reasons they make individuals irritated and disappointed and through his “transactional units” he tried to elucidate these transactions with the aim to help individuals to correspond more efficiently (Mazzetti, 2004).
Like, for example, sometimes a person says to himself that he is so stupid at doing something inappropriately or at times appreciates himself that he is just superb to have done something excellently. Such type of communication also occurs non-verbally like people can have alarming inner feelings in presence of a person who is in authority, a part of him also like to drool in opposition to that person but also feels another part of him stopping to react. From a transactional analyst point of view the Child ego state was criticized by Parent ego state that called him a “stupid” or appreciated him by calling him “superb”. Subsequently, the Child ego desired to burst out in fury, however, the Adult ego state interfered and urged him to stop and consider the situation. In the process it was the Adult ego state who insisted to look into actuality restraining the Child ego to give response in opposition to any person only due to annoyance at the Parent ego state. The state of child ego corresponds to every stage of childhood a person used to be in throughout the years while he was growing up. At every stage that child gained experiences, considerations and behaved over the years plus that Child still maintained to survive within the person in memories, and notably exist in him as an inner structure of his beliefs, emotions and actions in the “here-and-now”. Similarly, when we became adult that Child still, at times might look for support and adjusted itself in accordance with the expectations of the person and sometimes that Child could also sense anger over the prospect and thus, fights back.
The state of Parent ego in a person progressed while he was growing up and includes development of thoughts processing, manners of how to act and moral standards like levels of tolerance or intolerance. This state of ego of a person is highly influenced by his or her surrounding environment and by the people under whom supervision he spent his time as these elements define a person values when he has grown up. Therefore, a person’s Parent ego state might be helpful to his Child ego or it may be extremely unfavorable and it is merely defined by his inner values and thoughts. Finally, with respect to development, Adult ego learnt to face reality on the basis of rationale logics and make verifications with facts. Idyllically, the Adult could help the person to make transaction with other people logically as a result of which he can communicate and understands the situations well in his life. Hypothetically, a person can act maturely every time by taking his Adult ego state into consideration and making it dominant. In psychoanalysis, it is just a supposition with the goal to reach absolute level of maturity. Though, in reality it is not possible to achieve absolute level of maturity at every time, also, this is something unwanted as in such case this world is likely to become a monotonous place where individuals seem to be like computers. So, what is significant is to find out how to take support from Adult ego particularly in case of crisis and conflicts in order to resolve the issue on genuine bases. Child and Parent also play a vital role as they build the understanding of one’s personality which unites the person with his inherent basis and his prospective in life.
For the purpose of transactional analysis, “I’m OK – You’re OK” is possibly the well known phrase that is to set up and strengthen the point which clearly identifies the significance and value of every single individual. Transactional analysts consider individuals as fundamentally “OK” plus, that is why they are able to transform, development, and effective communications.
The word “strokes” was used by Berne for the explanation of units of care. He further established that this is an ongoing process as throughout our lives, we keep looking towards the both strokes that are actual strokes and symbolic strokes. These strokes are the reasons to make us inter-reliant on each other, for instance, a simple handshake which is an example of actual stroke or just a smile which is an illustration of a symbolic stroke. It could also be just a phone call which causes us to think that how much we are dependent on others’ strokes and it also makes us realize to feel the essence of subsistence. According to Berne, a transaction takes place by bartering strokes in a similar manner as if we are bartering commodities in the market for mutual profit (Mazzetti, 2010).
Communication can be lengthy and complicated or it could also be short with either minimal or no spoken communication in any way. But, Berne said that there are four fundamental forms of transactions which are complementary, duplex, and angular and crossed transaction. In complementary transaction type, ego states balance each other which results in a positive transaction. Duplex is a type of transaction which seems to be easy and uncomplicated but it consists of two stages of interaction, out which one appeared to be ambiguous. The interaction may seem to be between adult to adult at a social stage; however, at a psychological stage it might be between child to child doing an obscure exchange. In angular transaction type, the motivation looks as if it is meant to just one particular ego state, however, in reality it is meant to the other ego state but surreptitiously, for instance, the usage of irony exchanges during a transaction. Subsequently, this type of transaction directs toward a response which is from another ego state and not from the expected one. The last type of transaction is crossed transaction in which the parent play a role as of a controlling parent, but while pointing the stimulus towards the child ego state, may be absolutely rational but an unexpected response from the adult ego state interferes and thus, causes the conflict. Therefore, when ever crossed transactions occur, there would be a greater chance of a negative progress in a conversation which most of the times result out in disagreement, anger or frustration.
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Occasionally, in a relationship, transactions are started by one person behaves like a victim whereas the other person behaves like a rescuer. But, if transactions do not occur with respect to their expectations, and any one of them may become frustrated then their ego state might be switched and all of a sudden they started to act as a persecutor to each other, subsequently making both of them to finish off as victims. In late 1960s, terminologies of victim; rescuer and persecutor were introduced and the alterations of ego states by using the name drama triangle were also elucidated. He described it through the analogy with respect to Greek tragedies. People who got involved in such transaction may come out of this situation by using their Adult state and for more effectiveness they can also get help from the Adult of a therapist who will also able to tell what caused the shifts of ego states during the transactions. However, there is also a possibility that if the therapist does not possess expertise in transactional analysis then he or she might also turned out to be a victim due to their sudden interference in the conflict.
Berne has used the term “rackets” in his transactional analysis theory to refer to alternate emotions or attitudes because he considered that individuals who show fake emotions or behaviors were forcing strokes in the similar manner like when a gangster gives donations to fake charities. Racketeers refer to individuals who display phony feelings and thus, usually subjects to annoyance for others because they themselves unaware about how they replace their true emotions with their false feelings or fake attitudes and look forward for compensatory strokes. As racketeers themselves irrationally developed thoughts that something is wrong with their attitude with others, so most of the time they try to dominant their character over the other person and develop extreme desire for compensatory strokes. But, ultimately they face negative response in the course of crossed transactions, including from people who have supported them earlier. This causes extreme irritation and there is a sudden shift occurs from racketeer’s most dominant ego state to its opposite state like if his habitual ego state is Child then there is a shift towards Parent state. The book “Games People Play” written by Berne was one of the best sellers of the time in which he listed games but later on he made changes in his previous definitions of games and stressed that there must be a shift in ego state either by one or both the individuals prior to ending the crossed transaction occurred between them.
It was also mentioned by Berne that an initial script is created by the child at the age of 3 to 6 years which guide him further for future. Both inherited inclination and the child’s inadequate observations of this world which includes introduction to folk tales, legends, awareness and unawareness regarding the atmosphere and the desires of custodians influenced this script. Mainly, this primary script plays a vital role in shaping the child’s personality and works like a systematized pattern to handle time, liberty, limitations, relations, behavior and thoughts in relation to this world and the future. But, similar to the initial outline of a film script, this initial script created by a child is just an uncertain rough draft and throughout the stages of a person’s life, modifications do occur and this script may turn out to be very dissimilar from the early plan. Plus, it is also greatly influenced by unpredicted situations according to which the individual deals with them in order to maintain the equilibrium of his or her internal inspirations.
Reflection on the Theory
Thus, with the help of transactional analysis theory I figured out well that how significant it is to be familiar with our individual ego states switching from one stage to another. By developing such consciousness with our own ego we are in a better position to decide our interactions because unawareness regarding our ego stages may result out in a badly chosen response from our side which ultimately ended in irritated, depressive and unwholesome transactions.
The name transactional analysis given to this theory is specifically came from the notion of unsatisfactory transactions or better to say “crossed transactions” often experienced by people during a conversation and result in frustration for all the parties involved in the transactions. However, disagreements can be resolved on the basis of analysis of transactions, particularly if the parties involved have a desire to promote any type of association or affiliation with the other party.
Similarly, for example, when Smith saw Susan confused in finding the conference hall, he came to her and offered his help to show her the way. In response, Susan showed her gratitude for his helpful statement. But, the response will be completely different if he asked her the same thing the next week and may be a reason for Susan’s irritation over Smith. The reason is that in both scenarios Smith is working with his Parent. Though, there may be a chance that his Child want to be with Susan but in first case Susan was getting late for her meeting and did not know the way to the conference room so her Child reacted in a grateful manner on getting help in the situation whereas in the other case, she reacted with her Parent state of ego and got upset due to interference. Thus, her response to Smith in second scenario was from her Critical Parent and not from the Child state as expected by Smith. In simple words, if something is desirable to my Child ego state or similarly if my Parent does not consider something significant which might be important for others then there may be a contradiction in my views and theirs, making me feel to be misunderstood which ultimately cause opposite responses from them and my side like expressing anger, as a result of which they may also respond angrily and so on. The thing desirable to understand well enough is to analyze how, why and when the transactions go wrong and what other person and the individual perceive at that point when the communication turned into negative transaction.
Transactions indicate towards the interaction and exchange of ideas take place among people. Transactional analysts are able to identify that from which ego states individuals are dealing with and how the transactional progressions should be followed so the ultimate outcome should be in a form of an improved quality and effectiveness of communication (Martin, 2004).
Thus, every conversation consists of a transactional motivation and a transactional reaction. When we carry on the communication, transactional motivation and a transactional reaction occurs several times between the two persons. Though, it was also identified by Berne that any person regardless of his or her age, does not always respond in just a particular predefined manner; in fact, he assumed that there are three states of ego between which any person can switch directly and repeatedly (English, 2005).
Conclusion
Transactional Analysis is a remarkably helpful means to make people to develop better understandings regarding their dealings with other people because it clearly gives explanations about the causes which lead to negative transactions people encounter at times and which also result in negative responses. Plus, it also provides facilitation in development of strategies which can be practically put into use in vast areas that are parenting, counseling, education, and interpersonal communication and also to understand cross culture. Thus, transactional analysis not only able us to avoid negative transactions but also assists us to make long lasting, more positive and healthy relationships with more mature outlook particularly towards the situations of disagreement . Eventually, it plays an integral part in shaping our behaviors.
Transactional analysis is a very influential means in corporate training as well. A perceptive of transactional analysis facilitates individuals to change their behaviors so as to receive the desirable response from other people. Furthermore, it provides great assistance to people to enhance their leadership traits which are an intense requirement of corporate sector. Well understanding of this theory make it probable for the people to get familiar the ego state of people from which they operate, and this identification may prove helpful for them to acclimatize their leadership mode according to per situation. Identification of the ego state of people who work under you is also probable and to obtain enhanced outcomes from them, a suitable motivation can be provided.
The best thing about transactional analysis is that it is a simply intelligible theory as Dr. Berne himself insisted that this theory should be understandable for even an 8 years old kid. In fact, this is a reason that transactional analysis supposed to be incredibly functional for child psychotherapy and in educational framework. Though, it is noteworthy that at the end it would be concerned feelings joint with firm curative expertise that would lead towards good practice of transactional analysis.
Berne’s three stages of ego contain different meanings in transactional analysis as compared to their common meanings in the usual language. These stages of ego are basically the significant foundations of transactional analysis and are referred to as Parent state, Adult state, and Child state. And the types of transactions are complementary, duplex, and angular and crossed transactions including Games, Strokes, and so on. Parent is a deep-rooted inner voice of authority exists in us and structured when we were immature through captivating habituation, learning from our surroundings and behaviors of others. This state is greatly influenced by our supervisors and caretakers for example, our parents, neighbors, relatives and teachers and various events of childhood also play their part. It consists of a large amount of concealed and clear track record of playbacks. Though, it is not impossible to change it but it is not something easy to do. The feelings developed inside us in response to external actions shapes in us the Child which is greatly associated to perception, listening, emotions, and expressive structure of data inside all individuals. In cases where rage or dejection takes over by logic, the Child remains under control. Similar to our Parent, it can also be modified but very complicated to do so. The capability to feel and decide our action on the basis of perceived data is known as Adult. In conclusion, Parent and the Child are not easy to change but if people desire to change either of them then that change would be brought by the Adult. It refers to that Adult would modify itself through adjustments in accordance to situations and logical information presently available to it. Dr. Eric Berne caused the difficult interpersonal communication to be comprehensible for the common people when he acknowledged that the human behavior is shaped by these three stages of ego. Every state of ego presents a complete mechanism of opinions, frame of mind, and actions that form interactions among people. Therefore, a fundamental knowledge of these ego states and types of transactions is necessary to put the theory of transactional analysis into practice for enhancement of interpersonal skills as it helps to be aware of transactions phenomena in a better way and thus cause improvement in interpersonal skills of individuals that up till today there is no better theory than transactional analysis which has proved effective in various domains if practiced with responsibility.
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References
English, E. (2005). How Did You Become A Transactional Analyst? Transactional Analysis Journal, Volume 35 No. 1.
Mazzetti, M. (2010). Eric Berne and Cultural Script. Transactional Analysis Journal. Vol. 40, No. 3-4.
Martin, P. (2004). Conflict Resolution Using Transactional Analysis And Aikido. Transactional Analysis Journal, Volume 34, No. 3.
