Transactional Analysis or TA, is a user friendly psychodynamic theory. Its relevant to researchers in a number of ways.

•   It helps explain the inner dynamics of decision-making; the rational versus the emotional – you can hear which part of the personality is speaking by the language that is used.
• It deals with group dynamics and what people bring to groups
• It has the idea of Games- which are habitual patterns of behaviour leading to a certain outcome for everyone involved. Recognising these in action helps with the prediction of behaviour.
• Socialisation is an implicit part of the theory so it includes the social realm and to some extent the cultural
• Even in its simplest form it is useful to analyse and diagnose the communication styles between people or people and organisations

Psychodynamics is the idea that within the psyche, there are different parts that interact with each other; sub-personalities, if you like.

Ego States: Eric Berne made complex interpersonal transactions understandable when he recognized that the human personality is made up of three “ego states”; each of which is an entire system of thought, feeling, and behaviour from which we interact with each other.

Each of us has ‘states of being’ which we switch between throughout our waking lives.  These three states of being are our ego states

•     the Parent “Life as taught”
•     the Adult  ”Life as thought”
•     the Child  ”Life as played”

We switch between ego states depending on the circumstances, our mood – and our personality, but most of us experience the three ego states at some time during the day. (People who are stuck in one state are defined by society as problematic in one way or another.)

The Parent ego state concerns our beliefs and values – our moral code, and can be summarised as ‘life as taught’. It’s about the things we have to do (dogma), “that’s the way it’s done”, responsibility, setting examples, demonstrating and explaining.

The Adult ego state is objective, rational, evaluating and appraising. It is all about working out options and using decision-making capabilities. Typically, the Adult collects information and estimates the probabilities of consequences of various alternative courses of behaviour, then chooses the most appropriate one. 

In TA the Child is seen as the source from which the best in human beings comes – the source of creativity, recreation and procreation; the only source of renewal in life.  When a person is in Child, they are consciously or unconsciously replaying behaviours, thoughts, and feelings from their own past. 

The creative part of the child state is known as the Free Child, and this is the state we want people to be in during a brainstorming session, for example. TA says that in order for that to happen it is best to have someone (the facilitator) being in the parent Ego state – setting boundaries and keeping the child safe.

However the Child is also guilty and shamed, and adapts to the needs of parents by developing strategies such as being cute or sulky, being a goody goody or a rebel.  The child is all about desires and feelings, and is inherently self-centred, which is why it is such a struggle to conform to the requirements of the adult world.  The Adapted Child is our strategy for modifying behaviour and often the state we are in when there is an emotional crisis. 
One of the core concepts of TA is that there are Complementary Transactions ( Adult to Adult, Parent to Parent, Child to Child and Parent to Child) and Crossed Transactions. Many communication problems arise with these, and they are often the foundation of the idea that an organisation or brand is being patronising and/or talking in the wrong tone of voice.

 ‘Strokes’: Berne observed that people need strokes, the recognition every person needs to survive and thrive. Strokes are essential to a person’s life.  Strokes can be physical or verbal, positive or negative. As adults we have rules that prevent people from freely stroking each other and taking care of their stroke needs. As a consequence, most human beings live in a state of stroke hunger in which they survive on a deficient diet of strokes – and spend a great deal of time and effort in trying to satisfy their hunger. If you are searching for the motivation, search for the stroking opportunity.

 Games People Play:Berne labelled socially dysfunctional behavioural patterns as games, i.e. the repetitive, non-productive transactions to obtain strokes which reinforce negative feelings and self-concepts, and which mask the direct expression of thoughts, wants and needs.  For example, “Why Don’ You, Yes But” is a game in which one person asks advice from another but rejects every suggestion so that everyone ends up exasperated. Games are frequently played in organisations, in families – and in research groups.

 Life Script: Eric Berne proposed that dysfunctional behaviour is the result of self-limiting decisions made in childhood in the interest of survival. Such decisions culminate in whatBerne called the Life Script, the unconscious life plan derived from early experiences that govern the way life is lived out. Transactional analysts believe that most people are basically OK and in difficulty only because their parents (or other grown ups and influential young people) have exposed them to powerful injunctions and attributions with long-term harmful effects.  In research we can hear these Life Scripts in the language respondents use – especially in the ‘should’s and ‘oughts’ that are expressed in various ways.

You will have noticed that TA has evolved its own language. There is a very useful dictionary of TA,  by Dr Susan Clark, which educates and inspires as well as defining the concepts.  http://www.healingcircle.com/purchase.html

If you are interested in exploring further,  a good book to start with is Games People Play by Eric Berne. There is also I’m OK, You’re OK by Thomas Harris, and TA Today by Ian Stewart and Vann Joines.  At the time of writing Amazon.co.uk are doing all three for little more than £20.

Tweet