Transactional Analysis

Eric Berne 1910-1970 developed a school of his own in the 1960’s.

Transactional analysis carries the conflict back into the patient’s personality structure, where, according to analytic doctrine, it all started in the first place. In doing so, Berne uses –Ego, Id, and Superego- from Freud’s work and replaced them with a new characters engaged in the games people play: Parent, Adult, and Child. They can be readily recognized as reincarnations, first of the introjected parent figure- the “parental introject”; second, of the patient’s mature ego; and third, of  residues of his early childlike identity or “ego state”.

These approaches are supplemented by suitably transcribed versions of Freud’s Oedipus conflict and regression; of Adler’s “fictitious” life styles (as contrasted with more authentic existential modes of existence), and by Skinner’s operate reinforcements, which are reintroduced in terms of what Berne describes as the give and take of “strokes”. Such “strokes, are the fundamental units of social transactions.

His work reflects diagnosing which ego state in the agent – child, parent, or adult- give rise the transaction and which ego state in the respondent controls the response.  On a deeper level Berne aims at uncovering the unconscious scipt or life plan (the Adlerian “life style” – which form the matrix for the ongoing games. Thus script analysis and game analysis are the two guiding principles of his approach.

Who is, at a given moment, engaged in the transaction – Mother? Father”? Child? Adult? whose influence is, in turn superimposed on the Parent in question? The parent’s Father or mother? Alternatively, is there a grownup telescoped into the child’s reaction? (If so, he is colloquially referred to as the “professor”. 

Observation of spontaneous social activity, most productively carried out in certain kinds of psychotherapy groups, reveals that from time to time people show noticeable changes in posture, viewpoint, voice, vocabulary, and other aspects of behavior. The behavior changes are often accompanied by shifts in feeling. In a given individual, a certain set of behavior patterns corresponds to one state of mind, while another set is related to a different psychic attitude, often inconsistent with the first. The changes are d differences give rise to the idea of ego states.

An ego state may be described phenomenologically as a coherent system of feelings, and operationally as a set of coherent behavior patterns, In more practical terms, it is a system of feelings accompanied by a related set of behavior patterns. Each individual seems to have available a limited repertoire of such ego state, which are not roles but psychological realities. This repertoire can be sorted into the following categories: (1) ego states which resemble those of parent figures (2) ego states which are autonomously directed toward objective appraisal of reality and (3) those which represent archaic relics, still-active ego states which were fixated in early childhood.

These are called, respectively, exteropsychic, neopsychic, and archaeopsychic ego states.  Or Parent, Adult, Child.

At any give moment each individual in a social aggregation will exhibit a Parent, Adult, or Child ego state, and that individuals can shift with varying degrees of readiness from one ego state to another. The observations give rise to certain diagnostic states. “That is your Parent” means: “You are now in the same sate of mind as one of your parents and you are responding as he would , with the same posture, gestures, vocabulary, feelings, etc.”  “That is your Adult” means: “you have just made an autonomous objective appraisal of the situation and are stating these thought-processes, or the problems you perceive or the conclusions you have come to, in a non-prejudicial manner.” 
“ That is your Child” means: “ The manner and intent of your reaction is the same as it would have been when you were a very little boy or girl.”

The implications:

1. Every individual has had parents and carries a set of ego states that reproduce the ego states of those parents as he perceived them, and that these parental ego states can be activated under certain circumstances (exteropsychic functioning). “Everyone carries his parents around inside of him.”
2. That every individual (including children, the mentally retarded, and schizophrenics) is capable of objective data processing if the appropriate ego state can be activated (neopsychic). “Everyone has an Adult”.

3. Every individual was once younger that he is now, and that he carries within him fixated relics from earlier years, which will be activated under certain circumstances (archaeopsychic functioning). “ Everyone carries a little boy or girl around inside of him.”

1. The word ‘childish’ is never used. Child like is used, since it is more biological and prejudicial. The Child is in  many ways the most valuable part of the personality, and can contribute to the individual’s life exactly what an actual child can contribute to family lfe: char, pleasure and creativity.

2. “Mature” and ‘immature’ also are not used. The immature person is one whose Child has inappropriately taken over. Mature people are able to keep the Adult in control most of the time.

3. The Parent is exhibited in two forms, direct and indirect: as an active ego state, and as an influence. When it is directly active, the person responds as his own father or mother actually responded (“Do as I do”). When it is an indirect influence, he responds the way they wanted him to respond. (“Don’t do as I do, do as I say”). In the first case he become one of the,; in the second he adapts himself to their requirements.
4. The child is also exhibited in two forms; the adapted Child and the natural Child. The adapted Child is the one who modifies his behavior under the Parental influence. He behaves as father (or mother) wanted him to behave: compliantly or precociously, for exa;e. Or he adapts himself by withdrawing or whining. Thus the Parental influence is a cause, and adapted Child an effect. The Natural Child is a spontaneous expression: rebellion or creativity, for example. A confirmation of structural analysis is seen in the results of alcohol intoxication. Usually this decommissions the Parent first, so that the adapted Child is freed of the Parental influence, and is transformed by release into the nature Child.

The Adult is necessary for survival. It processes data and computes the probabilities, which are essential for dealing effectively with the outside world. It also experiences its own kinds of setbacks and gratifications. Crossing a busy highway, for example requires the processing of a complex series of velocity data; action is suspended until the computations indicate a high degree of probability for reaching the other side safely. The gratifications offered by successful computations of this type afforded some of the joys of skiing, flying, sailing, another mobile sports. Another task of the Adult is to regulate the activities of the Parent and the Child, and so mediate objectively between them.

The Parent has two main functions. First, it enables the individual to act effectively as the parent of actual children, thus promoting the survival of the human race. Its value in this respect is shown by the fact that in raising children, people orphaned in infancy seem to have a harder time than those from home unbroken into adolescence. Secondly, it makes many responses automatic, which conserves a great deal of time and energy. Many things are done because “That’s the way it’s done.” This frees the Adult from the necessity of making innumerable trivial decisions, so that it can devote itself to more important issues, leaving routine matter s to the parent. 

Thus all three aspects of the personality have a high survival and living value, and it is only when one or the other disturbs the healthy balance that analysis and reorganization are indicated. Otherwise each of them, Parent, Adult, and Child is entitled to equal respect and has its legitimate place in a full and productive life.

Transactions:

In a social interaction anything that triggers a response is called: “Transactional Stimulus and Response”. The simplest is from the Adult to Adult.  Next is the Child-Parent. The ill child asks for water and nurturing mother brings it. Both of these types of transactions are called Complimentary; that is the response is appropriate and expected. As long as transactions are complimentary, communication can proceed indefinitely.  It is irrelevant to the rule whether two people are engaging in critical gossip (Parent-Parent), solving a problem (Adult-Adult), or playing together (Child-Child or Parent-Child).

The converse rule is that communication is broken off when a crossed transaction occurs. The most common crossed transaction, and the one which causes and always has cause most of the social difficulties in the world,, whether in marriage, love , friendship, or work.. is the principal concern of psychotherapists and is typified by the classical transference reaction of psychoanalysis. The stimulus is Adult-Adult: e.g., “Maybe we should find out why you’ve been drinking more lately,” or “Do you know where my cufflinks are?’  The appropriate Adult –Adult response in each case would be: “Maybe we should. I’d certainly like to know!’ or “ On the desk”.  If the respondent flares up, however, the responses will be something like, “You’re always criticizing me, just like my father did,” or, “You always blame me for everything.” These are both Child-Parent responses, and as the transactional diagram shows, the vectors cross. In such cases the adult problems about drinking or cufflinks must be suspended until the vectors can be realigned. This may take anywhere form several months in the drinking examples to a few seconds in the case of the cufflinks. Either the agent must become Parental as a complement to the respondent’s suddenly activated Child, or the respondent’s Adult must be reactivated as a complement to the agent’s Adult. If the maid rebels during discussion of dishwashing, the Adult-Adult conversation about dishes is finished; there can only ensue either a Child-Parent discourse, or a discussion of a different Adult subject, namely her continued employment.

Simple complementary transactions most commonly occur in superficial working and social relationships, and these are easily disturbed by simple crossed transactions, in fact a superficial relationship by be defined as one, which is confined to simple complementary transaction. Such relationships occur in activities, rituals and pastimes. More complex are ulterior tractions – those involved the activity of more that two ego dates simultaneously- and this category is the basis for games. Salesmen are particularly adept at angular transactions, those involving three ego states. A crude but dramatic example of a sales game is illustrated in:

Salesman: “This one is better, but you can’t afford it.”
Housewife: “That’s the one I’ll take.”

The sales man, as Adult, states two objective facts: “This one is better” and “You can’t afford it.” At the ostensible, or social, level these are directed to he Adult of the housewife, whose Adult reply would be: “You are correct on both accounts.” However, the ulterior, or psychological, vector is directed by the well-trained and experienced Adult of the salesman to the housewife’s Child. The correctness of his judgment is demonstrated by the Child’s replay, which says in effect: “Regardless of the financial consequences, I’ll show that arrogant fellow I’m as good as any of his customers.” At both levels the transaction is complementary, since her reply is accepted at face value as an Adult purchasing contract.

A duplex ulterior transaction involves four ego states, and is commonly seen in flirtation games.

At the social level this is an Adult conversation about something seemingly innocent, and at the psychological level it is a Child conversation about sex play. On the surface the Adult seems to have the initiative, but as in most games, the outcome is determined by the child and the participants may be in for a surprise.

Transactions can be classified as complementary or crossed, simple or ulterior, and ulterior transactions may be may be subdivided into angular and duplex types.