TRANSACTIONAL

ANALYSIS
A BRIEF OVERVIEW

EACH OF US IS REALLY
THREE PEOPLE!!!!

THREE MODES OF
BEHAVIOR
Parent
Adult

Child
These are called EGO STATES

They are Felt states of being and not

just roles.

Child Ego State

Natural Child(PRINCE)- Hateful/ loving/
spontaneous/ playful

Intuitive Child(LITTLE PROFESSOR)Thoughtful/ imaginative/ creative

Adapted Child(FROG)- fearful/ guilty/
ashamed

Parent Ego State

A collection of pre-recorded, pre-judged,
prejudiced codes for living.

Decides, without reasoning, how to react

to situations.
Can be over-controlling and oppressive
or life giving, supportive and tender.

 Overly Critical- Critical parent

Loving and nurturing the child- Nurturing
parent

Adult Ego State

Has no emotions able to detach from
feelings.

Logical.

Contamination
When the Adult uses information which
has its source in the Child or in the
Parent and which may be incorrect.
Prejudice.

Voices in the head!!

Parental Tapes being played over in our
minds.

They may be good or bad depending on

which parents tapes we are playing.

 Critical parent is opposed to natural child.

Nurturing parent is supportive to natural
child.

Critical parent activates the Adapted

Child.
It is possible to fight your Critical
Parent(also called Pig Parent).

RELATIONSHIPS
Child to Child
Parent to parent

Child to Adult
Adult to Parent

Adult to Adult

STROKES
The recognition that one person gives to
another

Essential to a person's life

Can vary from actual physical touch to
praise

MOST OF US SUFFER FROM

STROKE HUNGER!!!!!!

 Positive Strokes- I love you, you did a

good job- Warm Fuzzies
Negative Strokes- I hate you- cold
Pricklies.

When positive strokes are not given, we

look for negative strokes rather than be
without strokes at all!!

 We should learn to open our hearts and

ask for strokes.

It makes life easier.

There are five ways people

can structure their time to get
strokes:

RITUALS, PASTIMES,
GAMES, INTIMACY, WORK

RITUAL
A pre-set exchange of recognition
strokes.
"Hi!"
How are you?"
"Fine, thanks."
"Well, see you around. Bye!"
This is a four-stroke ritual.

PASTIME
A pre-set conversation around a certain
subject.

Pastimes are most evident at cocktail

parties and family get-together.

Games
Repetitive, devious series of transactions
intended to get strokes.

Unfortunately, the strokes obtained in

games are mostly negative.
A game is a failed method of getting
strokes.

Intimacy
A direct and powerful exchange of
strokes which people crave but seldom
attain
The Child is frightened away from it by
hurtful experiences.

Work
An activity which has a product as its
result.

Good work results in the exchange of

strokes as a side effect.

TRANSACTIONS
Transactions occur when any person
relates to any other person.
The three types of transactions:
COMPLEMENTARY,CROSSED &
COVERT.
Every transaction is made up of a
stimulus and response.

Complementary Transaction
between Adult and Adult
Parent to Child

Parent to Parent

 Communication can continue between

ego states as long as trans-actions are
parallel.
Whenever a disruption of communication
occurs, a crossed transaction caused it.

Cross Transaction
When three or more ego states are
involved

The transactional response is addressed

to an ego state different from the one
which started the stimulus
They disrupt communication.

Discount Transaction
One very important kind of crossed
transaction
Here one person completely disregards
what the other one is
saying.
Discounts are not always obvious but are
always unpleasant

Covert Transactions
A covert transaction is when people say
one thing and mean another.
Are the basis of games and are
especially interesting because they are
crooked.
They have a social (overt) and a
psychological (covert) level.

WHY DONT YOU, YES BUT

(YDYB,) RAPO, AND THEIR
PAYOFFS.

PAYOFFS OF GAMES
The biological pay-off is strokes
The social pay-off of a game is timestructuring.
The existential pay-off of a game is the
way in which the game confirms the
existential position of each player.

RACKETS & STAMPS

People collect psychological trading
stamps to be traded
in for a divorce, a suicide, a drug binge or
a blow-up.

ROLES & DEGREES

The three basic game roles are
Persecutor, Rescuer, and Victim

Games can be played soft or hard

TURNING PEOPLE INTO

FROGS
People are born princes and princesses
Their parents turn them into frogs.

Parents script their children

IT IS POSSIBLE TO DISCARD
YOUR SCRIPT AND WRITE A
NEW ONE
AUTONOMOUSLY!!!!

SCRIPT CHECKLIST
Life course. What short sentence best
describes the person's life?

Counterscript. This is a period of life

dominated by the Parent. What does the
person do when he seems to be
escaping the life-course?

 Parental Injunction. In what way did the

Child in mother and father interfere with
the person's OK-ness?
The Game. Every script is based on a
major game
The Pastime. How does a person
structure most of their spare time with
others?

The Tragic Ending

Extremist, self-destructive scripts.
Banal scripts.

The Therapist's Role.

A good therapist is aware of roles and
how to avoid them.

GOOD AND BAD GAMES and

SCRIPTS
Even though games are crooked they
can sometimes be useful.

Certain scripts may have socially

redeeming features

THREE Ps; PERMISSION,

PROTECTION,
POTENCY