ERIC BERNE

⦿ Proposed by the Canadian psychologist Eric

Berne (1910-70) in his 1964 book 'Games
People Play
⦿ Berne's theory was based on the ideas
of Freud but was distinctly different.
⦿ Dr. Berne defined Transactional Analysis
is the method for studying interactions
between individuals
⦿ According to TA, a transaction is a
stimulus plus a response.
⦿ For example, if you say to one of your
student, "You really did a good job on
that project" that is stimulus: and he
says, "Thanks", that is a response. Thus,
transactions take place between people.
⦿ Thetheory outlines how we have developed
and treat ourselves, how we relate and
communicate with others, and offers
suggestions and interventions which will
enable us to change and grow
⦿ Inaddition to the analysis of the interactions
between individuals, Transactional Analysis
also involves the identification of the ego
states behind each and every transaction.
Berne defined an ego state as “a consistent
pattern of feeling and experience directly
related to a corresponding consistent
pattern of behavior.”4
⦿ Structural analysis speak of the
psychological structure of personality which
comprises of a group of ego states namely
⦿ 1. the parent ego state,
⦿ 2.adult ego state and
⦿ 3.child ego state
⦿ The personality of a person is the collection
of behaviour patterns developed over a
period of time.
⦿ these behaviour patterns are evolved in
differing degrees from three ego states
- Parent, Adult and Child.
⦿ a parent (mother or father) has parent,
adult and child ego states; and a child (son
or daughter) also has parent, adult and child
ego states.
⦿ The parent ego state is a result of the "messages"
(conditioning) people receive from their parents,
elder sisters and brothers, school teachers and
others during their childhood
⦿ the majority of the external events experienced by a
child are actions of the parent, the ego state was
appropriately called Parent.
⦿ events perceived by the child from individuals that
are NOT parents (but who are often in parent-like
roles) are also recorded in the Parent.
⦿ Examples of recordings in the Parent include:
⦿ “Never talk to strangers”
⦿ “Always chew with your mouth closed”
⦿ “Look both ways before you cross the street”
⦿ There are two kinds of Parent ego states :
⦿ (i) Nurturing Parent and
⦿ (ii) Critical parent.
⦿ The Nurturing parent is that part of a person
which is understanding and caring about
other people. Behaviour coming from the
nurturing parent may set limits on and
provide direction for people behaviour. It
will not put the people down and make then
feel not OK as individual.
⦿ Critical parent behaviour attacks people's
personalities as well as their behaviour.
⦿ Critical parent makes people feel that they
are not OK.
⦿ When people are in their critical parent ego
state they are very evaluative and
judgmental.
⦿ They are always ready to respond with a
'should' or 'ought' to almost anything people
tell them.
⦿ TheAdult ego state evokes behaviour that
could be described simply as logical,
reasonable, rationale and unemotional.
⦿ Behaviour from the adult ego state is
characterized by problem solving analysis
and rationale decision-making.
⦿.
⦿ People operating from the adult ego state
are taking emotional content of their child
ego state, the value-laden content of
their parent ego state and checking them
out in the reality of the external world.
⦿ These people are examining alternatives,
probabilities and values prior to engaging in
behaviour
⦿ The child ego state is associated with
behaviours that appear when a person is
responding emotionally.
⦿ A person's child contains the 'natural'
impulses and attitudes learned from child
experiences.
⦿ the Child represents the recordings in the
brain of internal events associated with
external events the child perceives.
⦿, recordings in the Child occur from
childbirth all the way up to the age of
approximately 5 years old.
⦿ “There are several forms of the child ego
state. However, two kinds of ego states
viz. happy child and destructive child are
commonly relevant in behaviour
⦿ People behaving from their happy child
are doing things they want to do it but it is
not destructive to others.
⦿ people in their destructive child are also
doing things but their behaviour is either
destructive to others or to themselves, or to
their environment
⦿ The three ego states are usually diagrammed
as shown in figure below:.
⦿
⦿ P PARENT EGO(p)

⦿ ADULT EGO (A)

A

C
⦿ CHILD EGO STATE(C)
A structural diagram represents the
complete personality of any
individual. It includes the Parent,
Adult, and Child ego states, all
separate and distinct from each
other. The diagram was developed
by Eric
⦿ The application of ego state model to
analyze sequence of transaction is called
transactional analysis.
⦿ is attempted to determine correctly is the
ego state in which each individual is at that
moment.
⦿ When two individual confront each other,
the number of ego state involved in
transactional situation will be three plus
three ie,six
⦿ Ego state of one may act as transactional
stimulus and ego state of other person may
be act as transactional response.
⦿ Transaction consist of two or more
component of behaviour known as strokes
eg:-hellow,hi
 RESPONSE
STIMULUS

P P

INTERACTION
A A

C C
⦿ Berne identifies three types of transactions:
⦿ 1. Complementary Transactions
⦿ 2.Crossed transaction
⦿ 3.Ulterior transaction
⦿ Ina complementary transaction, the
response must go back from the receiving
ego state to the sending ego state.
p P

A A

C C
⦿ According to Dr. Berne, these
transactions are healthy and represent
normal human interactions.
⦿ As Berne says in Games People
Play “communication will proceed as long as
transactions are complementary.”9
⦿ Examples of Complementary Transactions
Parent-Parent, Adult-Adult, Child-Child,
Child-Parent, Parent-Child, Child-Adult,
Adult-Child, Adult-Parent, Parent-Adult
⦿ First Rule of Communication We have the
first rule of communication in TA : "When TS
and TR on the P-A-C diagram make parallel
lines, the transaction can go on indefinitely."
p P

A A

C C
⦿ When two people communicate, one person
initiates a transaction with the transactional
stimulus . The person at whom the stimulus
is directed will respond with
the transactional response. Simple
Transactional Analysis involves identifying
which ego state directed the stimulus and
which ego state in the other person executed
the response
⦿ Accordingto Dr. Berne, the simplest
transactions are between Adults ego
states.
⦿ healthyperson has a personality that
maintains a balance among all three –
according to Abewagner, "Nurturing Parent,
Adult and Happy Child". This means that
these people are able to lead the adult ego
state take over and think very rationally and
engage in problem solving
⦿A crossed transaction is one in which the
sender sends a message, a behaviour, on the
basis of his ego state but the response is
from the unexpected ego state of the
respondent.
p P

A A

C C
⦿ Examples of Crossed Transactions Adult-Adult
and Parent-Child; Adult-Adult and Child-
Parent; Parent-Child and Parent-Child; Child-
Parent and Child-Parent
⦿ Herewe have the second rule of
communication in TA: "When TS and TR in
the P-A-C diagram cross each other,
communication stops."
⦿ There is a social and an ulterior level
transaction. The social level is a socially
acceptable stimulus, for example, do you
know what time it is? Ulterior
transactions are by definition out of the
person’s awareness... it is an unconscious
process.
⦿ Inan ulterior transaction, two messages are
conveyed at the same time. One of these is
an overt or social level message. The other is
a covert or psychological level message. •
Most often, the social level content is Adult-
Adult. The psychological level messages are
usually either Parent –Child or Child –Parent.
p P

A A

C C
⦿ Theulterior transaction is shown as a
broken line in the transactional diagram and
the meaning will be made clear to the
receiver by the use of non-verbal language
clues... a wagging finger for example along
with a stern look will usually mean a Parent
> Child ulterior.