TRANSACTION ANALYSIS

It is an integrative approach to the theory of psychology and psychotherapy. It is integrative,

as described, as it has elements of psychoanalytic, humanist and cognitive approaches.

TA is a theory of personality and a systematic psychotherapy for personal growth and

change.
As a theory of personality, TA describes how people are structured psychologically. It
perhaps, uses the best known model, the ego state (Parent- Adult -Child), to model to
do this. The same model helps explain how people function and express their
personality in behavior.
It is a theory of communication that can be extended to the analysis of systems and
organizations
It claims to offer a theory of psychopathology, that is, it offers to study the scientific
discipline of mental phenomena, mental disorder or mental distress or
abnormal / maladaptive behavior.

Further, TA offers to study: Deviance: - idea of thoughts, behavior and emotions are considered deviant or unacceptable
or not common in society.
Distress: - this term accounts for negative feelings experienced by an individual, leading to
illness.
Dysfunction: - this term involves maladaptive behaviour that impairs the individuals ability
to perform normal daily functions such as getting ready for work in morning, driving car,
which prevents person to live a normal/healthy lifestyle. It may be voluntary, such as
engaging in a hunger strike.

TA offers four life positions that a person can hold and holding a particular psychological
position has profound implications for how an individual operationalize his/her life.
The positions are stated as:1.) Im OK, Youre OK: This is the wealthiest position about life and it means that one
feel good about himself and feel good almost other and their competencies.
2.) Im OK, Youre NOT OK : In this position, an individual feels good himself/herself
but perceives others as damaged or less healthy.
3.) Im NOT OK, Youre OK : In this position, the person view himself/ herself as a
weak partner in a relationship and others are definitely superior than the self.

4.) Im NOT OK and you are not OK : This is the worst position, an individual believe that he
is in a terrible state and is the rest of the world. Consequently, there is no hope for any
support.

LIFE POSITIONS (Existential Positions)

In the process of growing up, people make basic assumptions about their own self worth, as
well as about the worth of significant people in their environment. This combination of an
assumption about oneself and another person is a life position. Life positions are permanent
throughout the life and are described in terms of okayness.
TA classifies the interaction between two people on the basis of four assumptions:
1.)
2.)
3.)
4.)

Im OK, Youre OK.

I OK, Youre NOT OK.
Im NOT OK, Youre OK.
Im NOT OK.

1.) Im OK, Youre OK

Most children are born in the positi9on of feeling OK about themselves and OK about others.
If things go well they will be able to maintain that position throughout thewir life. This helps
form the basis for a healthy script.
2.) Im OK, Youre NOT OK
If a child is treated badly/abused, this may result in his/her feeling of helpless, powerless and
anger, and he/she may move into a position believing Im OK, Youre NOT OK. Such an
individual may lived a life on his angry position and continually prove to himself/herself that
others are not OK. This position involves a lack of trust in others and makes it difficult for the
person to form and maintain intimate relationships or friendships.
3.) Iam NOT OK, youre OK
If a child is not well treated in casual and receives messages that decreases his/her sense of
self worth, that child might move into the position of feeling like he/she is not OK, while
others are OK. This position leaves the person with difficulty feeling good about
himself/herself both in the work arena and I performing trusting & lasting relationships.

4.) Im NOT OK, Youre NOT OK

When things usually go wrong during childhood, a person might end up in the existential
position of Im NOT OK, youre NOT OK. This is a life position of despair. The person in

the position has great difficulty seeing the good in anyone and has trouble having any hope
for the future.
TA is the most talked about topic in recent times and is the study of social transactions
between people. It is a technique used to help people better understands their own and others
behavior, especially in interpersonal behaviour communications. Dr Eric Berne is generally
credited with developing the basic concepts and theory of TA.
Primary concepts in TA:a.) EGO STATES: TA seems to be an outgrowth of the Freudian concepts of id,ego and
superego. According to Freud, there are three sources within the human personality
that stimulates (id), monitor (ego) and control (superego) behavior.
Similarly, Berne suggested that all people have three ego states namely: parent, adult and
child and the behavior of the person shows which of these three ego states is operating at a
particular moment.
The parent ego state is a result of messages people receive from their parents, and elder
people, living their early childhood. The parent ego state of a person comprises the
judgemental, rule making and moralising component of personality. It is expressed by
advices, dos and donts.
The adult ego state is an authentic, direct and reality based. It is rational, fact seeking and
problem solving.
The child ego state constructs the emotional, creative, spontaneous, and impulsive component
of personality.
b.) TRANSACTION: It is a basic unit of social interaction. It consists of an exchange of
words and behavior between two people. Therefore, the heart of TA is the study of
transaction between two people. It is the interaction of ego state that both the initiator
and the respondent exhibit in the transaction.
c.) STROKE:- It is a unit of recognition which may be positive or negative. As people
have persuasive need for recognition and approval, e.g. You did a great job, would
you like to join us for lunch?, You did that job wrong.
Strokes are exchanged whenever two persons interact with each other and can be defined as
any act implifying recognition of another presence. It implies all types of recognition such as
physical, verbal, eye contact between persons.
Stroking may be positive/negative or combination of both:You did a great job:- Positive stroke
Why are you here:- Negative stroke

You did that job wrong:- Negative stroke

The supervisor comments to a workers act that you had done an excellent job in spite of
your small amount of experience in the field. This comment of supervisor includes excellent
works (a positive stroke) and lack of experience (a negative stroke).
Therefore, the negative stroke completes a social transaction, person do not always seek
positive stroke and this provides a social equilibrium from their point of view.

The P-A-C MODEL

Parent (exteropsyche):- a state in which people feel behave and think in response to an
unconscious mimicking of how their parents (or parental figures) acted, or how they
interpreted their parents actions.
Adult (neopsyche):- a state of ego which is most like a computer processing information
and is directed towards an objective appraised of reality. Learning to strengthen the Adult is
the goal of TA.
Child (archaeopsyche):- a state in which a people behave, feel and think similarly to how
they how did in childhood.
Parent ego state can be divided into two types:a.) The nurturing parent ego state:- this includes the nurturing side. Can be soft, loving
and permissive.
b.) The critical parent ago state:- this includes part of our personality containing the
prejudiced thoughts, feelings & beliefs that we learn from our parents, ( values:
nurturing, judgemental, supportive, encouraging).
Child ego state can be divided into two types:a.) The free child ego state: - also known as the natural child and is spontaneous.
b.) The rebellious child ego state:- sometimes, faced with parental messages, an
individual becomes rebellious, instead of complying with them. They become selfish,
mean, playful, impulsive and self centred.

Benefits of TA

1.) It provides better understanding of how people relate to each other so that they may
develop improved communication and human relationships.
2.) It improves self understanding inter personal effectiveness, communication skills, etc.
3.) It provides fresh insights into the psychological makeup of the individual concerned.
4.) TA is helpful in the areas s8uch as sales, marketing, employee counselling, etc.
5.) TA enforces and implements management development activities, leadership,
brainstorming, job enrichment and conflict resolution.

Prepare a writeup of 5-6 pages on one of the following topic

1.Female foeticide
2.poverty in india in rural and urban areas
3.prejudice in Indian society
4.Indian educational system

And mail to :

indiwarmishra@gmail.com

Last date of submission is 3rd November,2014.