preview

Examples Of Transactional Analysis

Good Essays

Transactional Analysis is a theory in psychology developed by Dr. Eric Berne. It is a method for studying relationships and interactions between individuals, considering that people have multi-faceted personalities. It also examines how a person interacts towards other people based on the notion that an individual’s personality can change over time. Transaction is the fundamental unit of social intercourse, which is the basic element of this study. According to Berne, if two or more people come across each other, one of them will speak or acknowledge the presence of the others. Another person will then respond in a way related to what the other has said (Berne, 2015). The transactions between people can be affected by ego states. An ego …show more content…

It represents the collection of ideas, beliefs, behaviours and feelings people obtain externally from their parents as they grow up (Mountain & Davidson, 2015). Eventually, people adapt these thoughts and actions. People often do just like what their parents do. This ego state can be regarded as rooted from our past experiences. An example of this is when a parent says to his/her child, “Do not talk to strangers”. In this scenario, the child accepts the things his/her parent says. These things are inculcated to the child’s mind and eventually affect the child’s …show more content…

Primarily, Life Position refers to the general attitude about life a person has that affects every transaction. Life Positions are basic beliefs about one’s self and other people which are used to justify our decisions and behaviours (Mountain Associates, 2013). There are four Life Positions namely, Friendly Weakness, Hostile Weakness, Friendly Strength and Hostile Strength. The first type of life position is the Friendly Weakness or “I’m not OK, you’re OK”. This type of life position is characterized by feeling helpless as compared to other people. A person in this life position feels depressed and inferior to other people (Newton, 2015). He/she may accept criticisms and negative strokes from others readily. Another type of life position is called the Hostile Weakness or “I’m not OK, you’re not OK”. An individual exhibiting this life position feels desperate, useless, and frustrated. He/she may lose interest and hope in life. This attribute is often showed by people who are overly depressed and unable to cope with the real world (Newton,

Get Access