Transactional Analysis (TA)
In the 1950's Eric Berne began to develop his theories of Transactional Analysis. He said that verbal communication is at the centre of human social relationships and psychoanalysis.
Transactional Analysis is a theory which operates as each of the following:
- a theory of personality
- a model of communication
- a study of repetitive patterns of behaviour
When two people encounter each other, one of them will speak to the other. This he called the Transaction Stimulus. The reaction from the other person he called the Transaction Response.
Transactional Analysis became the method of examining the transaction wherein: 'I say something to you, and you say something back'.
Berne also said that each person is made up of three alter ego states:
Parent
This is our ingrained voice of authority, learning and attitudes from when we were young. We were conditioned by parents, teachers, older people, next door neighbours, aunts and uncles. Our Parent is made up of a huge number of hidden and overt thoughts and behaviours. The Parent could be characterised by the way we nurture, judge or ‘tell off’ and can be typically embodied by phrases and attitudes starting with 'under no circumstances', 'always' and 'never forget', 'don't lie, cheat', etc, etc. Our parent is formed by external events and influences upon us as we grow through early childhood. You, the client, have the capacity to change this.
Adult
Our 'Adult' is our ability to think and determine action for ourselves with logic and reason. Adult can be experienced as ‘thinking’ or ‘feeling’ in the moment at our current age, without influence from our Parent or Child. The adult in us begins to form at an age as young as one year, and is the means by which we keep our Parent and Child under control. If we are to change our Parent or Child, we can facilitate this through our adult.
Child
Our internal reaction and feelings to external events form the 'Child'. This is the seeing, hearing, feeling, and emotional body of data within each of us. When anger or despair dominates reason, the Child is in control. The Child could be characterised by child like behaviours such as being playful, manipulative, having fun or seeking reassurance.
In other words:
- Parent is our 'Taught' concept of life
- Adult is our 'Thought' concept of life
- Child is our 'Felt' concept of life
When we communicate we are doing so from one of our own alter ego states, our Parent, Adult or Child. Our feelings at the time determine which one we use, and at any time something can trigger a shift from one state to another. When we respond, we are also doing this from one of the three states, and it is in the analysis of these stimuli and responses that the essence of Transactional Analysis lies.
Transactional Analysis developed significantly beyond these Berne's early theories, by Berne himself until his death in 1970, and since then by his followers and many current writers and experts. Transactional Analysis has been explored and enhanced in many different ways by different people, including: Ian Stewart and Vann Joines (their book 'TA Today' is widely regarded as a definitive modern interpretation).