Culture
Transactional Analysis Theory: the Basics
Carol Solomon, Ph.D.
Abstract This article is written to acquaint readers with basic transactional analysis theory and to provide a beginning understanding about how these concepts can be used in real life. I first learned about Transactional Analysis from Dr. Eric Berne when I studied with him in Carmel, CA beginning in 1966. Quickly, I learned the value of this simple language as I began to understand my own life script. I became intrigued with my newfound ability to see how I was interacting with the people around me and how they interacted with me. I’ve been talking the language of TA ever since. For those of you who are not familiar with it, here are the basics.
Parent
P
Adult
A
Child
C
Figure 1 Ego States
Ego States Each of our personalities is made up of various parts: the Parent, the Adult, and the Child ego states. These ego states can be diagrammed as shown in Figure 1. The Parent ego state is a set of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are learned or “borrowed” from our parents or other caretakers. The Parent ego state can be divided into two functions. One part includes the nurturing side and can be soft, loving, and permission giving. This is called the Nurturing Parent ego state. It can also set limits in a healthy way. The other side of the Parentego state is called the Critical Parent. (It is also sometimes called the Prejudiced Parent.) This part of our personality contains the prejudged thoughts,
feelings, and beliefs that we learned from our parents. Some of the messages that we hold in our Parent ego state can be helpful in living while other Parent messages are not. It is useful for us to sort out what information we carry around in our heads so we can keep the part that helps us in our lives and change the part that does not.The Adult ego state is our dataprocessing center. It is the part of our personality that can process data accurately, that sees, hears, thinks, and
Carol Solomon, Ph.D.
Abstract This article is written to acquaint readers with basic transactional analysis theory and to provide a beginning understanding about how these concepts can be used in real life. I first learned about Transactional Analysis from Dr. Eric Berne when I studied with him in Carmel, CA beginning in 1966. Quickly, I learned the value of this simple language as I began to understand my own life script. I became intrigued with my newfound ability to see how I was interacting with the people around me and how they interacted with me. I’ve been talking the language of TA ever since. For those of you who are not familiar with it, here are the basics.
Parent
P
Adult
A
Child
C
Figure 1 Ego States
Ego States Each of our personalities is made up of various parts: the Parent, the Adult, and the Child ego states. These ego states can be diagrammed as shown in Figure 1. The Parent ego state is a set of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are learned or “borrowed” from our parents or other caretakers. The Parent ego state can be divided into two functions. One part includes the nurturing side and can be soft, loving, and permission giving. This is called the Nurturing Parent ego state. It can also set limits in a healthy way. The other side of the Parentego state is called the Critical Parent. (It is also sometimes called the Prejudiced Parent.) This part of our personality contains the prejudged thoughts,
feelings, and beliefs that we learned from our parents. Some of the messages that we hold in our Parent ego state can be helpful in living while other Parent messages are not. It is useful for us to sort out what information we carry around in our heads so we can keep the part that helps us in our lives and change the part that does not.The Adult ego state is our dataprocessing center. It is the part of our personality that can process data accurately, that sees, hears, thinks, and