Reference Blog - Concepts, Terms and Ideas of Transactional Analysis

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Note: Some portions of this blog's contents are inconsistent with TA Literature.
The reason for that : these blogs are Transformation Centric.

Concepts, Terms and Ideas

There are six core concepts in Transactional Analysis. They are:

• Ego State
• Transaction
• Stroke
• Game and Racketering
• Racket
• Script 

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Ego State: An  ego state is the stored memory of an experience with tagged conclusions about oneself, about others and about one's capacities, capabilities and entitlements. These conclusions amount to incontrovertible* beliefs. They impact one's perception concerning one's:

• self image
• self confidence
• value, worth, dignity and esteem as person
• ability to generate multi-views
• ability to act or respond
• capacity to exercise available empowerment
• capacity to generate age appropriate responses
• capacity to take initiative to end situations and solve problems
• capacity to delay gratification of urges, drives and impulses
• capacity to generate options, and
• capacity to make sane, safe and effective conclusions, choices and decisions

This is especially true when a person seeks rescue or expresses helplessness.

Ego states are stored from the moment of our birth. A host of ego states get spontaneously activated in response to internal and external stimuli. They together structure a person's perceptual frame, evaluations, conclusions and responses to internal and external stimuli. 

I went to a marriage party. I was in the midst of mostly unknown people. The organisers were busy in their chores. I was left unattended. I experienced being ignored, isolated, and not cared. This experience lingered through that day and for the following two days. The experience impacted my view of myself, my view of others (the organisers) and of my quality of life entitlements and my ability to assume responsibility to get my needs met. I did not close this experience as one of pleasure. I closed it as an experience of surprise, embarrassment and ill treatment. These constituted the meaning I gave to the experience. It got stored in my memory system. It constituted an ego state. Such stored memories dating back to infancy go to build our perception about ourselves, others and the world at large. These perceptions are structured by thinking and related feeling. These two - thinking and feeling show up as our behaviour in the moment.

Ego States can be both empowering as well as weakening, controlling as well as helping, persecuting and punitive as well as rescuing, adaptive and compliant or free flowing. These are their many descriptive aspects. 

Definition: An Ego State is defined as a consistent pattern of feeling and experience*, directly related to a corresponding pattern of behaviour.

Berne describes ego states in three ways: phenomenologically as a coherent system of feelings related to a given subject; operationally as a set of coherent behaviour patterns; and pragmatically as a system of feelings which motivates a related set of behaviours.

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Transaction:  Transaction is a name for interactions which fulfil these requirements. 

1. It is a a set of give and take - a transactional stimulus plus a transactional response. 
2. It is a vector - it originates in an ego state in the originator and is directed toward an ego state in receiving person 
3. It affords recognition
4. It carries two messages one a social message and the other a psychological message. These two messages may be congruent or incongruent.
5. It carries a stroke
6. It aids communication

When two persons come in contact they sooner or later release a sign to recognise the presence of another. This exchange affording recognition is a  transaction. It comprises a transactional stimulus and a transactional response. Transaction is an unit of social 'intercourse'. People engage in interactions because they benefit from them. Transactions aid communication, recognition and in exchanging strokes. They promote social action*.

Definition: Transactions are defined as units of social intercourse. 

A(S): Hello Rakesh. How are you. All Fine.
R(R): Yes Ashish. I am fine. Off to work. See you later.
[(S) stands for Transactional Stimulus and (R) stands for Transactional Response]

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Stroke: Strokes represent an infant's need for touch. Infants deprived of handling show signs of neural degeneration. The condition is called hospitalism.  Adults exchange strokes by looking, listening, speaking touching and hugging - by engaging in visual, auditory, verbal and kinesthetic exchanges. 

Definition: Stroke is a unit of recognition. It is also a fundamental unit of social action.

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Game: Games are recurring sets of interactions which people engage in unawarely to harvest unpleasant feelings. They serve a hidden agenda - that of furthering script of which they are segments.  The participating parties are unable to return to mutual cordiality for quite a while after the game has concluded. Both parties justify their conclusions about the other. Game outcomes result in :

• blaming the other for the happening;
• gossip;
• or hurt relationships which the parties do not discuss socially;
• or broken relationships;
• or social isolation or separation;
• or financial loss;
• or physical, mental, emotional, psychological injury;
• or in committing criminal acts;
• or death;
• or jail terms;

Definition: Games are sets of ulterior transactions, repetitive in nature, with a switch and a crossup, resulting in a well defined psychological payoff. Formula G defines a game.

Con + Gimmick > Response > Switch > Cross-up > Payoff

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Racketeering: Racketeering is a name for sets of interactions or behaviours that are exploitative and manipulative in nature. They help people to harvest their favourite racket feelings. They resemble games They are different from Game in that they do not have the switch and crossup. The other is that they can be played single handed. Type I racketeers play helpless or bratty and Type II racketeers play helpful or bossy. 

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Racket: The word racket means many things. They show up in a variety of ways. Some of them are:

• Feelings
• Thinking
• Activity
• Speaking or Expressing 
• Behaviours
• Lock-ins in feelings and / or emotions
• Escalations of somatic ailments
• Activation of latent emotional, mental, psychological or characterorlogical symptoms
• Initiators or precursors of Game
• Time spent in being blank, dazed, frozen or in stupor
• Passive Behaviours
• Driver Behaviours
• Fantasising and in autistic thinking
• Psychological Time Engagements

Rackets are characterised by being repetitive, substitutions for their authentic versions, switched on automatically, have a manipulative quality and they get to draw adverse attention of others.

Racket Feelings: They are favoured, inauthentic, substitute feelings and emotions that people use unawarely as ineffective ways to end situations or solve problems. Racket feelings are taught or learnt in childhood. While parents encourage expressing racket feelings, expressing authentic feelings are either discouraged or rejected while the racket versions are encouraged and praised.

Racket Thinking: One variety of racket thinking is dysfunctional thinking. For an exhaustive list -Click Here-. Another variety of racket thinking is distorted thinking by engaging in:

• making distorted or cunning plans 
• generating and justifying hate and resentment
• smarting in pent up pain and isolation 
• lock-in in experiencing victimisation and abuse
• other similar

Racket Activity: An activity that is manipulative and causes discomfort to others is Racket Activity. Examples are:

• aggression explicit or implied
• threat
• aggressiveness
• road rage
• irresponsible behaviours
• actions that pose harm to self, others or society at large
• indulgence in habits, addictions and substance abuse
• binge eating and drinking
• violating social laws
• taking inappropriate risks
• driver behaviour

Racket Speaking and Expressing: Habitually speaking loudly, shouting, speaking in very low voice or inappropriately or use of bad language, curse words and inappropriate signs or gestures constitutes rackets. They are inappropriate, manipulative and cause discomfort to others.

Racket Behaviour: Behaviour is verbal and non verbal. Verbal constituents are words, structures, volume, tone, pitch, stress and rhythm of speech. Non verbal constituents are facial expressions, gesticulations, showing signs by arms, hands, and fingers, postures and pose as also slants of the body. Actions and movements also count as behaviours. Racket behaviours are inappropriate, manipulative and cause discomfort to others.

Racket Lock-ins: Uncontrolled take overs by variations of sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust. Also included are mood swings and temperamentalism. Anxiety attacks, distress, stress, depression, bouts of crying, shouting, abusing at times not aimed at anyone in particular constitute rackets.

Escalation of Somatic Ailments: These are counted as rackets when they make other people around concerned and worried. The worry is  about the possible outcome of such escalation. It is more true if the caretakers are not emotionally and psychologically prepared.

Activation of latent emotional, mental, psychological or characterorlogical symptoms: Emotional outbursts, causing material damage, attempts to set self or things on fire, becoming mentally distraught, onset of character related activities count to be rackets in this category.

Rackets as initiators of Game: Some examples of rackets of this variety are: 

• Hurting oneself or another physically, mentally, emotionally or psychologically; 
• Being forgetful; 
• Doing things inappropriately like cutting, chopping or driving;
• Leaving things half done, being messy or doing things hurriedly;

They constitute con of a game.

Time spent in being blank, dazed, frozen or in stupor: These constitute a racket when they are abnormal, inappropriate, expressive of helplessness and manipulate others to express care, concern or rescue.

Other forms are inadequacy and confusion.

Passive Behaviours: Passive behaviours are doing nothing (by spending energy in not doing) - withdrawal, wooden leg behaviour, postponing and procrastination are examples; over adapting - assuming responsibility uncalled for and rescuing are examples; agitation - finger thumping, to and fro walking, wriggling, playing with things are examples; and incapacitation and violence - incapacitation is manifest by self hurt and violence by hurt directed at another.

Driver Behaviours: The intense varieties of driver behaviours are rackets. Overdoing things to the point of perfection; being over pleasing; being inexpressive and self denying; trying hard but doing nothing to end situations or solve problems; and  hurrying up others when the need arises in oneself

Fantasising and in autistic thinking: These are rackets when they are manifestations of script ridden-ness.

Psychological Time Engagements: Psychological Time Engagements generate stress. Stress causes escalation of somatic ailments. These in turn manipulate others. Doing nothing about Psychological Time Engagements when their outcomes are acute constitute rackets.

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Script: Script is short for life script. Script is a name for the intra-psychic mechanism, which when it becomes operative, structures a person's perception, evaluation, experience and response to reality in service of a psycho-cybernetic life goal. The person then loses executive power to be in charge of his mental faculties and responses.

Definition: Script is a self authored life plan,  written in  childhood, reinforced by parents, justified by subsequent events, and culminating in the script payoff.  

Script is structured by limiting beliefs one acquires unconsciously in childhood. They are taken for real, though they are mythical and imaginary. These are beliefs about oneself, about others and about quality of life entitlements. In the process persons make decisions about how they are going to live their lives and choose a life plan based mostly on fairy tales and similar other childhood  stories which tally closely with their prevailing life situations.

Detailed effects of being script ridden are covered in the topic Ego States at the top of this blog.

This blog comes from Ajit Karve from Pune. I am a qualified TA Practitioner. I specialise in using TA for personal growth, personal development, personal effectiveness and for transformational change. I can be reached on +919822024037. Please feel free to seek clarifications by writing to me on ajitpkarve@gmail.com or taforyouandme@gmail.com. 

A request: Please take time out to write a comment.

Notes:

* Incontrovertible: Not to be questioned, disputed, disputed or reasoned. They are as though etcbed or engraved. 
* Experience: Experience is accompanied by emotion and related meaning.

*Personality: Personality is modelled using three types of ego states. Parent ego states - these are borrowed ego states; Child ego states - these are archaic relics from one's own childhood and Adult ego states - these are adulthood ego states of period beyond 21 years of age. 

*Personality: It is a n organised structure comprised of ego states that get activated in response to a reality situation.

*Social Action: Any action or activity that promotes recognition of another.

**