TA Pills for You and Me

What is Transactional Analysis Transactional Analysis is a social psychology. Its practitioners use it in many areas and in many ways. It is an empowering tool for achieving personal growth, personal development, personal effectiveness and personal transformation. It helps us to have a robust, effective, influential personality. It helps us to put our life on a success path. TA theory of Personality:  Personality is modeled in Transactional Analysis using psychic entities called ego states as building blocks. There are three broad categories of ego states. The basis of their classification is: > The way they generate perception, evaluation, assessment and response; > The way they manifest as patterns of thinking, feeling, behaviour and attitude; > Their source and historical epoch; The three categories of ego states are Parent (externally sourced), Child (archaic ego states from one’s own childhood) and Adult (contemporary) ego states. Parent ego s...

Understanding Script Abstract:  The  fourth  of the five contributory factors,  namely 'the real turn-on ’,  is explained. Berne mentions five contributory factors that go to generate script  -  (1) Parental directives (2) A suitable personality development  (3) A childhood decision (4) A real turn-on to a particular method of success or failure and (5) A convincing attitude or a credible stance  .   (Berne E. What Do You Say After You Say Hello - Chapter 3)  The first three topics have been covered  in previous   blog s  (click here for link s  :  Parental Directives ,   A Suitable Personality Development  and  Childhood Decision .) The fourth contributory factor - 'A real turn-on' is now explained. The word turn-on is used by Berne in a meaningful way. It tells us how in split second a shift occurs in a given course of thinking, evaluating, assessing, responding, acting, doing, spea...

Understanding Script Abstract:  The third of the five contributory factors,  namely ' childhood decision’,  is explained. Berne mentions five contributory factors go to generate script  -  (1) Parental directives (2) A suitable personality development  (3) A childhood decision (4) A real turn-on to a particular method of success or failure and (5) A convincing attitude or a credible stance  .   (Berne E. What Do You Say After You Say Hello - Chapter 3)  The first two topics have been covered  in previous two blog s  (click here for link s  :  Parental Directives  and A Suitable Personality Development .) The third contributory factor - childhood decision is now explained. Script is a self authored life plan. The execution of this life plan directs life in its most important aspects to actualise the script goal - the script payoff. The pay off is rewarding in winner scripts. It is based on permissions. The pay...

Understanding Script Abstract: The second of the five contributory factors that go to generate script namely 'a suitable personality development) is explained. Berne mentions five contributory factors go to generate script  -  (1) Parental directives (2) A suitable personality development  (3) A childhood decision (4) A real turn-on to a particular method of success or failure and (5) A convincing attitude or a credible stance .   (Berne E. What Do You Say After You Say Hello - Chapter 3) The topic of  Parental directives has been covered in a previous blog (click here for link :  Parental Directives .) The second contributory factor - A suitable personality development is now explained. Script is a life plan that is self-installed. The same person responds differently to a person, thing, situation or problem depending upon the time, place, event, reason, circumstances, conditions prevailing in the moment. The person's mood, temperament and state of...

Understanding Script Abstract:  Script may be a winner or loser script. It is limiting because it denies capacity for autonomy. Script performs the important functions of structuring time and motivating living. Script is psycho-cybernetic because its goal controls epoch, process, method, mode and flow of its progress. Winner scripts are rewarding. Loser scripts lead to failure, loss, hurt relationships, harm to self or to another, dent to self worth and self-esteem.This blog covers the first of five factors that generate script. Berne mentions that five contributory factors go to generate script. They are (1) Parental directives (2) A suitable personality development (affording a suitability for flow of thinking, attaching meaning and reaching conclusions leading to the script decision) (3) A childhood decision (4) A real turn-on to a particular method of success or failure (it shows up as a provocation) and (5) A convincing attitude or a cred...

11. Cybernetics, Homoeostasis and Script Abstract:  Cybernetics as a controlling and regulating mechanism in the context of script is first explained. Then Cybernetics as it concerns communication is presented. This blog ends by first mentioning how script maintains its  homoeostasis  and then by explaining how cybernetics aids maintaining homoeostasis of script. Cybernetics is a study of regulatory systems. Hero a Greek Engineer dating back from the first century CE ( All about Hero ) is credited to be the great grandfather of cybernetics. He built a steam engine which was not put to commercial use. It is James Watt who in 1788 used a centrifugal governor ( James Watt and Centrifugal Governor ) to control the speed of his steam engine. A household example of a cybernetic controller is the valve on top of the steam cooker. Avid enthusiasts are invited to look up cybernetics in Wikipedia at ( Cybernetics - History and Areas of Application ).  We may ...

Cybernetics and Script Infants and children have these basic needs: Warmth, touch, nurture, affection, care, attention and acceptance. Growing children are driven by curiosity, inquisitiveness, activity, learning, knowing and display for attention seeking and appreciation. Teenagers seek association, sharing, cross-sex socialisation, role modelling, growing to adulthood and supported freedom. Adults seek respect, regard, recognition, appreciation, attention, acceptance, authority, freedom and independence.  Dealing with  reality and reality situations (click:  Terms, Concepts and Ideas  for details) is an ongoing engagement for all of us. All of us face surprise when we are ordered, questioned, evaluated, appraised or / and labelled. This is all the more true for children. They feel 'bad' many times a day by being subjected to this process. It generates conditioning. The growing child inadvertently generates 'safe play areas'. The relationship of infants wit...

Cybernetics  and Script Abstract: S cript payoff is one of seven items that constitute the script apparatus and one of three script's controls.  (Berne E. What Do You Say After You Say Hello - Chapter 3) . The course, flow, method, mode, pace, events are determined by the script payoff. The script payoff is therefore the script goal. Script goal is cybernetic. How script goal is decided is best understood by knowing second order cybernetics. The topics of cybernetics is  covered in this blog. Cybernetics:  We used mechanical alarm clocks in times long past. We set the alarm a day earlier. This setting was done by switching and adjusting the alarm time. The alarm would ring at the set time. This explains the concept of cybernetics.  The set time determines the event of alarm. Cybernetics became part of switching and programming with the advent of electronics. It became widely used in designing military hardware. An excellent example is a homing torpedo o...

Understanding Script 1 Abstract: We are happy, contented and at peace with ourselves, others and circumstances of life so long as our survival is assured. We are however subjected to forces of manipulation that originate in us, in others, by outcomes of our interactions with others, and by events and circumstances thrown up in the environment. Life is liveable and does not cause concern or worry as long as our survival is not threatened. Every recall, event, occurrence, interaction does in some way connect to perceived threat to survival. Experience of threat to survival has been in place from the moment of our birth. A programme that helps us to do this is Life Script or simply Script. This blog helps us to understand Script in a non-literary way. Berne says that we human beings are tamed animals  (Berne E. What do you say after you say Hello Chapter 4) . He says that almost all animals from worms upward can be trained psychologically . . . to go through new and spec...