Notes on Transactional Analysis

Produced by permission of Angela Rowlands.

Transactional Analysis - Berne's Three Ego States

In addition to the analysis of the interactions between individuals, Transactional

Analysis also involves the identification of the ego states behind each and every
transaction. Berne defined an ego state as

"a consistent pattern of feeling and experience directly related to a corresponding

consistent pattern of behavior."

(Berne E 1961 p13)

As a practicing psychiatrist in Carmel, California in the early 1950s, Berne treated

hundreds of patients. During the course of their treatment, he consistently noted that
his patients, and indeed all people, could and would change over the course of a
conversation. The changes would not necessarily be verbal - the changes could
involve facial expressions, body language, body temperature, and many other non-
verbal cues.

In one counseling session, Berne treated a 35 year old lawyer. During the session,
the lawyer (a male) said "I'm not really a lawyer; I'm just a little boy." But outside the
confines of Dr. Berne's office, this patient was a successful, hard-charging, attorney.
Later, in their sessions, the lawyer would frequently ask Dr. Berne if he was talking
“to the lawyer or the little boy." Berne was intrigued by this, as he was seeing a
single individual display two "states of being." Berne began referring to these two
states as "Adult" and "Child." Later, Berne identified a third state, one that seemed to
represent what the patient had observed in his parents when he was small. Berne
referred to this as "parent." As Berne then turned to his other patients, he began to
observe that these three ego states were present in all of them. As Berne gained
confidence in this theory, he went on to introduce these in a 1957 paper - one year
before he published his seminal paper introducing Transactional Analysis.

Berne ultimately defined the three ego states as: Parent, Adult, and Child. It should
be carefully noted that the descriptions of these ego states do NOT necessarily
correspond to their common definitions as used the English language.

The following are detailed descriptions of the three ego states:

Parent - The parent represents a massive collection of recordings in the brain of

external events experienced or perceived in approximately the first five years of life.
Since the majority of the external events experienced by a child are actions of the
parent, the ego state was appropriately called Parent. Note that events perceived by
the child from individuals that are NOT parents (but who are often in parent-like roles)
are also recorded in the Parent. When Transactional Analysts refer to the Parent
ego state (as opposed to a biological or stepparent), it is capitalized. The same goes
for the other two state (Adult and Child)

CETL 2010, Feedback Opportunities, A Training Resource for Healthcare Professionals 1

Handout: Transactional Analysis
Examples of recordings in the Adult include:

• "Never talk to strangers"

• "Always chew with your mouth closed"
• "Look both ways before you cross the street"

It is worth noting that, while recording these events, the young child has no way to
filter the data; the events are recorded without question and without analysis. One
can consider that these events are imposed on the child.

There are other data experienced by the child that are not recorded in the Parent.
This is recorded in the Adult, which will be described shortly.

Child - In contrast to the Parent, the Child represents the recordings in the brain of
internal events associated with external events the child perceives. Stated another
way, stored in the Child are the emotions or feelings which accompanied external
events. Like the Parent, recordings in the Child occur from childbirth all the way up to
the age of approximately 5 years old.

Examples of recordings in the Child include:

• "When I saw the monster's face, I felt really scared"

• "The clown at the birthday party was really funny!

Adult - The Adult is the last ego state. Close to one year of age, a child begins to
exhibit gross motor activity. The child learns that he or she can control a cup from
which to drink, that he or she can grab a toy. In social settings, the child can play
peek-a-boo.

This is the beginning of the Adult in the small child. Adult data grows out of the child's
ability to see what is different than what he or she observed (Parent) or felt (Child).
In other words, the Adult allows the young person to evaluate and validate Child and
Parental data. Berne (1961) describes the Adult as being "principally concerned with
transforming stimuli into pieces of information, and processing and filing that
information on the basis of previous experience”. One of the key functions of the
Adult is to validate data in the parent. An example is:

"Wow. It really is true that pot handles should always be turned into the stove" said
Sally as she saw her brother burn himself when he grabbed a pot handle sticking out
from the stove.

In this example, Sally's Adult reached the conclusion that data in her Parent was
valid. Her Parent had been taught "always turn pot handles into the stove, otherwise
you could get burned." And with her analysis of her brother's experience, her Adult
concluded that this was indeed correct.

In an attempt to explain Transactional Analysis to a more mainstream audience, Dr.

Thomas Harris developed the following summary. Although this is a very good tool
for beginners to learn, keep in mind that this is a wildly simplified approach, and can

CETL 2010, Feedback Opportunities, A Training Resource for Healthcare Professionals 2

Handout: Transactional Analysis
have the effect of "dumbing down" Transactional Analysis. The summary is as
follows:

“ Parent - taught concept

Child - felt concept
Adult - learned concept”

(Harris T 1967 p12)

Analyzing Transactions

When two people communicate, one person initiates a transaction with the
transactional stimulus. The person at whom the stimulus is directed will respond with
the transactional response. Simple Transactional Analysis involves identifying which
ego state directed the stimulus and which ego state in the other person executed the
response.

According to Dr. Berne (1961), the simplest transactions are between Adults ego
states. For example, a surgeon will survey the patient, and based upon the data
before him/her, his/her Adult decides that the scalpel is the next instrument required.
The surgeon's Adult holds out his/her hand, providing the transactional stimulus to
the nurse. The nurse's Adult looks at the hand, and based upon previous
experiences, concludes that the scalpel is needed. The nurse then places the
scalpel in the surgeon's hand.

But not all transactions proceed in this manner. Some transactions involve ego
states other than the Adult.

This leads us to Parent - Child transactions, which are almost as simple as Adult-
Adult transactions. Quoting Dr. Berne in Games People Play:

"The fevered child asks for a glass of water, and the nurturing mother brings it."

(Berne E 1964 p24)

In this, the Child of small child directs an inquiry to the Parent of his/her
mother. The Parent of the mother acknowledges this stimulus, and
then gives the water to the child. In this example, the small child's
request is the stimuli, and the parent providing the water is the
response.

One of the tools used by a TA practitioner is a structural diagram, as

represented on the left. A structural diagram represents the complete
personality of any individual. It includes the Parent, Adult, and Child
ego states, all separate and distinct from each other.

CETL 2010, Feedback Opportunities, A Training Resource for Healthcare Professionals 3

Handout: Transactional Analysis
Transactional Analysts will then
construct a diagram showing the ego
states involved in a particular
transaction. The transaction to the
right shows a Parent - Child
transaction, with the Child ego state
providing the transactional stimulus,
and the Adult responding with the
transactional response.

This transaction matches the Parent -

Child example listed above, with the
fevered child asking his/her mother for
a glass of water.

So far, the two transactions described can be considered complementary

transactions. In a complementary transaction, the response must go back from the
receiving ego state to the sending ego state. For example, a person may initiate a
transaction directed towards one ego state of the respondent. The respondent's ego
state detects the stimuli, and then that particular ego state (meaning the ego state to
which the stimulus was directed) produces a response. According to Dr. Berne,
these transactions are healthy and represent normal human interactions. As Berne
says in Games People Play

"communication will proceed as long as transactions are complementary."

(Berne 1964 p24)

However, not all transactions between humans

are healthy or normal. In those cases, the
transaction is classified as a crossed
transaction. In a crossed transaction, an ego
state different than the ego state which received
the stimuli is the one that responds. The
diagram to the right shows a typical crossed
transaction. An example is as follows:

Agent's Adult: "Do you know where my cuff

links are?" (note that this stimuli is directed at
the Respondents Adult).

Respondent's Child: "You always blame me for

everything!"

(Berne 1964 p31)

This is one the classic crossed transactions that occurs in marriage. Instead of the
Respondent's Adult responding with "I think they're on the desk", it is the
Respondent's Child that responds back.

CETL 2010, Feedback Opportunities, A Training Resource for Healthcare Professionals 4

Handout: Transactional Analysis
It is important to note that when analyzing transactions, one must look beyond what
is being said. According to Dr. Berne (1961) , one must look at how the words are
being delivered (accents on particular words, changes in tone, volume, etc.) as the
non-verbal signs accompanying those words (body language, facial expressions,
etc.). Transactional Analysts will pay attention to all of these cues when analyzing a
transaction and identifying which ego states are involved.

References
Berne, Eric. Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy. Grove Press, Inc., New York,
1961.

Berne, Eric. Games People Play. Grove Press, Inc., New York, 1964. Page 29

Harris, Thomas A. I'm OK - You're OK. Harper Collins Publishers Inc., New York,
1967. Page 12.

Further Reading

Stewart, Ian and Joines, Vann. TA Today: A New Introduction to Transactional

Analysis. Lifespace Publishing, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 1987.

CETL 2010, Feedback Opportunities, A Training Resource for Healthcare Professionals 5

Handout: Transactional Analysis