Transactional analysisA B C D E F G H IJKL M N O P R S T U VXYZWare produced by a playback of recorded data
of events in the past involving real people, real
times, places and decisions and real feelings.
Everyone is seen as carrying these voices inside
them. We interact out of these ‘ego states’.
The Parent is much influenced by the
pronouncements of and examples set by our
own parents and other authority fi gures, early in
our life. It is concerned with our responsibility
towards ourselves and others. It can be critical
and set standards but it can also be protective
and caring. Th e Adult within us is the part of us
that rationally analyses reality.
The Adult collects information and thinks
it through in order to solve problems, reach
conclusions and judgements, and make deci-
sions. Th e Adult develops throughout life and
can arbitrate between the Parent and the Child.
Th e Child is one of our most powerful states; it
contains our feelings and carries our ability to
play and act creatively. It can be spontaneous
and risk-taking. It can also be rebellious or alter-
natively compliant and servile.
A transaction is a two-person interaction in
which an ego state of one person stimulates an
ego state of another. Transactions are analysed
by assessing out of which ‘ego state’ people are
speaking. We can distinguish these states in
ourselves and others by such non-verbal cues
as tone of voice or facial expression, as well as
by the verbal content of the transactions. One of
the chief values of transactional analysis is that it
has the capacity to help clarify communication
problems.
Other concepts commonly employed in TA are
games, life positions and scripts. Eric Berne
in Games People Play (Penguin, 1964) describes
a game as ‘an ongoing series of complementary
ulterior transactions progressing to a well-
defi ned, predictable outcome’. Games are recur-
ring sets of transactions, identifiable by their
hidden motivations and the promise of psycho-
logical payoff s or gains for the game players.
Th e victim of the game is called a mark, and
it is the known weakness of the mark, known
as the gimmick,which allows the game player
to hook his/her victim and achieve his/her
desired payoff. Every game, Berne believes,
whether played consciously or unconsciously, is
essentially dishonest, generally taking the form
of a defensive strategy in communication as far
as the manipulator is concerned. Examples of
such games played in everyday life, identifi ed
by Berne, are ‘If it weren’t for you’ and ‘See what
you made me do’.
▶Th omas A. Harris, I’m OK, You’re OK (Harper &backgrounds. A number of researchers have
identified high-, moderate- and low-contact
cultures. Stella Ting-Toomey in Communica-
tion Across Cultures (Guildford Press, 1999)
provides some examples: high-contact cultures
are to be found in Russia, France and Italy,
whilst moderate-contact cultures are located in
Northern Europe, Australia and the US and low-
contact cultures in Japan and China. Th ose from
high-contact cultures tend to make frequent use
of touch in conversations – behaviour that might
prove disconcerting to those from low-contact
cultures. An example of a cultural difference
in the rules for the display of touch is that in
Latin American countries it is more common
for males to fully embrace one another in public
than it is in Britain. See communication, non-
verbal (nvc); eye contact; gesture; inter-
personal communication; non-verbal
behaviour; repertoire; spatial behaviour.
▶Michael Argyle, Bodily Communication (Methuen,
1988); Desmond Morris People Watching (Vintage,
2002); Allan and Barbara Pease, Th e Defi nitve Book of
Body Langauge (Orion, 2004).
Tracks In fi lm-making, tracks are the portable
‘railway lines’ along which the camera, mounted
on a dolly, moves. Th e term is also used to iden-
tify separate sound reels accompanying a fi lm.
Th ese are harmonized into one at the dubbing
(see dub, dubbing) stage of fi lm production.
Traffi c data Information about a message sent
electronically – by whom, to whom and when
(excluding contents of the message itself ). Refers
to e-mails, websites and telephone calls. Phone
bills include all traffi c data, time, destination and
length of call. In the case of mobiles, the data
includes the base station used.
Transactional analysis Originally an approach
to psychotherapy introduced by Eric Berne,
transactional analysis is now more widely used
as a technique for improving interpersonal
communication and social skills. In essence
it aims to increase the individual’s awareness of
the intent behind both his/her own and others’
communication, and to expose and eliminate, or
deal with, subterfuge and dishonesty.
Th e details of the framework are fairly complex
and readers are referred to the works recom-
mended below for an introduction to this area.
Basically, however, transactional analysis investi-
gates any act of interpersonal communication by
considering what are called the ‘ego states’ of the
communicators.
Th e hypothesis is that we are all able to func-
tion out of three ‘ego states’ that Berne identifi ed
as the Parent, the Adult and the Child. Th e states