Transactional Analysis
Transactional Analysis
The following is an introductory description of Transactional Analysis. It is designed to be understood by the layperson, written with approximately the same level of complexity that Berne used for Games People Play.
Psychoanalysis before Eric Berne
While there were many theories purporting to explain human behavior before Eric Berne, the most frequently cited and known is the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud emerged in the early 20th century with his theories about personality. Freud believed that personality had three components, all of which must work together to produce our complex behaviors. These three components or aspects were the Id, Ego, and the Superego. It was Freud’s belief that these three components needed to be well-balanced to produce reasonable mental health and stability in an individual. According to Freud, the Id functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind, the Ego functions as the rational part of the mind, and the Superego can be thought of as the moral part of the mind, a manifestation of societal or parental values.
But perhaps Freud’s greatest contribution (and the one that influenced Berne) was the fact that the human personality is multi-faceted. Regardless of the classification or name given to a particular area of personality (id, superego, etc.), each individual possesses factions that frequently collide with each other. And it is these collisions and interactions between these personality factions that manifest themselves as an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Thus, under Freud’s theories, an individual’s behavior can be understood by analyzing and understanding his/her three factions. But in a point to be emphasized later in this paper, Dr. Berne believes that Freud’s proposed structures are “concepts… [and not] phenomenological realities”1
Another scientist whose contributions impacted Dr. Berne in his development of Transactional Analysis is Dr. Wilder Penfield, a neurosurgeon
The following is an introductory description of Transactional Analysis. It is designed to be understood by the layperson, written with approximately the same level of complexity that Berne used for Games People Play.
Psychoanalysis before Eric Berne
While there were many theories purporting to explain human behavior before Eric Berne, the most frequently cited and known is the work of Sigmund Freud. Freud emerged in the early 20th century with his theories about personality. Freud believed that personality had three components, all of which must work together to produce our complex behaviors. These three components or aspects were the Id, Ego, and the Superego. It was Freud’s belief that these three components needed to be well-balanced to produce reasonable mental health and stability in an individual. According to Freud, the Id functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind, the Ego functions as the rational part of the mind, and the Superego can be thought of as the moral part of the mind, a manifestation of societal or parental values.
But perhaps Freud’s greatest contribution (and the one that influenced Berne) was the fact that the human personality is multi-faceted. Regardless of the classification or name given to a particular area of personality (id, superego, etc.), each individual possesses factions that frequently collide with each other. And it is these collisions and interactions between these personality factions that manifest themselves as an individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Thus, under Freud’s theories, an individual’s behavior can be understood by analyzing and understanding his/her three factions. But in a point to be emphasized later in this paper, Dr. Berne believes that Freud’s proposed structures are “concepts… [and not] phenomenological realities”1
Another scientist whose contributions impacted Dr. Berne in his development of Transactional Analysis is Dr. Wilder Penfield, a neurosurgeon