By Ian Stewart and Vann Joines
Reviewed by Radu Gheorghe
Psychology Student
University of Bucharest
What is TA?
Transactional analysis is a theory of personality that can be applied in virtually all fields of psychology: educational, counseling, organizational and psychotherapy. Besides the theory on personality, TA also provides us with a theory of communication, a theory of child development, and a theory of psychopathology.
What is the purpose of this book?
The reader will find in this book the basic concepts of TA. By “basic concepts” I mean that all areas of the TA theory will be covered, but more at the level of understanding how the model is linked to reality than at the level of actually applying it. This book may be considered as a reference for the basic TA concepts, as a starting point in learning TA. Therefore, this book will be useful as an introduction – for someone new in TA, but also as a reference – for someone already familiar with these concepts.
The book’s structure
The book is divided in seven parts, from explaining what is transactional analysis and the TA philosophy up to how TA is supposed to look in practice. Let’s take them one by one:
Part I: Introducing TA
This part gives a definition of what TA is, and then a brief introduction of the concepts that will be discussed in the rest of the book:
- the ego-state model (Parent-Adult-Child model)
- transactions, strokes and time structuring
- discounting, redefining and symbiosis
- rackets, stamps and games
- autonomy
Then, it is explained that TA is based on some philosophical assumptions:
- People are OK
- Everyone has the capacity to think
- People decide their own destiny. These decisions can be changed
Based on this, TA is a contractual method, which means that the practitioner and the client take joint responsibility for achieving the decided goals. In TA practice, a contract is established, in which both parts know their task, and the task is shared (if only one of the parts does all the work, then it’s not a good contract). TA practice is also based on open communication, which means that both the practitioner and the client have full information about what is going on in their work.
Part II: Picturing Personality – The Ego-State Model
The ego-state model is one of the most important concepts of TA, as it is illustrated in the book’s cover. It states that in any given moment, we think, feel and behave in a parental way, in a child-like way, or in an adult (or age-appropriate) way. Therefore, one can assume that, in a given moment, was in Parent/Adult/Child. There are two PAC (Parent-Adult-Child) models: the functional model, which explains the external, observable behavior, and the structural model, which explains the dynamics of personality.
In this part, the reader is presented with this theory, with both the functional and structural analysis. The reader will also learn the difference between those two, and how to diagnose ego states in practice. The ego-state pathology is also analyzed, through contaminations and exclusions
Part III: Communicating: Transactions, Strokes and Time Structuring
As the cover illustrates, when two people communicate, they communicate from their ego states. In TA theory, communication is divided to these bits, called transactions so that it can be analyzed. A transaction consists of a stimulus (when I say “Good morning!”) and a response (when you reply “Good morning!”).
Strokes are units of recognition. When we communicate, we recognize one another; we transmit energy through words and non-verbal language. Some transactions provide less of these strokes (like “Hello – Hello”) and some provide more (like “I love you – I love you too”). People need strokes in their lives in the same way as they need food or water. That’s why we structure our time so that we get the amount of strokes that we need, from isolation to intimacy.
In this part, the reader is presented with the definition of transactions and the types of transactions. Also, the reader is introduced to strokes, types of strokes and stroke economy. The reader will also learn how one can offer, accept or reject a stroke, or about self-stroking. The end of this part is about time structuring – the ways people interact to get more or less strokes.
Part IV: Writing our own life story: Life-Scripts
The Life-Script is basically the story of our life. We wrote it mainly in our childhood, under the influence of our parents and other caretakers. Then, we took decisions about how we are, how other people are, and how the world is. In our daily life, the script is mainly outside of our awareness, but we behave and we redefine reality according to what it says there.
In this part the authors describe the origins of script, how the script is lived out, and various theories that explain how it works: life positions, script messages, miniscript, etc.
Part V: Making the world fit our script: Passivity
This part is about what we do – or what we don’t do – to confirm our script. The decisions that we made on how the world works, leading to our script, may not fit to reality. However, through passivity, we reinforce our decisions. Let’s say that in early childhood, Jim decided that the world is tough, and that it’s not OK to express anger. If, while traveling in a bus, someone steps on Jim’s foot, he doesn’t express his anger and doesn’t tell that person to get off his foot. Therefore, his pain increases and this leads to the conclusion that the world is tough (painful).
Part VI: Justifying our script beliefs: Rackets and Games
Games are an important concept in TA theory. In TA, we define games as repetitive patterns of behavior that lead to a negative payoff. This negative payoff is called a “racket”, which reinforces our script. In this part, the authors introduce the reader to games and game analysis, why people play games, as well as to rackets, stamps and the racket system.
Part VII: Changing: TA in Practice
This part has a dedicated chapter to the concept of contracting, which is very important in TA practice. The reader is presented to the aims of change in TA, how TA has developed and to the characteristics of TA in therapy, education and organizations.
The appendices of this book also bring useful information, mainly about important TA books and TA training and accreditation.
Overall view
The content of this book is easy to understand, which fits well in TA philosophy – everyone should understand the terms used. There are lots of examples which, along with the simple language, make the reading experience entertaining. Even though parts 4, 5 and 6 are quite well linked to each other, you still get the overall impression that this book is walking the reader through a list of concepts, rather than following a single line. This approach suits the purpose of this book but some readers won’t find it organized enough. In the end, I believe this book achieves its objectives: to be a comprehensive, easy to understand, introduction to TA.
The significance of this book
Official training in transactional analysis should include an “Official 101” – the introductory course, which delivers the fundamentals of the TA theory. This book covers all the topics that an official 101 should cover, with a lot of details and examples. As more and more interpretations of the TA theory emerge, it’s also very important that this book takes an “official” approach. This is the main reason why this book is quoted in many TA workshops worldwide.
This book was published in 2000 by Lifespace Publishing, Nottingham, England.