Analysis of Transactions
Transaction
is a unit of social intercourse involving communication between two people. It
can takes place between any one of the ego-states of one individual and any one
of the ego-states of another individual. It is through transaction between
parents and the child that the foundations of the child’s personality are
formed. A transaction essentially involves a transactional stimulate and a
transactional response. Transactional analysis attempts at determining which
ego state in one person is transacting with which ego state in another and in
what ways. There are three basic kinds of transactions: (a) Complementary transactions,
(b) Crossed transactions, and (c) Ulterior transactions.
1.
Complementary Transaction:
In this type of transaction, the stimulus person and response person are in identical
or complementary ego-states and hence the vectors or transaction arrows are
parallel. There are nine possible types of complementary transactions – PP, PA,
PC, AP, AA, AC, CP, CA and CC. As long as the transactions are complementary,
with parallel arrows, communication may proceed unhindered.
2.
Crosses Transaction: This
type of transaction occurs when communication takes place between different
pairs of ego-states. The transaction arrows cross one another resulting in
breaking of communication.
3.
Ulterior Transaction: It is
a two-level transaction in which beyond the obvious transaction, there is a
hidden transaction between two different ego-states of the persons concerned.
In such communication, a non-verbal message is sent along with the spoken
words. Very often, the verbal stimulus and the non-verbal stimulus are different.
In this, there are two distinct levels of transactions – the social or overt
level transactions and the psychological or covert level transaction. In
ulterior transaction, there is always a covert message under the surface of the
ostensible overt transaction. There are two types of ulterior transactions –angular
and duplex. They are illustrated below. The unbroken line represents the social
level transaction, and the dotted line represents the psychological level.
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