This week, I will talk about Transactions, that is, the correspondence of the dialogues we have established in our daily lives within the framework of Transactional Analysis. Good read.. Berne defined the transaction as the “basic unit of social relationship”. Transactions are the name given to the contact messages that are mutually transmitted between the ego states of two people. In short, when we receive and give a contact message in our daily life, we make a transaction with the person in front of us. There are two contact messages in a transaction. The first is the stimulating contact message that makes the individual feel; the other is the response to the first contact message, and we call it the response contact message. Transactions consisting of this stimulus and response contact message are classified by Bern in three dimensions as complementary, implicit and latent.
Complementary (Parallel) Transaction: The initiator of the communication from a certain ego state from the interacting persons. It is the type of transaction where the other person sends a message to a certain ego state and receives a reaction from the targeted ego state. Complementary transactions are likely to lead to open, clear and rewarding interactions and relationships. Because people convey what they want to express and can understand what the other individual is saying. This creates an open interaction against potential conflicts. As a matter of fact, according to the first rule of communication: As long as the transactions are complementary, communication can last forever.
Closed (Cross) Transaction: The people in communication target or expect from the other person when sending a message from a certain ego state. It is the type of transaction that the ego state does not receive a response from. This type of transaction is also called cross-transaction. Bern stated that these closed transactions often lead to misunderstandings in marriage, professional and social life. The second rule of communication: With closed transactions, communication may not continue unless at least one of the communicating people changes their ego state and tries to re-communicate.
Secret (Double) Transaction: From two people communicating one or both of them send messages from more than one ego state, but at the same time both explicitly social level and It is a type of transaction in which two different messages that contain the psychological level as an original message take place together. It looks like a complementary transaction, but underneath the message seen there is a hidden meaning that carries the message of another ego state. While exemplary of latent transactions, social messages are indicated by solid lines and psychological messages are indicated by dashed lines. The third rule of communication: It is the message at the psychological level that determines the behavior that will emerge after the latent transaction.
In daily life, understanding which ego state the other person sends you a contact message from and establishing parallel transactions allows you to establish and maintain healthy communication with those around you. Likewise, you can more easily grasp the individuals who persistently interrupt the communication path with cross-transactions. This situation causes you to express yourself more easily and be understood in your life and relationships. I wish you healthy and happy days.
Read: 0
