Mar 21, 2001 12:18 PM
15992 Views
At the very outset, I would apologise for a rather long, 1200 words write-up, but then such an important work cannot be reviewed briefly.It takes minimum 3 readings to understand the book fully, I am making it easy for you to understand it in the very first reading, I hope I am sucesfull.
What makes people behave the way they do? Can anyone analyse 12 billion brain cells to determine how and why the mind functions the way it does?How is it that people being similar in physiological terms, are yet so different in psychological terms?
Man has a multiple nature,there is a constant conflict…between good & evil, between the urges & restricting forces, between thoughts & feelings, head & heart, soul & body,lower nature & upper nature, inner core & outer shell , why? Is it what is Jeevan ka Mahabharat?
History shows that there is an element of goodness in human nature which manifests in various forms as,..justice,wisdom,love etc. It is also true that there is an evil side of human nature which manifests in form of violence,deceit,crime, and disease. The good is always at war with something, what is that something?
Various such questions have been plaguing the mankind…hundreds of thinkers, analysts, philosophers,behavioral scientists,psychologists, and psychiatrists have been coming out various theories, to answer the questions.
Modern Scientists such as; Freud,Adler, and Jung, did considerable work in this field and came out with their theories which were major scientific breakthroughs in their times and laid the basic foundations on which one could proceed further.
Problems of the world are the problems of the societies,communities, and of individuals who are the constituent members. If individuals can change, the course of world can change!
Why do we do what we do? Can we stop doing what we normally do if we wish to? The book says Yes! The answer is Transactional Analysis..TA, which is a tool to map the
blue print of the mind. Dr.Thomas Harris, a disciple of Dr.Sullivan, working with Dr, Eric Berne, came out with the theory in early 70’s and wrote this book, which was a bestseller.
Dr. Penfield, a neuro-surgeon, conducted a variety of experiments in 1950’s using electrodes to stimulate various parts and spots of the brain. The experiments revealed that;
a) Not only the past events are recorded in detail by human brain, but also the feelings associated with the events. Both are inexorably locked together, one cannot be evoked without the other.
b) Brain is a high fidelity recorder that puts on tape every experience right from birth, even before birth. It is a unique recorder that can not only record images and sounds, but also sights,smells,feelings and emotions too.
c) Experiences can not only be recalled, but also be re-lived.
d) Persons can live in two states at a time. Being in the present,one can re-visit and re-live the past as an observer,guest.
Dr Harris and Berne take over from here. The theory of TA, as I have understood is as follows;
The unit of social intercourse is a transaction which comprises of a stimulus, and a response. Both these can be verbal or non verbal communications which indicate a transaction. If the transactions are analysed, one can analyse the human nature.
Parent(P), Adult (A), and Child(C), are three parts of any person’s personality.
Parent, is the collection of recordings of unquestioned & imposed set of external events accepted as the truth. This is the ''“taught concept ''“of life. P can be parents, teachers.elders,authorities,religious heads or anyone whose benedictions and commands are accepted without question. P is judgemental in an imitative manner seeking to live by and enforce borrowed standards and ideas. The recordings are permanent, these cannot be erased.
Child, is the recordings of internal events in response to the external events. The feelings,emotions,and interpretations/classifications of experiences. This is the “Felt concept” of life. The actions and reactions are abrupt on the basis of prelogical thinking, poorly differentiated & unanalysed perceptions. These recordings too cannot be erased.
P & C recordings cannot be erased, but one can choose to turn them off!
Adult, is the “thought concept”of life. Based on exploration,data collection,processing, and then arriving at a decision or conclusion. “A” draws upon the recordings of P and C to analyse the variables, and then takes a decision based on testing and analysis.
Every person is structurally alike, everyone has 3 parts of P A & C, what makes him or her different is;
The content of the recordings of P and C sections.
The extent of contamination,overlap of 3 sections, i.e, the composition of the personality and the percentage constituent of each section.
The exclusions, the deliberate blocks placed between different sections.
A person having high contamination/content of P in his personality make-up, is likely to be prejudiced, has lot of pre-conceived notions which prevail over “reason”.
A typical P dominated personality is one who is traditional,god-fearing, bound by customs & rituals,work-to-rule, play-by-book kind of person. ( a typical Southy Brahmin?)
A person with high content of C , on the negative side has delusions and hallucinations,unexplained phobia and insecurity/inferiority complexes. On the positive side, he has childlike curiosity, creativity,ability to laugh,play and enjoy, desire to explore,wanderlust, but may also be obstinate,tantrums and whims. ( A typical Bengali?)
A person with high content of A to the extent that P & C are utterly sublimated, is amoral,has no scruples, no feelings of guilt or remorse, self-centred,analytical,cool, ruthless,non-conformist, & utterly flexible in self-interest. ( A typical Punjabi?)
Disclaimer; The pointers are only to exemplify typical behavioral & personality traits. There is no attempt or intent to cast any aspersions on any cast or community.
Once the concept of the composite personality is understood, and the typicalities of each section, then it is easy to anlyse the transactions to determine from which section of the personality is the stimulus coming and to which part of the personality of the rspondent is it aimed at. If the respondent gives correct response ,correctly aimed, then it becomes a parallel transaction, there is no conflict, communications can continue unhindered. If the response comes from a wrong part of the personality, and/or is aimed at a section of personality different from the one that gave the stimulus, the transaction is crossed, there is a conflict, and communications break down. To practically test the hypothesis, one can analyse the comments and counter comments on the reviews on MSI ( hetul!).
The book gives plenty more examples and explainations of various types of transactions, games, etc, which one can read in depth.
The book in review came as a major scientific breakthrough, sans all the jargon, thus enabled a lay-person to peep into one’s psyche and gave new insights into the workings of human mind, and a better understanding of human nature. Since then there have been many a development, but one has to read this book which will enable one to understand further work done in the area.
