The Functional Model — Transactional Analysis 3 (C1)

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS · LESSON 3

The Functional Model

C1 (B2–C2) · 90 minutes

Five replies

Task Choose the reply you would most likely give, and the reply you would least like to receive. Note your two letters.

Your colleague Wei comes back from a call and drops into his chair: "I've missed the deadline again. The client is furious."

A

"Right. What exactly is late, and what can we send them today?"

B

"Again? That's the third time this month. You really need to get organised."

C

"Oh no, you look exhausted. Sit down, I'll make you a coffee."

D

"Forget the client. Let's get out of here and find some dumplings!"

E

"Oh… sorry, was that partly my fault? I can stay late tonight if you want."

READING

From structure to function

Lesson 2 asked what is in each ego state: the rules, memories and feelings each one stores. That is structural analysis. This lesson asks a different question: what do people do with their ego states, here and now, in ways that others can see and hear? That is the functional model.

In the functional model, the Parent and the Child each divide in two, giving five modes: Controlling Parent (also called Critical Parent), Nurturing Parent, Adult, Free Child (also called Natural Child) and Adapted Child.

Some writers add a separate Rebellious Child. Many others treat rebellion as one more kind of adaptation: the rebel is still reacting to someone else's rules, just in the opposite direction.

No mode is good or bad in itself. Each has a positive and a negative side. Controlling Parent can stop a child running into traffic; it can also crush a colleague. Nurturing Parent can comfort; it can also smother, doing for people what they could do for themselves.

READING · CONTINUED

From structure to function

The Adult is the awkward case: most writers give it no negative side, though some warn against an Adult that is all data and no feeling.

Two warnings follow. First, the functional model describes behaviour, not what lies behind it. A teacher who says "Hand it in by Friday" is behaving in Controlling Parent mode. Structurally, she may be replaying her own mother's voice, or she may have reasoned, in her Adult, that deadlines help her students. The same words can come from different places.

Second, an observer is always guessing. Words, tone, posture and facial expression are clues, not proof. Berne himself did not rely on behaviour alone: he also looked at how other people responded, at the person's history, and at what the person reported experiencing.

Five modes: prepare a teach-back

Task Take your mode(s). Prepare a 2-minute teach-back: what the mode does, its positive and negative side, one typical line and one typical gesture or tone. Say your line twice: once positive, once negative.

Pair 1: CP and NP · Pair 2: A and FC · Pair 3: AC (compliant and rebellious). Only two pairs? Pair 2 also takes AC.

Controlling Parent (CP)

Nurturing Parent (NP)

Adult (A)

sets rules and limits, directs, judges right and wrong.

+ Protects and gives structure: clear boundaries, firm instructions in an emergency.

− Criticises, belittles, bosses, puts people down.

looks after, comforts, encourages.

+ Care that leaves the other person stronger.

− Smothers: rescues, over-protects, takes over.

deals with the here and now: collects facts, weighs options, solves problems.

+ Clear, realistic, flexible thinking.

− Most writers name none. Some describe a cold, over-used Adult. Decide whether that counts.

Five modes: prepare a teach-back

Task Take your mode(s). Prepare a 2-minute teach-back: what the mode does, its positive and negative side, one typical line and one typical gesture or tone. Say your line twice: once positive, once negative.

Free Child (FC)

Adapted Child (AC)

follows its own feelings and wants.

+ Spontaneous, playful, curious, creative, affectionate.

− Impulsive, self-centred, careless of other people or of risk.

behaves in ways shaped by other people's expectations.

+ Cooperative and polite: the social rules that let people live together.

− Over-compliant, anxious to please, sulky; or, in its rebellious form, defiant for the sake of it.

Teach-back

Task As each pair teaches, note one example of that mode from your own world (work, family, a film) and one question to challenge them.

CP +

CP

NP

NP +

CP −

NP −

A +

A

A −

FC +

FC

AC

AC +

FC −

AC −

Does the Adult have a negative side, or is "too much Adult" really something else?

Back to the five replies

Task Give each reply to Wei a mode, and say whether it shows the positive or negative side. Then write a sixth reply: rebellious Adapted Child.

A

"Right. What exactly is late, and what can we send them today?"

B

"Again? That's the third time this month. You really need to get organised."

C

"Oh no, you look exhausted. Sit down, I'll make you a coffee."

D

"Forget the client. Let's get out of here and find some dumplings!"

E

"Oh… sorry, was that partly my fault? I can stay late tonight if you want."

F

READING

The egogram

In 1972 the American psychiatrist John M. Dusay published a short paper in the Transactional Analysis Journal, "Egograms and the 'Constancy Hypothesis'". It won the Eric Berne Memorial Scientific Award in 1973, and in 1977 Dusay expanded the idea into a book, Egograms: How I See You and You See Me.

An egogram is a bar chart of the five functional modes. Each bar shows how much psychological energy a person seems to put into that mode: how often, and how strongly, they come across as Controlling Parent, Nurturing Parent,

Adult, Free Child or Adapted Child. What matters is not the absolute height of a bar but its height compared with the others.

Dusay meant the egogram to be drawn by intuition, not calculated. He advised against percentage scales, which lend it a false look of science. Instead, you draw the tallest bar first, then the shortest, then fit the others between them. You can draw your own egogram, and other people can draw one of you. As the book's subtitle suggests, the gap between those pictures is often the interesting part.

READING · CONTINUED

The egogram

Dusay also proposed the constancy hypothesis: a person's total energy stays roughly the same, so when one bar rises, another must fall. His practical advice followed from it. Rather than fighting a bar that is too high, work on raising one that is too low, and the high one should come down by itself.

The idea travelled. In Japan, a questionnaire version, the Tokyo University Egogram (TEG), was first published in 1984 and has been used in many Japanese studies in medicine and education.

Three cautions. First, a hand-drawn

egogram is a self-perception: it shows how you see yourself, not a measurement of what you are. Second, it depends on the setting: the same person may run a tall Controlling Parent at work and a tall Free Child with old friends. Third, the evidence is mixed. Questionnaire versions have shown reasonable consistency in some studies, but critics argue that the intuitive version is highly subjective, because people differ in how well they can recognise ego states at all. And the constancy hypothesis is, as its name says, a hypothesis.

Your egogram, twice

Task Privately, on your PDF, draw two egograms: you at work or study, and you at home. Shade each bar to the height that feels right. Tallest bar first, then shortest, then the rest. Nobody will see them.

At work / study

At home

CP

NP

A

FC

AC

CP

NP

A

FC

AC

The idea, not your chart

Task Don't show or describe your charts. Discuss the idea behind them. Cover at least three questions.

1. If someone's two sketches differ, which one is the "real" person? Or is that the wrong question?

2. Would a friend draw your chart differently? Whose version would be more accurate?

3. Raise the low bar rather than cut the high one: convincing, or too neat?

4. Is a hand-drawn chart useful even if it measures nothing?

5. Does a questionnaire version make the egogram more trustworthy, or just more scientific-looking?

Map it

Task Choose one character. Agree its two dominant modes and sketch its egogram (tallest bar first). Then find one scene where the character acts against its usual modes.

Sherlock Holmes

Don Quixote

Chihiro

Arthur Conan Doyle's detective stories, from 1887; many film and TV versions

Miguel de Cervantes's novel, in two parts, 1605 and 1615

Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited Away, 2001

Solves crimes by close observation and reasoning. Plays the violin late at night. Restless and gloomy between cases, when he has no problem to work on.

An ageing Spanish gentleman reads so many tales of chivalry that he sets out as a knight. He charges at windmills, convinced they are giants, while his squire, Sancho Panza, tells him they are windmills.

A ten-year-old girl moving house protests as her parents go exploring, then is trapped in a spirit world when they are turned into pigs. She takes a job in a bathhouse run by the witch Yubaba, risks herself to save her friend Haku, and wins her family's way home.

Compare the maps

Task Draw your group's egogram on the board and name the scene where your character acted against type.

CP

NP

A

FC

AC

CP

NP

A

FC

AC

CP

NP

A

FC

AC

1. Where do the groups disagree? Is that about the character, or about the readers?

2. Does the character's egogram change across the story?

Is there a healthy egogram?

Task Discuss as many questions as you can. Then agree on one question your group would put to Dusay.

1. Is there a healthy egogram, or only one that suits a situation?

2. Did the schools where you grew up reward Adapted Child more than Free Child?

3. Which mode does a good manager need most where you live?

4. Can a mode look positive in one culture and negative in another?

5. Should personality tools like the egogram ever be used in hiring?

6. Is Free Child a luxury for people with time and money?

Private reflection

Task Choose one prompt and write privately. Nobody will read what you write. Sharing afterwards is optional.

Prompt 1

Think of a mode you rarely use. When might it help you, and what stops you using it?

Prompt 2 (lighter)

Which of today's characters would you most like to spend a day with, and which of your modes would they bring out?

Before Lesson 4

This week, notice one short exchange where the reply came from a different mode than the remark.

P

A

Write down both lines and the two modes you think were speaking. It could be at work, at home, online or in a film.

Next lesson: Transactions. What happens between two people's ego states, and why some conversations flow while others suddenly break down.

C

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

BACK TO THE FIVE REPLIES the usual reading; C and D are arguable

• A. Adult, positive: gathers facts and moves to a solution.

• B. Controlling Parent, negative: criticises and judges ("Again?", "You really need to…").

• C. Nurturing Parent, positive: comfort. Arguably negative if it replaces dealing with the problem.

• D. Free Child: positive as relief and play, negative as avoiding a real problem. Most groups will call it negative here.

• E. Adapted Child (compliant), negative: apologises for something that may not be their fault and offers to fix it to please.

• F. Example rebellious Adapted Child replies: "Not my problem. Nobody told me there was a deadline." / "Good. Maybe now they'll stop emailing us at midnight."

MAP IT possible readings for discussion, not answers

• Sherlock Holmes: tall Adult; Free Child in the violin and the thrill of a case; low Nurturing Parent much of the time.

• Don Quixote: tall Free Child (imagination, adventure) and a tall Controlling Parent in his knightly code; Sancho Panza often supplies the Adult he lacks.

• Chihiro: a strong example of change across the story: compliant and rebellious Adapted Child early on (protesting, frightened); a much taller Adult and Nurturing Parent by the end.