An individual, both in his career as well as in personal life, takes up different psychological roles. These roles, as per Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis paradigm, are labeled as distinctive ego-states. An individual uses any of the six ego-states in the day-to-day activities, which form the base for interpersonal relationship. A variety of factors, classified as internal and external factors, influence the usage of any ego-state. In the internal factors arena, an individual's Emotional Intelligence is one of the prominent factors that influence the selection of a particular ego-state. The present paper attempts to study the impact of Emotional Intelligence on the ego-gram of individuals by comparing the Emotional Intelligence with six distinct ego-states: nurturing parent, critical parent, adult, natural child, little professor and adaptive child. An attempt has been made to explore the linkage between Emotional Intelligence and the ego-gram.
Interpersonal relationship is a criterion for success not only in work life but also in social
life. Awareness of how it can be developed and implementation of suitable methods to
maintain a good interpersonal relation has become mandatory in today’s competitive
workplace. Eric Berne designed Transactional Analysis as a system that seeks to
understand the interactions of people and through that a methodology was developed to
improve their relationship. He made complex interpersonal transactions understandable
when he recognized that the human personality is made up of three “ego-states”. One
of the personal variables that influence the ego-state of people is their Emotional
Intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand one’s own and other
people’s emotions and reciprocating them in behavior and using to build relationships.
The present study focuses on the impact of Emotional Intelligence on the various
ego-states of people in a workplace.
In 1950, Eric Berne discovered the concept “Transactional Analysis” (TA). He called it
a theory and a method of social psychiatry. According to Berne, every individual has three sets of behavior or ego-states: Parent, Adult and Child. Each ego-state is an entire system
of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from which we interact with one another. The Parent,
Adult and Child ego-states and the interaction between them form the foundation of
Transactional Analysis theory. A person can be found in any one of these ego-states and
that can be found out by studying the way he/she behaves at a specific time period.
The analysis of these states helps us understand how people communicate with each
other and why they behave the way they do. And that leads to better relationships. |
