Games People Play Essay Example

Games People Play Essay Eric Berne’s â€Å"Games People Play† is one of the best books that profoundly touched and left a mark in me in my quest for answers in the psychotherapy milieu. The book has been quite successful when it was published in 1961and sold more than five million copies.   (Berne, 1964)It is the intention of this paper to discuss the major key points of the book and how it is relevant in the current individual behavior in a society. This paper also covers my personal perspectives regarding the theory of the author.Just what makes this book tick is due to the author’s ability to successfully express his idea about the psychological stages of a person. He developed a theory about human personality and interactions that is simple yet it deeply reaches the core of the person’s emotions, behavior, thoughts, and outlook. This theory is what the author introduced as transactional analysis. A Transactional Analysis is a method of interpreting social interactions. It i s based on the conviction that a human personality can be easily understood in a behavioral and social context i.e. how man exhibits different behaviors and â€Å"transacts† with another human being (Steiner, 1974).Eric Berne developed the idea on ego states which he termed the â€Å"snowman† model or PAC, as shown in Figure 1. The illustration is adopted from the Vanda Attila’s article on Europe’s Journal of Psychology.Figure 1 . The ego state model or the â€Å"snowman† model or PAC model if Dr. Ernie Berne.The author’s main idea is that peoples personalities have three distinct egos or states child, adult and parent. People interact or transact with each other based on these roles they play in certain situation. These ego states are based on the following principles : (i) each individual was once a child; (ii) each person with satisfactory normal brain functions is potentially capable of adequate reality testing;   and (iii) every indi vidual who survives into adult life has had either functioning parents or someone in loco parentis (Berne, 1961, pp. 35-36).Figure 2 is adopted from Dr. Darrel Farren’s book Positive Strength: Personal Psychology to illustrate Berne’s concept. An individual may relate or transact to another individual based on any of these ego-states. Berne believes that if one is fully aware of these stages and is able to express the adult stage and contain the child and parental stages depending on the certain situation, the communication between and among individuals would be a lot better.The child ego represents the characteristic when we were children like for example, dependent, poignant, amiable, naà ¯ve/innocent, playful and so on. The adult ego is our matured, rational and objective part of our personality while the parent represents our parental (or their substitutes) tendencies and attitudes that controls, counsels and dominates.The theory hypothesized that many negative be haviors can be traced to switching or confusion of these ego-states. The book discusses the methods, rituals, and pastimes in social behavior, in view of this transactional analysis. To give a brief example, an office manager or boss who is not satisfied with the output of his workers will use the parent ego-state or parental role and often results into forced obedience, grumpiness, or other child-like reactions from his workers.The author highlighted the different modes of transactions. Two persons having a normal conversation goes through what Berne calls â€Å"complementary transactions† that takes place when two individuals are transacting on the same frequency or similar ego state as shown in figure 3.Conflict may happen if the interaction is of different levels which the author termed as crossed transaction (see figure 4).Transactional Analysis is a theory of communications and interpersonal interaction.   Sometimes the communications between two people have a hidden message, meaning, and agenda.   The result of this hidden message is a game.   The purpose of the game is to get a need met, without asking directly for what we need or want.   People learn how to play these games to get our needs met as children, and they worked then.   Now, as adults, they are the source of problems in our every-day relationships with ourselves and those around us, because things get much more complicated as our age progresses.Transactional Analysis help people to understand, explain and change their behavior and have better relationships with others.   Through these ideas, people begin to get understand ourselves and how we interact, as well as others.The book provides a series of games that show how different people interact or react to certain situations through a foreseeable series of transactions. Berne uses casual phrases in describing the games where the presumed champions of the games are those who returns to the adult ego-state first.The authorà ¢â‚¬â„¢s theory is based on the idea that these so-called games give a means to an end which enable men to interact socially with others and find belongingness which is an essential part of man’s survival. These games are the following: See What You Made Me Do ; Aint It Awful; and Im Only Trying To Help You. (Berne, 1964)However, this is not to say that each one reading this book would resolve all his problems, although the concept can definitely make one more logical, radical and objective for those who are capable of profound understanding.The book basically previews the roles performed by everybody in relating or interacting with each other. This role play is named a game and each game is analysed based on the psychological benefits derived to the individual by playing it. The payoffs decide why people become what they become. As an example, allow me to quote some lines from the book to illustrate some of Berne’s point. . He claims that each one changes from one ego states to another, playing games, attaining and enjoying the payoff which are all acted out unconsciously. One of the games he describes is, â€Å"Why Dont You. . .Yes, But.† The following lines illustrate how it might take place.Hyacinth: My husband never builds anything right.Camellia: Why doesnt he take a course in carpentry?Hyacinth: Yes, but he doesnt have time.Rosita: Why dont you buy him some good tools?Hyacinth: Yes, but he doesnt know how to use them.Holly: Why dont you hire a carpenter?Hyacinth: Yes, but that would cost too much.Iris: Why dont you just accept what he does?Hyacinth: Yes, but the whole thing might fall down.(Berne, 196l, p. 104)The wife projects two roles in the game. She is basically coming out of as a hurt child state and is setting up her friends to be a good parent to her. In this scenario, Hyacinth shifts from one character to another.   This is a bit disappointing for those who want to extend assistance as it cannot connect with the similar f requency or adult ego state.The author’s ideas maybe outmoded but with some exceptions these are still relevant and applicable in today’s pattern of behavior.   Although I find some of Bernes analyses and ideas contrasting my personal viewpoint, I still find this book fascinating that gave me new perspectives on things that I find puzzling.This book is also a must read for parents who wish to properly rear their children with better understanding of character development. This subject is only a theory in psychology, it is an old theory and there are a whole lot of other theories, but the knowledge of this can usher each towards a long way.Bener’s book is something that reaches out deeply into the heart of all relationships. It is useful in shaping human relationship as it is so simple yet provides profound impact. It is somehow designed for one to interact rationally, positively and optimally. The concept helps to address certain perspective and attitude towar ds life, a humanistic principle that promotes an individual’s liberty and psychological wellness.If everyone can attain this level of understanding and developed the ability to transact rationally with others, then certainly the world would become a better place to live in.

A Piece of Mine Essay Example

A Piece of Mine Essay Example A Piece of Mine Paper A Piece of Mine Paper However it takes a real artist, true to the craft, to create a masterpiece that is so raring and defying that calling It a short story would be in Insult to the author and the work. Stories that have a combination of rhythm and emotion can only hold the title being called a parable. And with parables comes life learned lessons that are disturbed by tough love or falling down a few times to understand the saying You want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. All these things are what J. California Copper displays in her 1984 book entitled A Piece of Mine. A Piece of Mine is a collection of stories that describe the wages of sin and the rewards of patience, the occasional sweet taste of revenge In a moral universe In which Justice operates independently of social and economic forces. The story beings in a little town where everybody knows everybody. So when you read you can relate to the sin of the eye can cause you pain with Mary and Mr.. Charlie in $100 and Nothing. Or the bittersweet term of Lovelace that Laid Mae had to come to terms with in Sins leave Scars. Or the true meaning of friend to the end in A Jewel for a Friend. All the stories have some kind of lesson that you can take from It. The style Is deceptively simple and direct. The characters are never so deep that even a rich chuckle at foolish person foolishness cannot be heard. The dialogue that each of the characters brought in each of the stories was one of the reasons that I enjoyed the book. A lot of times you get stories that sometime you have to decipher who the narrator is, whos saying what. In $100 and Nothing the narrator gave you an distinct picture of what to expect through the book. The narrator told you that they live In a town. It wasnt a big town nor was It a little one. It was In the middle. The language and use of words were amazing. In my mind I could Image an old woman sitting on her porch telling stones to people within the town. Young old, rich poor, just sitting and telling stories. With the dialogue you were able to catch every emotion of each of the character. Going from excited to having remorse you were able to pick up on it and keep up. In $100 and Nothing the narrator really caught the meaning of telling a story and relating to what the reader would say If they were right there In that moment. L went home to lunch with Mary once and he got mad cause we woke him up as we was talking botfly and eating. Lord, did he talk about Marry Talked about her skinny legs and under her clothes and her kinky hair Then she tired to buy him something nice and he told her to give it to the Salvation Army cause he didnt want it Anti he something! Somebody trying to be good to you and you anti got sense enough to understand kindness and love. Another thing that I enjoyed was the repetition that the story had. Everyman Charles would say something about or In negatively to Mary, It always retreat to ten title AT ten story. Never someone loud as him about how he felt about helping his wife he would always respond angrily l can take $100 and nothing and have more than this in a year!! One thing about repetition is that the more you keep saying it, itll eventually become like a non- stop record thats on repeat. Once its in your head it can eventually come to life like life inmates art. Eventually Mary came to terms that after all the evil things that Charles called her she made him eat his words. She took his clothes and Just like he said shed gave it to the Salvation Army. She shut down her store that she had started and took all her money out and left Charles a note that she was to read when she would pass. She died of a broken heart and Mr.. Charles thought that he was going to get the rest of her money but he look surprise when he saw that everything that he had said to her he did. He told her once that he would rather sleep with a boulder than her. So she went and found rocks within her yard and laid them in a bed with a note. Everything that he said she did it and left a note reminding him of what he wanted. She wanted to love him and he gave her exactly what she needed to make him happy. Moral of the story: Life and death lies in the tongue. Dont write a check your behind cant cash. One thing that I thought was bizarre was a poem that my teacher wrote and how it corresponded to the Scars for Love. Although within the poem it really didnt go into detail about the girl like the story, it kind of reminded me of the same script different cast theory. Laid Mae, the main character in the story was a pretty girl that was the youngest of nine. She developed at an early age and that aught the attention of a certain gas station. In the poem we knew that the girl was in a catholic school and that she had a scent on her that only a gym teacher could sniff out. The only difference with Laid Mae was that she was damaged brutally by the wife of the owner of the filling station. It left a scar on her face that she felt that had made her deformed her for life. Now the girl in the poem may not have had a physical deformity, but metal and emotionally she was scared. Laid Mae had gone through so much that she eventually became out of tune to what the world really had or her. She wanted to graduate from high school and have something to do with her life. But because of the survivable that life had thrown her thing quite didnt go the way she planned. She would say Life anti sit, you know that? It anti never done a bucking thing for me!! The narrator takes in what Laid Mae says and instead of listening to what a woman scorned has to say she simply end the story with this; Some people watch things happen. Some people make things happen. Some people dont even know nothing happen. Overall after reading the book, I have found a lace to add Ms. Cooper in my top eight on namespace. The way that she pieced every story in the book reminded me so much of a patchwork quilt. Within the African American culture, the quilt was something that the women of the family created and passed down from generation to generation adding something to it to make the story come alive. Thats what J. California Copper did. With every story you were able to identify with the entire layout of the story. The stories that were displayed in the book reminded me of something you would hear at a town bar or pool hall with the coals and each given there own opinion on to what happen or what they would have done if it was them. Copper has caught the true essence of what story telling is. It isnt about making up different scenarios and coming up with one sure plan to make everything okay I a oh taking ten good Witt ten Dad, ten ugly Witt ten Duty, Ana making reality a beautiful nightmare that the reader can sleep pleasantly too. So overall what is that J. California Cooper has in common with Alice, Zorn, and Beets? There all in a category by themselves.

Trade in Endangered Species Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Trade in Endangered Species - Research Paper Example This essay stresses that the ban should be further maintained. Other possible measures which can be taken to reverse this trend include bigger finesand more harsh punishment, stricter regulations and laws, implementation of certain educating programs to inform the consumers about the brutal and uncivilized acts of violencemade for trading purposes towards the endangered species. This paper makes a conclusion that the illegal trade in endangered species is one of the crucial environmental issues of the contemporary world. Despite the numerous bans on such trades, rare animals are still brutally slaughtered in many countries. The number of species which are threatened with a total extinction is increasing at an alarming rate. Although the effectiveness of the bans is highly debatable nowadays, and there are a lot of people who are eager to eliminate them, it is a fallacy to suppose that legalizing trade will prevent animals from extinction. Only joint efforts of the international environmental communities can change this situation for the better. The bans on trade in endangered species should be constantly maintained, as they provide significant contribution to the conservation of the wildlife. Moreover, other necessary measures should be imposed by the international environmental organizations and governments of the countries which provide home to the mention ed animals in order to ensure that the introduced bans on trade are carried out efficiently and endangered species are protected from the threat of being killed by poaches.