Eric Berne brought Freudian thinking into everyday use; much as Myers and Briggs did for Carl Jung’s typology. He observed that we can understand our own and other people’s ego-states through our interactions with each other. He liked our interplay to a series of “transactions”, which we can then think about. His seminal book was “The Games People Play”, and it is extremely accessible.
His ideas have some overlap with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), in that he made a “contract” with patients about how they wanted to change and then worked to effect that.
He represented our internal ego-states as Parent, Adult and Child. Since each of us has these states within us we can then analysis our interactions with others in these terms. So that, for instance, a “transaction” between my Child and your Child is very different from that between my Child and your Parent.
These internal states are – for Eric Berne – each a part of our ego. They don’t for instance translate across to Sigmund Freud’s Superego, Ego and I’d.
Transaction Analysis (TA) can be extremely effective; for good or ill. It is used in sales training by some very large companies. For instance an initial Child-Child interaction – “come out to play” – can create an immediate bond, which then is translated into Adult-Adult (typically by asking open questions), from which the needs of a client can be ascertained. However the power of TA can be used to manipulate as well as to break ice or to understand one’s own internal ego-states and from that understanding to effect change.
Berne’s thinking has been taken forward for instance by Thomas Harris in his books “I’m OK, You’re OK” and “Staying OK”, and James Redfield’s “Celestine Prophecy.