Abstract
The purpose of this research project was to explore the relationship between ego states of Transactional Analysis (TA) and Neuroticism of the Big Five Factor model of personality among Indian adults. A sample of 192 Indian adults (37% male, 63% female) were administered the Ego State Questionnaire-Revised (ESQ-R) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to discover the relationships between ego states and Neuroticism. The results showed that there was a positive correlation between Neuroticism and the ego states of Critical Parent (CP) and Adapted Child (AC). There was a negative correlation between Neuroticism and the ego states of Nurturing Parent (NP), Adult (A) and Free Child (FC). (All correlations are significant at 0.05 level using a two-tailed test.) The degree of positive correlations of the CP and AC ego states with Neuroticism, were stronger than the degree of the negative correlations of their corresponding ego states i.e. NP and FC ego states. Among negatively correlated ego states, NP was most weakly correlated with Neuroticism for women but for men it was stronger. Similarly, FC was most weakly correlated with Neuroticism for men, but for women the relationship was stronger. Except for FC, all other ego states showed increased degrees of correlation with Neuroticism from the age group of 25-40 years to that of 41-56 years. Though there are limitations to this research, the findings are in line with TA theory and may have implications for how TA therapy is applied.
Highlights
Ego states Transactional analysis (TA) conceptualises the personality of an individual as a three-part model of ego states, which Berne (1972) defined as "coherent systems of thought and feeling, manifested by corresponding patterns of behaviour” (p. 11)
Ho: There is no correlation between Nurturing Parent and Neuroticism There is a weak negative relationship between NP and Neuroticism (r(190) = -.347, p = .00 )
The relationship between NP and Neuroticism is negligible and negative (r(118) = -.249, p = .00) but for males there is a weak negative relationship (r(69) = -.514, p = .00). It can be inferred this difference between the genders indicates that within the Indian cultural context, where women are traditionally expected to frequently play nurturing roles, the NP ego state does not have a strong relationship when it comes to Neuroticism for females
Summary
Ego states Transactional analysis (TA) conceptualises the personality of an individual as a three-part model of ego states, which Berne (1972) defined as "coherent systems of thought and feeling, manifested by corresponding patterns of behaviour” (p. 11). As explained by Stewart and Joines (1987), the above three-part ego state model is called the structural model of TA, which “we use when we want to examine the specific content of the ego states. Given that each ego state has a positive and negative aspect to its functioning, (Kahler, 1977) it is helpful to think of each ego state as having a positive/ effective mode of operation and a negative/ ineffective mode of operation. This has been conceptualised by Susannah Temple (Temple, 2015) though her Temple Index of Functional Fluency (TIFF), the key concepts of which are:. Negative mode of NP is called Marshmallowing and can be discerned when you see overindulgence, inconsistence and smothering
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