Konjekturales Denken

Extroverted Effects of Parent - Ego I

Just Exactly What Did You Mean By That?!

"I don't know what you're talking about", the boisterous man with a big smile replied. "Well, you wished me a good morning", seethed the other, who appeared to work for the incurably happy gentleman, "I don't know what's so good about it. Just exactly what did you mean by that? You must want me to work late again".

According to Transactional Analysis, there are several reasons why this seemingly innocuous greeting and interaction has gone off the rails. First of all, if the first man's body language, tone, and other nonverbal cues communicated a rather authoritative declaration of the state of the morning, he may have been speaking from a Critical Parent Ego state.

This by nature could elicit a response from the Child Ego State of the second person. If the typical pattern and script of the second man is to live from an Adapted Child posture, a defiant and rebellious response to a simple greeting would not be surprising.

This transaction and others like it could be further aggravated by personality tendencies towards extroversion or introversion. The extravert by nature tends to be boisterous, assertive, talkative, and aggressive.

Since the Parent Ego structure, especially in its Critical Parent state, also tends toward criticism, dogmatism, and negative judgments, the extroverted effects of the Parent Ego could only tend to make criticism and prejudicial statements more harmful, and reinforce the tendency to elicit a negative Child Ego response from the other party.

In other words, the extroverted effects of the Parent Ego state have a tendency to make the trumpet only blow louder when the other person wishes it would stop making so much noise. The boisterous blathering of the extrovert makes the introvert want to pull the covers over their head. Though it is not always the case, people tend to respond to the Ego state from which they are being addressed.

(continued)

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