USP : U TURN IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

IS MY CHILD HAPPY……A U TURN IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY…

 

 

TA, Transaction Analysis… in its simplest form, explains that every individual possesses three EGO STATES . A Parent Ego State (PARENT) , An Adult Ego State (ADULT) and a Child Ego State (CHILD). All human beings are a curious mixture of these three ego states…. We have A PARENT in us. An ADULT in us. And a CHILD as well.

 

  

 

PARENT is like a typical parent…. Who guides us on Do’s and Don’ts… and teaches desirability and undesirables. In brief, PARENT is normative… and wishes to keep our reckless impulses under check… but it has tremendous negatives as it inhibits us, kills our spontaneity and is a great enemy of ‘free flow’. 

 

CHILD is like a restless kid who wants us to have fun… make things…. Break things… defy and shock ! CHILD is a hater of rules and norms…. And often wants to go overboard…. As a child lacks a  sense of balance, CHILD  also cannot be trusted with a sound judgement and a sense of proportion !But CHILD  has a fundamental positive : It motivates originality and creativity… it is the only ego state that makes us experience ‘happiness’ !

 

ADULT is the referee. It is the moderator…. The great wise seer… who balances our behaviour between childish recklessness and over-deterring cautiousness !

 

It has been postulated by Transaction Analysts that the primary aim of each individual is to harness the PARENT and the CHILD and react from the ADULT … To avoid the child ego state or the parent ego state to become ‘hooked’. They say that we are OK (read happy) only when we respond to a situation from our adult ego state. Sounds wonderful ! But it is easier said than done ! ADULT is the most endangered ‘species’ in this jungle of NOT-OK- NESS ! As long as our CHILD is not happy…. And our PARENT is hell-bent on blocking the free-flow, ADULT hides somewhere in the deep recesses of our subconscious !

 

 

 

 

In making our ‘child’ happy, we probably suffer from self-inflicted guilt. Actually, it ought to be understood that this ‘self-inflicted guilt’ is actually a guilt inflicted by our parent ego state…. Or its societal big-brother…. The societal-parent-ego !

 

It may sound a bit out-landish; but we still want to present this hypothesis that the society has only one ego state…. The PARENT…. It normally wants to kill originality, freedom and creativity. It only condones ‘normative’ free-flow !!!

 

It can be said that the whole business of life and well-being is somewhat linked to this dichotomy…. Of this conflict between the PARENT and the CHILD.

 

We can only be happy if our CHILD is happy… and when we are happy (or OK), only then we can make our world a happier or a more OK place to live in !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ by bhaskarbenjamin on June 7, 2008.