This document provides an overview of the concept of social diagnosis in transactional analysis. It explains that people often respond to different ego states from their own. For example, someone may respond from their child ego state if approached from a parent ego state. Noting the ego state others respond from can provide insight into the ego state being used. The document suggests that if people seem to respond as children, the person may be addressing them as a controlling parent. It recommends experimenting with adult behaviors to change dynamics. Activities are included to reflect on recent social interactions and ego state responses.

1. Social diagnosis

2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Research Scholar
School of Management Studies
CUSAT, Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose.
Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public
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3. Social Diagnosis
• The idea behind social
diagnosis is that other people
will often relate to me from an
ego state that compliments
that one I am using.
• Therefore, by noting the ego-
state they respond from, I can
get a check on the ego state I
have come from.

4. Social Diagnosis
• For instance, if I address you from
my Parent ego state, chances are
you will respond to me from your
Child.
• If I open communication with you
from my Adult, you will likely to
come back also in Adult.
• And if I approach you from my
Adapted Child, you may well
respond from your Parent.

5. Social Diagnosis
• Thus if I realize the people often
seem to be giving me Child
responses, I have reasons to think
that I may often be addressing
them from Parent.
• Maybe I am a supervisor and find
my supervisees either crawl to me
or find ways to sabotaging my
orders behind my back.
• Both of these look like Adapted
Child responses.

6. Social Diagnosis
• Possibly, then I am being more of a
Controlling Parent with them than I
had realized.
• If I want to change the situation, I can
list the Controlling parent behaviors I
have been suing in the work situations.
• Then I can experiment Adult behavior
instead.
• My supervises’ ego state responses to
me will give me a social diagnosis of
how far I managed to change from my
parental approach.

7. Activity
• Think of a recent occasion when
someone seemed to be
responding to you from their child
• What behavioral clues did the
other person show which you
interpreted as indicating they
were in child?
• Did you invite this response by
coming from your controlling
Parent or Nurturing Parent?

8. Activity
• If so, look at your list of behavioral
clues and pick out how the other
person saw and heard you in
Parent.
• How might you have altered your
own behavior to invite them to
respond from a different ego state?
• Do the same exercise for recent
occasion when someone seemed
to be responding to your from their
adult or their parent.

9. Thank You

10. Other TA topics available on slideshare
1. Strokes - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/strokes-24081607.
2. Games People Play - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/psychological-
games-people-play.
3. Structural Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/the-ego-state-model.
4. What is TA? - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/what-ta-is
5. Cycles of Development - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/cycles-of-
developement-pamela-levin-transactional-analysis.
6. Stages of Cure - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stages-of-cure.
7. Transactions - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/transactions-33677298.
8. Time Structuring - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/time-structuring.
9. Life Position - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/life-position.
10. Autonomy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/autonomy-33690557.
11. Structural Pathology - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/structural-pathology.
12. Game Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/game-analysis-33725636.
13. Integrated Adult - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/integrated-adult.
14. Stroke Economy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stroke-economy-
33826702.