Games People Play (Eric Berne) Eric

Eric Berne published Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships in 1964. The book was an immediate market success, largely because it spoke to something many people recognized -- that much of human social interaction and intercourse resembled nothing so much as a formalized, ritualized "game" or sequence of games in which jockeying for position and power was ongoing. Berne (17) describes "social programming" as a fundamental basis for this perception, noting that social programming results in traditional ritualistic or semi-ritualistic interchanges. A progression can be observed from social to individual programming in which sequences, called games, are established as normative frameworks for social intercourse. Berne's work, while not fully unique, was able to impress on the lay, public consciousness an awareness of how these "games" impacted upon intimate relationships.

Berne opens his discussion of games by stating that "to say that the bulk of social activity consists of playing games does not necessarily mean that it is mostly 'fun' or that the parties are not seriously engaged in the relationship." It is his thesis, explicated throughout the text, that games are deliberate constructions that inhibit meaningful intimacy -- which he saw as "the only completely satisfying answer to stimulus-hunger, recognition-hunger, and structure-hunger." In other words, Berne believed that while human beings desperately want a

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not-so-good and downright "bad" games. Though Berne does not specifically state that this is the case, the reader becomes aware that the vast majority of social interaction games that this transactional analyst has identified are not viewed as contributing positively to social intercourse or human happiness. Most appear to have the potential for doing a great deal of damage to both parties who elect to play - both the individual sending the stimulus and the individual making the response. Equally compelling is Berne's demonstration of how persistent and self-reinforcing such games can become over time. "See What You Made Me Do," for example, is a game played in marriage as well as in parent-child relationships. It is a game in which "blame" and therefore responsibility for one's bad or inappropriate behavior is transferred to the "other," thus absolving the individual of having to take charge of his or her won life (See Berne 88-90). Berne (90) states that the "aim of this game is vindication....The external psychological gain (avoidance of responsibility) is prominent, and the game is often precipitated by the threat of impending intimacy...The existential position is 'I am blameless.'" When children learn to play this game (a
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Approximate Word count = 1791
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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