Interpersonal Communications in Born to Win
After twenty years and more than 3 million copies sold, Born to Win proves that Transactional Analysis theory holds wide appeal for the American public attempting to decode and improve their interpersonal skills. Born to Win offers an overview of Transactional Analysis (16), emphasizes that the human spirit thrives in the midst of nurturing and positive attention (44), and suggests that everyone can become a winner (1) if they first begin by embracing authenticity (2). Transactional Analysis establishes as its ultimate goal the achievement of autonomy (263). According to Berne and his followers, one can achieve mastery over one's self and others by learning to identify those parts of one's self which operate ineffectively by producing conflict inside and outside the self.
Dr. Eric Berne postulated the first premises of Transactional Analysis after observing his patients change their behavior in response to new stimuli. Since these responses included a wide range of reactions involving facial gestures, word intonations, sentence structure, and body movements, Berne felt that he was watching various "selves" emerge which from moment to moment struggled to be in charge of the patient's total personality (11). Berne developed Transactional Analysis as a method of psycotherapy which was to be conducted in group settings so that participants could learn to see the games they played and the scripts they acted out (11).
Born to Win begins with the premise that each individual is born to be a winner. Winners emerge as people who live authentically and are not enslaved to achievement (1). "Authentic people actualize their own unprecedented uniqueness and appreciate the uniqueness of others" (2). Winners achieve not by pretending to be something but by being themselves. By engaging in the process of role-playing, individual participants can begin to clarify their relationships...