This can lead to the development of repetitive patterns of behaviour that can hinder a person's potential. When an individual replays his or her experiences, he or she can replay them in such a vivid form that the individual experiences again the same emotions he or she felt during the actual experience. Individuals replaying certain events are able to experience the emotions associated with those events, but they are also able to objectively talk about the events at the same time. Transactional Analysts will pay attention to all of these cues when analyzing a transaction and identifying which ego states are involved.

Instead of the Respondent’s Adult responding with “I think they’re on the desk”, it is the Respondent’s Child that responds back. Stated another way, Freud’s ego states are unobservable, theoretical states; but Berne’s three ego states can be confirmed with observable behaviors. Alternatively, when I replay the behaviours my parents showed me when they tucked me into bed when I am ill, looking after and caring for me, I am said to be in Nurturing Parent. According to Freud, the Id functions in the irrational and emotional part of the mind, the Ego functions as the rational part of the mind, and the Superego can be thought of as the moral part of the mind, a manifestation of societal or parental values. Adult data grows out of the child’s ability to see what is different than what he or she observed (Parent) or felt (Child).

It should be carefully noted that the descriptions of these ego states do NOT necessarily correspond to their common definitions as used the English language. By identifying and standardizing upon a single unit, development and promotion of this theory was easily facilitated.

Although Berne made major contributions to the ego state theory, he did not coin the term ‘ego’ or ‘ego state’ as the word ‘ ego’ is Latin meaning ‘I’ or 'self'.

Parental figures/significant others are not necessarily biological, but maybe someone with power, authority or influence that have had an impact on us during our childhood. The Child ego state is not when we are acting childish, or what others perceive as childish behaviour. Penfield’s experiments focused on the application of electrical currents to specific regions of the brain. Ego-states refer to the three major parts of an individual's personality, and they each reflect an entire system of thought, feeling and behaviour.

Thomas Harris stated in I’m OK – You’re OK that in Transactional Analysis, “we have found a new language of psychology. In addition, not only were vivid pictures of that person’s past revealed, but also the feelings and emotions associated with that event were uncovered.

It will be demonstrated that Parent, Adult, and Child are not concepts, like Superego, Ego, and Id, or the Jungian constructs, but phenomenological realities. I was very keen to know more about transactional analysis and started originally with Eric Berne’s Games People Play. Niveaus van miskenning: bestaan van opties, betekenis van opties, veranderbaarheid van de situatie, eigen capaciteiten (incl durf). In counselling, TA therapy is very versatile, for it can be used in a wide range of areas and incorporates key themes from humanistic, integrative and psychoanalytical and psychodynamic therapies. The nurse’s Adult looks at the hand, and based upon previous experiences, concludes that the scalpel is needed.