Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships

Pdf Book Name: Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships
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Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships Pdf Book Description:

This book is primarily designed to be a sequel to my book Transnational Analysis in Psychotherapy,1 but has been planned so that it can be read and understood independently. The theory necessary for the analysis and clear understanding of games has been summarized in Part I. Part II contains descriptions of the individual games. Part III contains new clinical and theoretical material which, added to the old, makes it possible to understand to some extent what it means to be game-free. Those desiring further background are referred to the earlier volume. The reader of both will note that in addition to the theoretical advances, there have been some minor changes in terminology and viewpoint based on further thinking and reading and new clinical material. The need for this book was indicated by interested requests from students and lecture audiences for lists of games, or for further elaboration of games mentioned briefly as examples in a general exposition of the principles of transactional analysis. Thanks are due in general to these students and audiences, and especially to the many patients who exposed to view, spotted or named new games; and in particular to Miss Barbara Rosenfeld for her many ideas about the art and meaning of listening; and to Mr. Melvin Boyce, Mr. Joseph Concannon, Dr. Franklin Ernst, Dr. Kenneth Everts, Dr. Gordon Gritter, Mrs. Frances Matson, and Dr. Ray Poindexter, among others, for their independent discovery or confirmation of the significance of many games.

Mr. Claude Steiner, formerly Research Director of the San Francisco Social Psychiatry Seminars and presently in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan deserves special mention on two counts. He conducted the first experiments which confirmed many of the theoretical points at issue here, and as a result of these experiments he helped considerably in clarifying the nature of autonomy and of intimacy. Thanks are also due to Miss Viola Lilt, the Secretary Treasurer of the Seminars, and to Mrs. Mary N. Williams, my personal secretary, for their continued help, and to Anne Garrett for her assistance in reading the proof. For conciseness, the games are described primarily from the male point of view unless they are clearly feminine. Thus the chief player is usually designated as “he,” but without prejudice, since the same situation, unless otherwise indicated, could as easily be outlined with “she,” mutatis mutandis. If the woman’s role differs significantly from the man’s, it is treated separately. The therapist is similarly without prejudice designated as “he.” The vocabulary and viewpoint are primarily oriented toward the practicing clinician, but members of other professions may find this book interesting or useful. Transactional game analysis should be clearly distinguished from its growing sister science of mathematical game analysis, although a few of the terms used in the text, such as “payoff,” are now respectably mathematical.