Games People Play: The Psychology Of Human Relationships

Description

In this modern classic, Eric Berne explores the types of games people play in their social interactions. He proves that every association and interaction is based on a game — be it sexuality, marital association, exercise of power in offices by the bosses, or competition between friends. These games lead our lives into certain directions. The book was inspired by Sigmund Freud but Berne established a radically new model of analysis in this book. For instance, for Freud, the understanding of human psychology was possible only through talk therapy. But Games People Play proved that the words people utter do not matter, instead, their practical social interactions reveal their personalities. Berne believes ‘we’re all playing games’ even when ‘we think we are relating to other people.’ The book has contributed to the rise of many new ways of reading the human self as an act, a play, a game, or a performance instead of an authentic and fixed locus of identity.

About the Author

Eric Berne (1910-1970) was a Canadian psychiatrist and the creator of Transactional Analysis. He got his certification in surgery from McGill University Medical School in 1935 but started his career in psychology. From 1938 to 1943, he served at different sanitaria. Berne started serving the US military as a psychiatrist in 1943. After World War II, Berne moved to California where he continued teaching and researching psychiatry. He published a seminal paper titled ‘Transactional Analysis: A New and Effective Method of Group Therapy’ which proposed a new approach towards psychotherapy. He also founded the International Transactional Analysis Association around this time. In 1964, he published Games People Play, which became an international bestseller. Berne theorised that an individual’s psychological behaviour is the sum total of their social transactions. From 1964 to his death in 1970, he dedicated his life to research in psychiatry.