While I am not generally known for psychological theory or particularly psychologized practice, the recent trend for my wife to ask me, "What's up on the Drama Overground," got me thinking more about this and some of the useful psychological things I have learned along the way, of which I still find Transactional Analysis, that seemingly forgotten bit of reaction to and addition to Freudinism, of great, practical, explanatory value.
Oddly enough, though I recommend the book
TA Today in my book, I have been amazed that nobody has ever mentioned to me that they read it, which is really unfortunate, as I expected plenty of people to read it and go, "Wow, how did we forget that important work and why is more of it not incorporated into current understanding of human interaction more directly and consciously?", and then recommend it to all of their friends.
So, here are some basics of TA theory that just might prove useful to someone, as I see much recently that can very easily be illuminated by these points, which is not surprising, as they illuminate a huge swath of human behavior in general with great simplicity and ease. I don't mean to come off as "Wow, this is the theory of all human behavior that explains everything!", but I do wish to encourage people to take a serious look at these very simple, straightforward concepts to see how they might practically apply to their own lives and, in this case, on-line interactions.
TA basic theory
I think that the concepts of Scrips and Drivers, as well as the Drama Triangle and Game theory, are very worth knowing well so that you can see how they unfold in daily life and thus be more aware of what is going on and less caught up in it. Enjoy.