Self-help · ThoughtfulPsychiatrist Eric Berne uses transactional analysis to catalog the patterned games people play in social interactions
Games People Play
by Eric Berne
A psychiatrist's catalog of the games people play with each other
Eric Berne, a psychiatrist, developed his theory in the 1950s and first published the book with Grove Press in 1964. Its first half introduces transactional analysis, a way of interpreting social interactions through three ego states: Parent, Adult and Child. The second half catalogs mind games, patterned exchanges that look normal on the surface but hide other motives and usually end in a predictable, counterproductive result. The book covers both functional and dysfunctional social interactions.
More about this book
Who
Eric Berne, a psychiatrist who developed transactional analysis.
World
Everyday social interactions, described through three ego states.
What makes it different
Wikipedia says it has sold more than five million copies. James Redfield's self-published The Celestine Prophecy (1993) was influenced by Berne's ideas on human gaming.
Feel
Analytical and curious.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Games People PlayWikipedia