Transactional Analysis Theory - Frame of Reference and Redefining

This blog comes from Ajit Karve, a Transformational TA Coach
+919822024037; ajitpkarve@gmail.com
See the other blogs here :  Table of Contents

   

Frame of Reference and Redefining

Frame of Reference: Ordinarily, a frame of reference comprises criteria, conditions and definitions to put forth or to understand a concept, idea or reality. For example a co-ordinate system is used to define the position of an object in space and an inertial frame of reference is used for explaining the same thing in classical physics. In TA the term 'frame of reference' is used to describe a perceptual frame that we use to see, view, evaluate, assess and respond to people, and reality situations. Such a frame of reference is generated by the activated Parent, Adult and Child ego states in response to specific stimuli. These stimuli may originate from within a person or from outside. A frame of reference therefore has perceptual, affective and evaluative constituents.

Definition: Frame of Reference is a filter on reality. It is structured by ego states that are active in the moment prevailing.  It is a reference frame generated by activate ego states which impose a defining frame on people, reality and situations. A frame of reference free of discounting is a consensual frame of reference. A frame of reference structured by discounting is a scripty frame of reference. This is also a definition of script.

Script is that part of the consensual frame of reference that is structured by discounts. It is also called a scripty frame of reference. The scripty frame of reference is a part of the consensual frame of reference. The consensual frame of reference is in turn a part of the reality frame of reference. The diagram in figure 35 represents the association between the three frames of reference.

Figure 35

The consensual frame of reference generates and structures a perceptual frame that conforms to the generally accepted ways of seeing, viewing, understanding people, their behaviours, events and to generate effective responses to them. Its defining criteria comprise beliefs, values and definitions accepted by a vast majority of people. It may vary marginally as per country, nationality, religious communities, tribes, sects etc.

A scripty frame of reference is generated by distorted beliefs, values and perceptions of reality. A shift to script occurs when the discounted frame of reference is challenged or threatened.

A scripty frame of reference is constituted by a PAC structure marked by distorted beliefs, views and perceptions, by injunctions resident in P1 and in C3, counter injunctions resident in P₂, by structural pathology and by the manifestations of negative CP, NP and AC functional ego states.

The shift to a scripty frame of reference, is called redefining.

Redefining - Redefining is a mechanism used by script prone people to maintain their established view of themselves, of others, and of the world at large in order to advance their scripts. It  triggers conversion of a part of the consensual frame of reference to a scripty frame of reference. Discounting and redefining are intertwined processes and it is difficult to segregate one from the other.

Manifestations of Redefining - Redefining manifests behaviourally as passive behaviours and thinking disorders, transactionally as tangential and blocking transactions, structurally as Parent and Child competitive Symbiosis and functionally by movement to occupy Persecutor, Rescuer and Victim game roles on the Drama Triangle. Tangential and Blocking Transactions are explained in the section  titled 05.05 Unhealthy Transactions Click >'05.05 Unhealthy Transactions'.

~~~~~

Click here > for next topic - Script Matrix
Click here > to see other items in this section

Click here > to see Table of Contents of all Blogs

Click here> to see list of books referred to by author for these blogs