Eric Berne was a Canadian-born psychiatrist who, in the middle of the 20th century, created the theory of transactional analysis as a way of explaining human behavior. Berne’s theory of transactional analysis was based on the ideas of Freud but was distinctly different. Freudian psychotherapists focused on talk therapy as a way of gaining insight to their patient’s personalities. Berne believed that insight could be better discovered by analyzing patients’ social transactions. Berne was among the first psychiatrists to apply game theory to the field of psychiatry, along with the famed psychiatrist-psychoanalyst Thomas Szasz.
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Games are a compromise between intimacy and keeping intimacy away.
—Eric Berne
The moment the little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.
—Eric Berne
Topics: Birds, Worry
A loser doesn’t know what he’ll do if he loses, but talks about what he’ll do if he wins, and a winner doesn’t talk about what he’ll do if he wins, but knows what he’ll do if he loses.
—Eric Berne
Topics: Winning
Each person designs his own life, freedom gives him the power to carry out his own designs, and power gives the freedom to interfere with the designs of others.
—Eric Berne
Topics: Choices, Choice, Design
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