CROSSED TRANSACTIONS
WHERE RESPONSES ORIGINATE FROM DIFFERENT EGO STATES THAN THOSE TO WHICH THE STIMULI WAS DIRECTED, AND/OR ARE DIRECTED TO EGO STATES OTHER THAN THOSE FROM WHICH THE STIMULI ORIGINATED. WHEN THIS OCCURS, COMMUNICATION STOPS and “WAR” CAN BEGIN!!
PARENT-CHILD / PARENT-CHILD
STIMULUS (Mother): “Go pick up your room.”
RESPONSE (Daughter): “You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not the boss around here. Dad’s the boss!”
ADULT-ADULT / PARENT-CHILD
STIMULUS (Student in Lab): “This computer doesn’t boot. Can you help me with it?”
RESPONSE (Lab Instructor): “Well, now what did you do to it?”