Level V Become aware and neutralize unconscious causes of aggression

 

Avoid put-down games

 

Transactional Analysis describes several common interactions that either degrade and hurt others or build one's ego at the expense of someone else. For example, a person might unconsciously place others in a position to fail (e.g. a parent criticizing the housecleaning of a child or a teacher assigning very hard problems to students) and thereby make themselves look super competent. Much of our gossip is an "Ain't it awful!" game in which we get support from each other by putting down others.