Through Transaction Analysis, an individual monitors his internal mental processes that operate between the demands of the Id, Ego and Superego. Those three aspects of the human mind possess similar characteristics as the Child, Adult and Parent roles within the TA model. The Id contains those natural impulses that seeks immediate gratification, which the Child expresses through affection, anger, sadness and fear. The Ego, like an Adult, balances the scale by negotiating and cajoling with the Id (Child), and at the same time, satisfying the rules and objectives imposed by the knowledgeable Superego (Parent).
When the baser desires (i.e. hunger, sleep, sexual pleasure) of a person override common sense or moral principles, it's obvious the Id or the Child aspect of his personality has taken over his consciousness, whose only objective that moment is to satisfy those impulses. For example, a young woman who eats the whole cake rather than leave half of it for her younger sister. The older sister's hunger does not fully justify her greediness over the cake. However, a person who practices self-coaching through Transaction Analysis may stop and analyze the value and ethics of eating the whole cake when a couple of slices is sufficient to sate hunger pangs.
In the realm of communication, a person practicing self-coaching through Transaction Analysis can calmly deliver Adult responses to Parent or Child inquiries through continued self-analysis of his thoughts and emotions. A pause before saying an angry retort or behaving like a petulant child leads to more Adult transactions within the self and with other people.
