In psychotherapy, specific terms are used to define different actions and bodily and mental states. In Transactional analysis theory, the experts of this theory use specific terms to define different bodily and mental states. In Transactional analysis theory, the term ‘transaction’ is reserved for a specific flow of communication.
That flow of communication is done through unspoken words. For example, when you speak something in jokingly manner but with a sarcastic intent, to read your tone and voice completely, one should be able to understand your unspoken flow of communication i.e. non-verbal part of the speech.
People try to create pressure on other to make them communicate in a way that is similar to their style. For example, teachers communicate with students in controlling manners and expect the students to a submissive. Those who do not submit themselves to the teachers are labeled or conceived as ‘trouble makers’.
The nature of transactions can be both negative and positive and their nature is defined by the strokes present in them. ‘Stroke’ is another term which means the ‘responsiveness’ a person gives to another person. Transactions are of three kinds i.e. the reciprocal transaction (also known as complementary transaction), crossed or cross transaction, and covert transaction (also known as duplex transaction).
Covert is the most complex type of transaction while reciprocal transaction is the simplest type of transaction.
Understanding crossed transaction is important. Most communication failures occur because the partners carry out a crossed transaction. As the name pretty much provides the complete description of crossed transaction, it is a type of communication where the partners address delivers a message to an ego state other than the ego state their partner is in. In such scenarios, the response is mostly agitated and the other partner gets annoyed hence a communication failure occurs.