Which term in Transactional Analysis describes messages that occur on two levels, the social or overt level and the hidden or psychological level?

Which term in Transactional Analysis describes messages that occur on two levels, the social or overt level and the hidden or psychological level?

• A. Complementary transactions
• B. Crossed transactions
• C. Ulterior transactions
• D. Transaction

Answer: (C)

In Transactional Analysis, some messages carry two meanings at once: the surface social level and a hidden psychological level. The term for this kind of double-message communication is an ulterior transaction. The spoken, overt part is the social message you hear, while the covert part is aimed at a specific ego-state in the listener (Parent, Adult, or Child) and conveys a different intent. This dual encoding explains why two people can seem to “agree” on the surface while the underlying motive prompts a very different reaction. This concept is distinct from complementary transactions, where the response comes from the expected ego-state, or crossed transactions, where the response comes from an unexpected ego-state, and from a general transaction, which is just the basic unit of communication without specifying two levels.

In Transactional Analysis, some messages carry two meanings at once: the surface social level and a hidden psychological level. The term for this kind of double-message communication is an ulterior transaction. The spoken, overt part is the social message you hear, while the covert part is aimed at a specific ego-state in the listener (Parent, Adult, or Child) and conveys a different intent. This dual encoding explains why two people can seem to “agree” on the surface while the underlying motive prompts a very different reaction.

This concept is distinct from complementary transactions, where the response comes from the expected ego-state, or crossed transactions, where the response comes from an unexpected ego-state, and from a general transaction, which is just the basic unit of communication without specifying two levels.