Script
The script is the most important item and, at the same time, the most difficult to investigate of all the items of equipment which the individual brings with him when he enters a group.
(From Structure & Dynamics of Organizations & Groups, page227 (Ballantine 1963/1975)
Eric Berne's book 'The Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups' which he wrote in 1963 is not one of his best known. It has been out of print for some time, but is well worth searching for either second-hand on the Internet, or from the public library system.
In Chapter 12 on which this article is based, Adjustment of the Individual to the Group, Berne mentions six pieces of equipment which a person brings when they enter a group:
When I go to a meeting of some sort, I am usually focussing on whether I will be on time, or on whether I am well-prepared to play my role in the group (read the minutes, give a talk, join a discussion etc. I rarely avert to the list above. I certainly don't think of myself as having needs. I usually regard myself as having put any such needs 'on hold', and therefore, implicitly, of no consequence to the group. Yet, now when I think about it, unmet needs whether physical or psychological, are probably the trigger in many a group conflict.
A leader who is aware of their own and the members' equipment have a power which they can use or abuse. The more awareness an individual has of the 'condition' of their equipment, the better they will be prepared to do the job in hand, that is to develop their personality in this group in which they propose to take part.
Lack of awareness of our needs, both physical and internal, can leave us very vulnerable in our interactions with other people. We convince ourselves that we are stronger than we really are, discounting the effects of our shortage of strokes.According to Eric Berne: the need to be recharged by strokes and social contact may be regarded as one of the biologic origins of group formation.
People rely on leaders to create situations where time is structured. Silences, and minutes of inactivity can cause people to experience anxiety. Many people are willing to give up their personal desires in order to get their physical and psychological needs met.
DRIVES AND STRIVINGS
A person's drive for intimacy is not well suited to public situations, so most people in groups play games or even just 'pass the time' in shallow interaction in which there is little 'connection' with other people. Nevertheless, underneath there is the longing for union with others, whether healthy or otherwise. The style of the person's striving will be in accordance with the life-plan they developed unconsciously. According to Berne, each of us has some nostalgia for our infancy and often for our childhood as well, therefore, in later years we strive to reproduce our original situation, either by living through it again, if it was enjoyable, or trying to re-experience it in a more benevolent form if it was unpleasant.
PAST EXPERIENCE AND ADJUSTMENT ABILITY When we come to a group, we carry what is like a sack of our past experience. Much of this is outside our current awareness, but what happens in the group can trigger memories, and catapult us into old behaviours if we do not watch out. Our adjustment ability seems to me to be about adjusting both to the past and to the here-and-now.
If we are flexible, we can allow the past to be as it was, without trying to relive it and improve it, second time around. Flexibility also helps us to let the present exist 'as it is', and without trying to make it measure up to some agenda of our own.
Hopefully, the next meeting I attend, I will have a little more awareness than usual. We'll see.
Contact Jenny for future dates and time. (04890-351 316)
Thanks to Geraldine for her hospitality, and to Elizabeth who took over at short notice and gave a presentation on Re-cycling the developmental stages.
You can share your wisdom in your way
(Affirmation for Older people by © Jean Illsley Clarke)
Workshop at 1930 hrs on Thursday, June 27, at 22 Seskin View Avenue. Topic Three Internal Motivators (based on Script interview with Fanita English after her recent accident). Contact 4511125 for transport directions.
Fanita mentions three motivators: survival, expressive, and quiescence. Motivation is a topic that fascinates me. Why am I so motivated on some occasions, and don't seem to have any 'get-up-and-go' at other times? What about procrastination? Very often the things I procrastinate over are things that I am convinced I 'really want to do'. Well, if that is the case, why do I keep putting them on the long finger? Fanita's experience seems to include motivating herself to get better - can we really do this? Do come to the workshop and help us tease out this interesting theory.
Write to Elizabeth Cleary
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