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IV. Research

Group Ego State Measure (GEM)

Pages 163-165
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
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The identification of ego states and transactions was investigated by operationally defining the variables and then by listening for them on tape recordings from a natural setting (therapy group). Using the Group Ego State Measure (GEM), four judges made diagnoses on 30 randomly selected, 30-second sections from a tape of the group. There was high reliability between judges in diagnosing ego states in the Parent, Adult, Child category (reliability, 78%), ego states in the Controlling Parent, Nurturing Parent, Adult, Adapted Child, Little Professor, Natural Child category (reliability, 71%), and the two kinds of transactions, complementary and crossed (reliability, 81%). Results from the GEM support Berne's observation that ego states and transactions as they naturally occur are identifiable phenomena.

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Author information

Southey Swede

Southey Swede, MA, is a Regular Member with a Clinical Membership contract in the ITAA; a psychology instructor at Ulster County Community, Stone Ridge, N. Y.; a leader of TAZ gestalt groups and workshops in Woodstock, N. Y., and in San Francisco, California. He is the author of TA Guide: Scriptage and Liberation and How to Cure: Berne Theory.