Ego States and Emotional Intelligence: A Study of Banks

Dr. Pushpa Negi **

Ms. Bhuvan Rai***

* - Dr. Pushpa Negi is Lecturer, Prestige Institute of Management,

Gwalior, M.P.Ph.09926216562,

email: drpushpanegi@rediffmail.com.

** - Ms. Bhuvan Rai is student, Prestige Institute of Management,

Gwalior, M.P.Ph.09301123388,

email: sweetpieces_27@Rediffmail.com

Ego States and Emotional Intelligence: A Study of Banks

Abstract

In today’s 24x7 life all the professionals need to interact various kinds of people coming

from different backgrounds with different mind set. Many a times they loose their

concentration and behave in a manner which may irritate the person interacting and also

disturbs the person himself. These situations finally leave him in a complete chaos. To

overcome these kinds of problems it is required to understand emotions of others and

oneself as well and behave accordingly. When we start interacting somebody we usually

enter in an ego state that other is expecting from us. This study is conducted to know that

whether the employees are able to handle the pressure or not so that they can control their

emotions. The study was done keeping in mind the different ego states in different

situations and their effect on the emotional intelligence of the employees working in

banks. In the research it was tried to find out whether there exist any difference in the

emotional intelligence of various ego states. To evaluate both the variables of the study

standardized questionnaires of Daniel Golman for Emotional Intelligence (1998) and Bob

Avary & associates (2003) for Ego states were used. To compare EQ of different ego

states Z test was applied and result shows EQ varies between child-parent and child-adult

ego states where as no difference exist between adult-parent ego states.

INTRODUCTION

Ego States

The normal fragments of personality are often called ego states.

Transactional Analysis First Order Structural Model

Berne devised the concept of ego states to help explain how we are made up, and how we

relate to others. These are drawn as three stacked circles and they are one of the building

blocks of Transactional Analysis. They categories the ways we think feel and behave and

are called Parent, Adult, and Child. Each ego state is given a capital letter to denote the

difference between actual parents, adults and children.

PARENT EGO STATE Behaviors, thoughts and feelings Copied from parents or parent figure

ADULT EGO STATE Behaviors, thoughts and feelings which are direct responses to the here and now

CHILD EGO STATE Behaviors, thoughts and feelings Replayed from childhood

P

A

C

Parent Ego State

This is a set of feelings, thinking and behavior that we have copied from our parents and

significant others. As we grow up we take in ideas, beliefs, feelings and behaviors from

our parents and caretakers. If we live in an extended family then there are more people to

learn and take in from. When we do this, it is called interjecting and it is just as if we take

in the whole of the caregiver. For example, we may notice that we are saying things just

as our father, mother, grandmother may have done, even though, consciously, we don't

want to. We do this as we have lived with this person so long that we automatically

reproduce certain things that were said to us, or treat others as we might have been

treated.

Adult Ego State

The Adult ego state is about direct responses to the here and now. We deal with things

that are going on today in ways that are not unhealthily influenced by our past.

The Adult ego state is about being spontaneous and aware with the capacity for intimacy.

When in our Adult we are able to see people as they are, rather than what we project onto

them. We ask for information rather than stay scared and rather than make assumptions.

Taking the best from the past and using it appropriately in the present is an integration of

the positive aspects of both our Parent and Child ego states. So this can be called the

Integrating Adult. Integrating means that we are constantly updating ourselves through

our every day experiences and using this to inform us.

In this structural model, the Integrating Adult ego state circle is placed in the middle to

show how it needs to orchestrate between the Parent and the Child ego states. For

example, the internal Parent ego state may beat up on the internal Child, saying, "You are

no good, look at what you did wrong again, you are useless". The Child may then

respond with "I am no good, look how useless I am, I never get anything right". Many

people hardly hear this kind of internal dialogue as it goes on so much they might just

believe life is this way. An effective Integrating Adult ego state can intervene between

the Parent and Child ego states. This might be done by stating that this kind of parenting

is not helpful and asking if it is prepared to learn another way.

Child Ego State

The Child ego state is a set of behaviors, thoughts and feelings, which are replayed from

our own childhood. Perhaps the boss calls us into his or her office, we may immediately

get a churning in our stomach and wonder what we have done wrong. If this were

explored we might remember the time the head teacher called us in to tell us off. Of

course, not everything in the Child ego state is negative. We might go into someone's

house and smell a lovely smell and remember our grandmother's house when we were

little, and all the same warm feelings we had at six year's of age may come flooding back.

Both the Parent and Child ego states are constantly being updated. For example, we may

meet someone who gives us the permission we needed as a child, and did not get, to be

fun and joyous. We may well use that person in our imagination when we are stressed to

counteract our old ways of thinking that we must work longer and longer hours to keep

up with everything. We might ask ourselves "I wonder what X would say now". Then on

hearing the new permissions to relax and take some time out, do just that and then return

to the work renewed and ready for the challenge. Subsequently, rather than beating up on

ourselves for what we did or did not do, what tends to happen is we automatically start to

give ourselves new permissions and take care of ourselves.

Alternatively, we might have had a traumatic experience yesterday, which goes into the

Child ego state as an archaic memory that hampers our growth. Positive experiences will

also go into the Child ego state as archaic memories. The positive experiences can then

be drawn on to remind us that positive things do happen. The process of analyzing

personality in terms of ego states is called structural analysis. It is important to remember

that ego states do not have an existence of their own; they are concepts to enable

understanding.

Components of Ego States

If we examine people's personality more closely, we don't discover more ego states, but

we may discover components of those ego states. Berne accepts that the Parental ego

state proves to be composed of two states, one deriving from the mother, and one from

the father.

Further, within the Child ego state, we will find Parent, Adult and Child states.

It's important to realize that, although we'll be looking at each of these ego states in turn,

there is no implication that we would use one only in a transaction. It is quite likely that

we will move from one to the other, since we all have these three ego states as part of our

personality.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence, also called EI and often measured as an Emotional Intelligence

Quotient or EQ, describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage

the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. However, being a relatively new area,

the definition of emotional intelligence is still in a state of flux.

Emotional intelligence represents an ability to validly reason with emotions and to use

emotions to enhance thought.

EI is defined as the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions to enhance

thinking. It includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate

emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and

to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and their

relationships and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them. Emotional

intelligence is involved in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related

feelings, understand the information of those emotions and manage them.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions; to access and generate

emotions so as to assist thought; to understand emotions and emotional knowledge; and

to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

In other words, there are four parts:

1. Perceive or sense emotions,

2. Use emotions to assist thought,

3. Understand emotions,

4. Manage emotions

The distinction between intelligence and knowledge in the area of cognition is very clear,

where generally, psychological research demonstrates that IQ is a reliable measure of

cognitive capacity, and is stable over time. In the area of emotion the distinction between

intelligence and knowledge is murky. Current definitions of EQ are inconsistent about

what it measures: some say that EQ is dynamic, and can be learned or increased; whereas

others say that EQ is stable, and cannot be increased. Some researchers believe EI is a

cognitive ability just as is IQ, others believe it is a combination of perceived abilities and

traits, while others consider it a skill that can be measured.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Barrow Giles et. al. (2001) reviewed the work of Eric Berne and states that everyone has

the capacity to think.  People decide their own destiny and these decisions can be

changed.' With these starters, the authors set out in a spirit of optimism, yet always they

are practical and keep their feet on the ground, they focus on building and maintaining

relationships in the classroom, structuring lessons, dealing with conflict, planning

partnerships, developing a positive school culture. Steven D. Smith, (2000) divided her

study into two halves, in the first of which she identifies and analyzes the various

personae of "Ego" and "You" which populate the frame narrative of the Periegesis. These

are the personae of "writer," "dater," "researcher," and (least surprisingly) "traveler." In

its function as "writer," Ego's presence in the text is felt most when cross-referencing,

indicating how the text is generally organized, and indicating when information is

intentionally withheld from the reader ("pretermitting"). Her most interesting finding in

this section is that Ego sometimes appears to cede control of the organization of his text

to some mysterious logos. A. furthermore fails to connect the mysterious logos, which

partially dictates Ego's narrative to her later, more satisfying conclusion regarding the

organizing principle of the text.

William and Williams (1980) studied that Transactional Analysis (TA) conceptualizes

personality in terms of five functional ego states: Critical Parent (CP), Nurturing Parent

(NP), Adult (A), Free Child (FC), and Adapted Child (AC). He tried to design and

develop a procedure for the assessment of the relative strength of ego states from the

responses of persons who are not familiar with TA theory. Sidney Callis (1984) discussed

the basic theories of Transactional Analysis. The author also discussed the work of Eric

Berne especially the ego states. I. Stewart (1989) discussed various parts of Transactional

analysis (TA) taking ego state as a central point for study. He further states that TA

offers counsellors the opportunity to recognise different manager/employee relationships

and their chances of success. Jeong Sook Won (2002) analyzed the type of ego states and

stress coping style on female college students in the course of nursing study. In the aspect

of relation between ego states and coping style, type ‘Critical Parent’ presented the

central point of problem and relaxation of tension, type ‘Nurturing Parent’ presented

positive interest, search for social support and the central point of problem, type ‘Adult’

showed the central point of problem, positive interest and relaxation of tension, type

‘Free Child’ showed relaxation of tension, positive interest, search for social support,

indifference and the central point of problem, type ‘Adoptive Child’ showed hopeful

aspect, indifference and the central point of problem. All the sequence shown above had

high-to-low procedure and represented static relations each other.

(Quy Nguyen Huy, 1999) presented a multilevel theory of emotion and change, which

focuses on attributes of emotional intelligence at the individual level and emotional

capability at the organizational level. Emotional intelligence facilitates individual

adaptation and change, and emotional capability increases the likelihood for

organizations to realize radical change. He also presented a meso level framework

relating emotion-attending behaviors to three dynamics of change: receptivity,

mobilization, and learning.

These behaviors, which he termed emotional dynamics, constitute the organization's

emotional capability.

(Nada Abi Samra, 1990) states that we are at the beginning of a new century, and

intelligence and success are not viewed the same way they were before. The whole

child/student has become the center of concern, not only his reasoning capacities, but also

his creativity, emotions, and interpersonal skills. (Brad Berry and Greaves, 1989) in their

book showed how understanding and utilizing emotional intelligence could be the key to

exceeding our goals and achieving our fullest potential. Authors Brad berry and Greaves

use their years of experience as emotional intelligence researchers, consultants, and

speakers to revitalize our current understanding of emotional intelligence.

The Emotional Intelligence Quick book brings this concept to light in a way that has not

been done before — making EQ practical and easy to apply in every aspect of our daily

lives.

John D. Mayer (1990) described some of the scientific literature, and compares it to the

popular accounts. He devised three scientific and popular concepts. They have viewed

emotional intelligence as a potentially standard intelligence. The emotional intelligence is

defined as the capacity to reason with emotion in four areas: to perceive emotion, to

integrate it in thought, to understand it and to manage it. Research with these new scales

suggests that emotional intelligence can be measured reliably, exists as a unitary ability,

and is related to, but independent of, standard intelligence. They contain variables beyond

what is meant by the terms "emotion" or "intelligence," or what reasonable people would

infer from the phrase "emotional intelligence." Their own and others' ongoing research

indicates that emotional intelligence may well predict specific, important life outcomes at

about the level of other important personality variables. They believed that such

predictions are both useful in practical terms and impressive theoretically.

Antonakis J (2003) in his article provides a commentary on the article "Emotional

intelligence, leadership effectiveness, and team outcomes" by Prati, Douglas, Ferris,

Ammeter and Buckley. The role of emotional intelligence (EI) as a construct in

organizational behavior is addressed by discussing (a) the boundary conditions of

theories in organizational behavior; (b) the relative importance of EI, and personality in

leadership effectiveness; (c) whether EI is needed for leadership effectiveness; (d) the

degree EI is a unique construct versus a part of normal psychological functioning; (e) the

relationship between EI and levels of analyses in organizations; and (f) whether EI is

important for charismatic leadership. This discussion concludes with a cautionary note

about premature excitement over the use of EI in the workplace.

Matthews Gerald et al (1985) reviewed the work of various authors and defined

Emotional Intelligence as the competence to identify, express, and understand emotions;

assimilate emotions in thought; and regulate both positive and negative emotions in

oneself and others. Regardless of its validity and clinical utility, the emotional

intelligence construct has generated remarkable popular and scientific attention in the past

two decades.

In part, interest in emotional intelligence can be attributed to its somewhat optimistic

view of the human condition. They try to clarify the scientific status and validity of

emotional intelligence by disentangling "factual scientific evidence...from accounts that

are grounded in anecdotal evidence, hearsay, and media speculation." They do this by

methodically and painstakingly reviewing the theory underpinning emotional intelligence;

its conceptualization and measurement; and its applications in the educational,

occupational, and clinical arenas. The authors conclude from their exhaustive efforts, Is

emotional intelligence something new? Is it distinct from existing measures of individual

difference? Or is it old wine in new bottles? They conclude with a cautious pessimism

about the utility of emotional intelligence. They find serious psychometric limitations

with all published measures of emotional intelligence. They are not optimistic about the

prospects for developing a coherent, empirically supported theory of emotional

intelligence.

Ruggero Rossi de Mi (2000) described virtual teams as living systems and as such made

up of people with different needs and characteristics. Groups generally perform better

when they are able to establish a high level of group cohesion. This status can be reached

by establishing group emotional intelligence. Group emotional intelligence is reached via

interactions among members and the interactions are allowed through the disposable

linking factors. Virtual linking factors differ from traditional linking factors; therefore,

the concept of Virtual Emotional Intelligence is here introduced in order to distinguish

the group cohesion reaching process in virtual teams.

Vladimir Taksic et al (2004) devised slowly and systematically developing models and

instruments for EI appraisal. Measurement of individual differences in emotional

intelligence is based on two different models, one that relies on: a) self-appraisal of

abilities, and the other, which is based on b) measurement of EI with ability tests.

According to the authors, EI instruments must have a positive relationship with two

constructs: empathy and life satisfaction.

A lot of research works confirmed a significant relationship between EI and these two

constructs, and also with a number of other positive variables and outcomes. There is a

strong support of the hypothesis that EI is in close connection with the concept of

crystallized intelligence, which has motivated the development of several programs for

emotional literacy development around the world. Because of its efforts to find and

emphasize positive qualities in individuals, emotional intelligence has been present in

positive psychology from the beginning.

Daniel Goleman (1995) described in his study that when people are asked to rank the

importance of various attributes, in themselves, in a potential mate, or in human beings in

general, intelligence makes a respectable showing but it’s rarely at the top of the list. But

when a person is challenged in real life, when his honor, his beauty, his kindness, his

industry, or his honesty is put into question, nothing provokes such a strong defensive

reaction as the suggestion that he’s not too bright. If one were asked about his

expectations regarding the distribution of nose-to-tail length of an unknown population of

animals, one would unhesitatingly reply that, in all likelihood, a few would be very large,

a few would be very small, and the vast majority would be clustered somewhere in the

middle. We expect this on the basis of our own experience and as a result of well-known

principles of genetic variation and selection. If one were asked to speculate about the

results of similar measurements on genetically separate but similar populations, one

would reply that similar distributions would be found in each, but with different means.

But when the populations involved are different “races” of human beings and the

measurement to be made is of intelligence instead of physical dimensions, these

expectations suddenly vanish, to be replaced by pious profession of the equality of all

peoples.

OBJECTIVES

To compare the emotional intelligence in different ego states.

To compare the effect of ego state on emotional intelligence between banks.

To open new vistas for further research.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The study was empirical in nature. The data was collected from public and private banks

of central India. For this purpose 230 employees of four public and four private banks

were contacted personally, 213 questionnaires were returned back and finally 200

questionnaires were considered for analysis. Standardized questionnaires on ego states

and emotional intelligence were used for getting responses. Both measures were designed

and developed by Bob Avary & associates (2003) and Daniel Goleman (1998)

respectively. Non-probability quota sampling technique was used to collect data. To

compare the difference in emotional intelligence between various ego states Z-test was

applied. Ego states of the employee were identified on the basis of responses given by the

employees on the scale of Bob Avary & associates (2003).

Hypotheses:

H01 = It states that there is no significant difference between the Emotional Intelligence

of bank employees in child and adult ego states.

H02 = It states that there is no significant difference between the Emotional Intelligence

of bank employees in child and parent ego states.

H03 = It states that there is no significant difference between the Emotional Intelligence

of bank employees in adult and parent ego states.

STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF DATA

Z test: z tests were applied to compare emotional intelligence between various ego states

of public and private bank employees. (Table 1)

Calculation of Standard Error: Standard error was calculated by putting values of

mean and standard deviation in the formula and after this Z test has been applied to find

out the significant difference between emotional intelligence of employees in different

ego states.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Firstly, Z Test was applied between Child Ego & Adult Ego and as the computed value of

Z (2.1903) was greater than critical value 1.96 at 5% level, so first hypothesis was not

accepted and found that there occurred a significant difference showing the effect of Ego

States on Emotional Intelligence. If mean values of both ego states were compared it was

found that employees in adult ego states were higher in EQ as compared to employees in

child ego state. Second Z Test was applied between Child Ego & Parent Ego states and as

the computed value of Z (2.0322) was greater than critical value 1.96 at 5% level, so in

this case also second hypothesis was not accepted which indicates the difference of

Emotional Intelligence in these ego states. Here also, if the mean values are compared it

can be observed employees in parent ego states are much more balanced in managing

their emotions which ultimately meant higher in EQ as compared to the employees in

child ego states. Studies of other authors suggests that child is characterized as impulsive,

self-indulgent, attention seeking, non-logical and immediate actions which result in to

immediate satisfaction which all form the features of immature employees so they are not

so good in handling emotions as compared to others in parent and adult ego state. Third Z

Test was applied on Adult Ego & Parent Ego and as the computed value of Z (0.1945) is

less than critical value 1.96 at 5% level, so we fail to reject third hypothesis and found

that there is no significant difference in the Emotional Intelligence of these Ego States.

Conclusion

The study concludes the generalized finding that by applying Z test among different ego

states like Child, Adult and Parent Ego States there occurred significant difference

showing the effect of ego states on emotional intelligence between Child and Adult ego

state, Child and Parent ego state because the calculated value was greater than the critical

value. But there were no significant difference between emotional intelligence of

employees who were in Adult ego state and Parent ego state because the calculated value

was less than the critical value. At some point of time the thinking level and maturity

level of the employees of Adult and Parent ego states become same.

References

Books and Journals

Brad berry and Greaves (1989) ‘The Emotional Intelligence Quick book’, OH: Merrill

Publishing: Columbus.

Jeong Sook Won (2002), ‘Study on the Ego states and Coping Style of Nursing Students’,

Korean J Women Health Nurs., Vol.8, Issue 4, pp. 608-619.

Daniel Goleman (1995),’Emotional Intelligence’, Harper Collins Publishers: London

Matthews Gerald, Moshe Zeidner, and Richard D. Roberts, (1985) ‘Emotional

Intelligence: Science and Myth’, Harvard University Press: Cambridge.

Barrow Giles, Emma Bradshaw, Rudi Nugent & David Fulton, (2001) ‘People are OK’,

Mc Graw Hill: Paris.

John D. Mayer (1990), ‘Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence’ Prentice

Hall: Chicago.

Kathryn B. Williams, John E. Williams, (1980) ‘The Assessment of Transactional

Analysis Ego States’, Harvard Business Review, pp 46-79.

Nada AbiSamra, (1990), ‘The Multiple Intelligences Theory’”, Mc Graw Hill: New York.

Quy Nguyen Huy, (1999), The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp 20-

45.

Ruggero Rossi de Mi, (2000), ‘Virtual Emotional Intelligence’, Sage Publications Ltd.:

London.

Sidney Callis (1984) ‘Transactional Analysis in management development’, Education +

Training, Vol. 26, Issue 7, pp. 198 – 199.

Steven D. Smith, Hofstra University, (2000), ‘We Have A Tradition’, Interaction Ritual,

Garden City: New Jersey.

Stewart I. (1989), ‘Transactional Analysis: Image and Reality’ Journal of Workplace Learning,

Vol.1, Issue 2, pp 21-24.

Vladimir Takšić, Tamara Mohorić, Radenka Munjas, (2004), ‘Crystallized Intelligence’,

Prentice Hall: New York.

Antonakis, J. (2003) ‘Why "Emotional Intelligence" Does Not Predict Leadership

Effectiveness’, The International Journal of Organizational Analysis Vol. 3 pp 30 - 65.

Eric Berne, ‘Transactional Analysis’, Mc Graw Hill, Praeger Publishers: New York.

Palm Levin Landheer, Ego States Questionnaire.

Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire.

Annexure

Table 1 showing values of Z-Test

S. No. Test Statistics Mean Value Z Value

1Child Ego

Adult Ego

42.5098

44.2615

2.1903

2Child Ego

Parent Ego

42.5098

44.1204

2.0322

3Adult Ego

Parent Ego

44.2615

44.1204

0.1945