Development of a Psychological Game Questionnaire

A research study is described, conducted in Taiwan with 615 subjects across different ages, educational levels and occupations, to develop a questionnaire that will measure three components of psychological games: hidden messages or ulterior transactions, role switches on the drama triangle, and repressed emotions. A literature review is included and the development of the questionnaire through a pre-test option with 226 subjects is described. The results of statistical analyses are described and the final questionnaire, in English and in Chinese, is included as appendices. Introduction The research reported in this article was conducted by the author in connection with a Master's degree awarded by the National Chiayi University in Taiwan, under the Department of Counselling. It was stimulated by a suggestion by Marilyn Zalcman (1990) that professionals within the TA community needed to "Develop a limited number of basic paradigms (probably no more than three to six) for different types of games that qualify for theoretical game analysis." (p.12). After an appropriate literature review, three constructs were established to form the basis for the research; an initial questionnaire was developed and trialled with 226 adults, and the final questionnaire was completed by 615 adults and their results analysed. Statistical methods indicated that the questionnaire had sufficient validity that it can be recommended for use by practitioners with clients as a self-awareness instrument. Literature Review. Because readers will be familiar with TA concepts, the following is a summary only of the detailed information that has been contained within the thesis. Berne (1958) published an article based on an oral presentation he had delivered the previous year, referring to the theoretical bases of TA as structural analysis, transactional analysis, game analysis and script analysis. Over the years, the concept of psychological games was introduced by Berne in several publications and particularly in his book entitled Games People Play (Berne 1964). Published posthumously, his last book (Berne 1972) provided a collation of his ideas, including analysing games using transactional diagrams and Formula G which set out the steps of a game. Karpman (1968) introduced the well-known drama triangle as a way of analysing games in terms of the roles of Persecutor, Rescuer and Victim. We can consider the general TA literature across three phases: most literature published during the early period of 1965-1977 focused on the identification and naming of games, although many of the games described did not include the switch; for 1980-1989 the number of articles dropped sharply and the authors focused more on the switch within games and concepts related to games; 1990-2019 contained a special issue on games including the article by Zalcman (1990). We can also see how Berne's other theoretical concepts provide information about games. He wrote of ego states showing up in games in terms of variations of Parent, Adult and Child structurally and how in their functional modes these may be observed as Nurturing or Controlling Parent, and Free or Adapted Child, with the latter subdivided into Compliant or Rebellious (Drye 1974). In terms of transactional analysis, games move from complementary to crossed transactions because there will have been an ulterior, psychological message. In terms of script analysis, the choice of game is seen as done so that the ending reinforces the life plan and one of the psychological life positions (Gujral and Kaur 2018; Massey 1990; Stuntz 1971). In terms of games, although Berne (1972) used Formula G to indicate that some of the previously 12 (2), 25-32 https://doi.org/10.29044/v12i2p25


Introduction
The research reported in this article was conducted by the author in connection with a Master's degree awarded by the National Chiayi University in Taiwan, under the Department of Counselling. It was stimulated by a suggestion by Marilyn Zalcman (1990) that professionals within the TA community needed to "Develop a limited number of basic paradigms (probably no more than three to six) for different types of games that qualify for theoretical game analysis." (p.12). After an appropriate literature review, three constructs were established to form the basis for the research; an initial questionnaire was developed and trialled with 226 adults, and the final questionnaire was completed by 615 adults and their results analysed. Statistical methods indicated that the questionnaire had sufficient validity that it can be recommended for use by practitioners with clients as a self-awareness instrument.

Literature Review.
Because readers will be familiar with TA concepts, the following is a summary only of the detailed information that has been contained within the thesis. Berne (1958) published an article based on an oral presentation he had delivered the previous year, referring to the theoretical bases of TA as structural analysis, transactional analysis, game analysis and script analysis. Over the years, the concept of psychological games was introduced by Berne in several publications and particularly in his book entitled Games People Play (Berne 1964). Published posthumously, his last book (Berne 1972) provided a collation of his ideas, including analysing games using transactional diagrams and Formula G which set out the steps of a game. Karpman (1968) introduced the well-known drama triangle as a way of analysing games in terms of the roles of Persecutor, Rescuer and Victim.
We can consider the general TA literature across three phases: most literature published during the early period of 1965-1977 focused on the identification and naming of games, although many of the games described did not include the switch; for 1980-1989 the number of articles dropped sharply and the authors focused more on the switch within games and concepts related to games; 1990-2019 contained a special issue on games including the article by Zalcman (1990).
We can also see how Berne's other theoretical concepts provide information about games. He wrote of ego states showing up in games in terms of variations of Parent, Adult and Child structurally and how in their functional modes these may be observed as Nurturing or Controlling Parent, and Free or Adapted Child, with the latter subdivided into Compliant or Rebellious (Drye 1974). In terms of transactional analysis, games move from complementary to crossed transactions because there will have been an ulterior, psychological message. In terms of script analysis, the choice of game is seen as done so that the ending reinforces the life plan and one of the psychological life positions (Gujral and Kaur 2018;Massey 1990;Stuntz 1971).
In terms of games, although Berne (1972) used Formula G to indicate that some of the previously existing names of games were no longer fitting the definition, Zalcman (1990) challenged the inclusion by Berne of the moment of confusion (indicated by X and referred to as the cross-up by Berne). Summerton (2000) also regarded X as representing a recurring and familiar moment (déjà vu). Table 1 contains a summary of how game definitions were developed by Berne (1958Berne ( , 1964Berne ( , 1966Berne ( , 1972, together with Zalcman's (1990) version.
Based on the definitions, it is necessary to define further what is meant by the feelings denoted by the payoff. Within TA literature there are four basic feelings that are described as 'real' feelings: mad (angry), sad, glad (happy) and scared (fear) (Qiu Decai 2000;Kleinewiese 1980;Stewart and Joines 1987/ 1999, 2012/2017. Individuals learn at an early age that only certain feelings are allowed and they begin to exhibit substitute feelings (English 1971(English , 1972. For the purposes of this research, it was recognised that sadness relates to something that has happened in the past, anger relates to something in the present, and fear relates to something in the future (Thomson 1983).

Purpose of the Research
The purpose of the research was to develop a credible and valid questionnaire that would provide information about psychological game playing by adults, in a way that would allow them and their transactional analysis practitioners to analyse their communication patterns and consider possible changes that might make these patterns more psychologically healthy.
Subject to the identification of the components of such a psychological game questionnaire, and satisfactory indications of its credibility and validity, specific questions to be answered then were proposed as whether there were differences in participation in psychological games in terms of genders, ages, educational levels or occupations.

Research Methods
As shown in Figure 1, the research structure focused on theoretical versus practical game analysis.
The main features of psychological games were identified as: • hidden messages -coming from within the individual from negative Controlling Parent, negative Nurturing Parent, negative Compliant Adapted Child, negative Rebellious Adapted Child.
• role switches -Persecutor to Victim, Victim to Persecutor, Rescuer to Victim, Rescuer to Persecutor.
• repressed emotionssadness (past), anger (present) and fear (future) in terms of the genuine emotions being repressed at the end of the game; with each of these measured in terms of degrees of severity.
The research process began with a literature review, followed by discussions with a Teaching & Supervising Transactional Analyst (TSTA) and statisticians, so that a pre-test questionnaire was developed. To meet statistical requirements, this had 44 questions that covered the number of topics multiplied by 3-5 (Niu Wenying 2015).
This was tested with at least 200 individuals (Wang Wenke and Wang Zhihong 2010;Wang Junming 1999). Questions were then adjusted and/or deleted based on descriptive statistics and a final version with 33 questions was produced and completed by 615 individuals, which allowed a sample confidence level of 95% with a margin of error of ±4% based on Ministry of Interior data on the parent group.

Date Definition
Berne (1964) "An ongoing series of complementary ulterior transactions progressing to a well-defined, predictable outcome." (p.48) Berne (1966) "A game is a series of ulterior transactions with a gimmick, leading to a usually well-concealed but well-defined pay-off. " (p.227) Berne (1972) "Formula G：C(con) + G(gimmick) = R(responds) →S(switch) → X(cross-up) → P(payoffs). Whatever fits this formula is a game, and whatever does not fit it is not a game."(p.23) Zalcman (1990) "A well-defined series of transactions in which at least one person offers a con and eventually pulls a switch and collects a payoff." (p.12) To comply with the ethical guidelines (Wu Minglong 2014), the study only collected the subjects' answers to the questions and basic background information and not their identities. The statement about informed consent was included clearly within the questionnaire and subjects were informed that they should read the instructions in detail before going on to answer the questions. The researcher did, of course, guarantee that the results would be based only on the information provided by the subjects

Changes after the Pre-Test
Answers were analysed for any negative interpersonal pattern impact, in line with Zhu Jinfeng's (2010) recommendations about identification of these. It was found that six questions required attention and in the final version, wording was included to subjects that the results of the questionnaire were only for the purposes of their increased self-awareness so they should answer honestly and not be concerned about the opinions of others.

Analyses of the Final Questionnaire
Statistical analyses were conducted to check whether the questionnaire better fit the model that the three factors infer common factors or whether the three factors are related to each other, as illustrated in Figure 2. The common factors model met the recommended criteria and the related factors model almost did that with one criterion slightly below. Composite Reliability (CR) was good at ˃ .60 and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) was acceptable at ˃ 30.

Gender Analysis
The average score for males was slightly higher than for females on the Hidden Messages section, and lower for the Role Switches and Repressed Emotions. However, the average score for adult men was only slightly lower and almost identical to that for adult women. There were also significant differences in the ratio of subjectsthere were 155 males and 460 females so caution is advised over interpretation of these results.

Age Analysis
There were 169 subjects who were below 30 years old, 173 aged 30-39, 147 aged 40-49, 114 aged 50-59, and 12 over 60 years of age. There are opposing arguments about whether the final results can be relied uponhomogeneity determination is not attained but Ge Shuren (2006) would say that more confidence is justified considering the heterogeneity of the subjects. Within those caveats, the 0-29 group scored highest on the total scores and on the Hidden Messages component, whereas the 30-39 years group were higher on Role Switches and Repressed Emotions scores.

Education Analysis
The subjects were heavily drawn from university backgrounds, with 316 having attended university, another 174 having master's degrees and 8 with PhD's. The remainder were 2 individuals who had attended primary school, 2 who had attended junior high school, and 43 who had attended senior high school. Again for these groups there was a problem with homogeneity determination so it has been concluded that there are no significant differences in responses to the questionnaire from groups with the different educational backgrounds.

Occupational Analysis
Occupational categories were combined so that the classifications applied were 50 students, 95 in education, 69 in public services, 105 in the services industry, 24 within finance and insurance, 29 in IT/electronics, 39 in manufacturing, 66 in healthcare, 8 within tourism and transportation, 9 as tradespeople, 31 freelance or retired, 30 in housekeeping, 15 unemployed and 45 in agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry.
Because of the number of different occupations and the variations in numbers of subjects, caution is required in using the scores of the different groups. However, the total score and those for Hidden Messages and Repressed Emotions are highest in those who are unemployed, with tradespeople slightly higher for Role Switches.

Conclusions
A questionnaire about psychological games has been developed with three components: Hidden Messages (Berne's ulterior transactions); Role Switches (Karpman's drama triangle); and Repressed Emotions (sad, mad, scared as they are usually labelled in the TA literature).
Statistical analyses indicate that the questionnaire is in line with various recommendations so we can now develop TA theory in terms of there being three components associated with psychological game playing, and that it is reasonable to infer that the correlation between those three components exists.
Iming Huang is a Licensed Counselling Psychologist in Taiwan, has a master's degree from the Department of Counselling at National Chiayi University, and is a student of TA. She can be contacted at iming.huang.tw@gmail.com The author expresses her special thanks to Ms. Ya-Ying Chen, Teaching & Supervising Transactional Analyst (Psychotherapy), for her assistance in this research. When things don't go as well as expected, I show impatience with others. 1-2-3-4-5-6 30 I get angry when others do things to me that i don't want them to do. 1-2-3-4-5-6 31 I am disturbed if others speak in an aggressive way. 1-2-3-4-5-6 32 Being pushed by others can make me nervous. 1-2-3-4-5-6 33 After a quarrel ends in discord, I am afraid the other side will ignore me. 1-2-3-4-5-6