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

P Behaviors, thoughts and feelings

Copied from parents or parent figure

ADULT EGO STATE

A Behaviors, thoughts and feelings

which are direct responses to the
here and now

CHILD EGO STATE

C Behaviors, thoughts and feelings

Replayed from childhood
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

1 Child Ego 42.5098 2.1903

Adult Ego 44.2615

2 Child Ego 42.5098 2.0322

Parent Ego 44.1204

3 Adult Ego 44.2615 0.1945

Parent Ego 44.1204