1.
STROKES
HUNGER FOR BASIC NEEDS

2.
STROKES…
• Stroke reinforces behavior -
Tool for Child development
• Unseen Thread of Human
Relations

3.
STROKES - Definition
• A stroke is defined as a unit of recognition. (Berne 1971)
• “A stroke is a unit of attention which provides stimulation to
an individual”. (Woollams and Brown: Transactional Analysis
1978)

4.
WHAT IS
STROKES….
• HUNGER FOR STIMULATION
• HUNGER FOR RECOGNITION

5.
Hunger for Stimulation - Stimulus Hunger
Need for physical and mental stimulation

6.
Stimulus Hunger
• Study by Rene Spitz Berne’s
Choice of the word stroke refers to
the infants need for touching.

7.
Hunger for Recognition -
Recognition Hunger
• As grownups, we learn to substitute
other forms of recognition in place of
physical touching.
• A smile, a compliment, frown or
insult – all shows our existence has
been recognized.
• Berne used to term recognition hunger
to describe our need for this kind of
acknowledgement from others.

8.
STROKES -
Classification
• Positive / Negative
• Verbal / Non-Verbal
• Internal / External
• Conditional / Unconditional

9.
Verbal or Non-Verbal
• Any transaction is an exchange
of strokes.
• Most transactions involve both
verbal and non verbal exchanges.
• They may be wholly non verbal.
• It is difficult to imagine a
transaction which is purely verbal.

10.
Internal or external
• INTERNAL – Stroke from nature,
Happy memories, fantasies,
exercise, etc
• EXTERNAL- strokes from others
are important for healthy living.

11.
Positive or Negative
• A positive stroke is one
which the receiver
experiences as pleasant.
• A negative stroke is one
experienced as painful.
• Any kind of stroke is
better than no stroke at all.

12.
Conditional or Unconditional
• A conditional stroke relates to
what you do.
• An unconditional stroke relates
to what you are.
• Positive conditional.
• Positive unconditional.
• Negative conditional.
• Negative Unconditional

13.
Stroking effect on Hormones
• Endorphin
• Dopamine
• Sorotonin
• Oxytonin

14.
Activity 1
• Write down two
strokes you gave
today
• Write down two
strokes you received
today.

15.
Activity 2
Identify which kind of stroke it
is.
• Verbal or Non-verbal.
• Positive or Negative.
• Conditional or Unconditional.
• Positive conditional.
• Positive unconditional.
• Negative conditional.
• Negative Unconditional
• Internal or External.

16.
Activity 3
• Give a positive conditional
stroke to the person sitting
to your left
• Give an internal positive
unconditional stroke to
yourself
• Give a Non-Verbal stroke to
the person sitting to your
right

17.
Stroking and
reinforcement of
behavior
• Stroking reinforces the behavior
which is stroked.
• If there do not seem to be
enough positive strokes to fulfill
our need for stroking, we will go
ahead and seek out negative
strokes.
• Quality and intensity of strokes
are important.

18.
STROKES - Pattern
• Giving
• Accepting
• Rejecting
• Asking
• Self Stroke

19.
Giving Strokes Types
• Plastic Stroke: Not genuine. Plastic strokes are insincere
positives. Eric Berne described this as marshmallow – Throwing.
• Counterfeit Stroke: sounding +ve stroke with –ve string.
Counterfeit strokes are as though they give something
positive, then take it away again.
• Self Stroke: Appreciating oneself
• No Stroke: Ignore

20.
Taking Strokes
• We are used to getting certain
strokes.
• Because of their familiarity, we
devalue these strokes.
• We may secretly want to receive
other strokes which we seldom get.
• We deny to ourselves that we want
the strokes we most want.

21.
Taking Strokes
• • Everybody has their preferred stroke quotient.
• • Quality of strokes cannot be measured subjectively.
• • A high quality for stroke to you may be a low-quality
stroke for me.
• Different strokes for different folks.

22.
STROKES - Filtering
• Plastic Strokes
• Counterfeit Strokes
• Self Stroking

23.
STROKES…
• The secret behind Human Relations
• Strokes make life worth living