The discounting, not observable in itself, can be inferred by the person’s showing any of the four passive behavior. There are many other ways of detecting discounts.

1. Detecting Discounts

2. Prepared By
Manu Melwin Joy
Research Scholar
School of Management Studies
CUSAT, Kerala, India.
Phone – 9744551114
Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com
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Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public
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3. Detecting discounts
• The discounting, not
observable in itself, can be
inferred by the person’s
showing any of the four
passive behavior.
• There are many other ways
of detecting discounts.

4. Detecting discounts
• Driver behavior always
indicates a discount.
• Remember that when I show a
driver, I am internally replaying
the script belief : “ I am only OK
if I try hard / please others etc.
• The reality is that I am OK
whether or not I follow these
driver messages.

5. Detecting discounts
• Schiff specify certain thinking
disorders as clues to
discounting.
• One of these is over detailing.
• Asked a simple question , the
person showing this disorder
will reply with a long tirade of
minute details.

6. Detecting discounts
• Over generalization is the opposite of
over detailing in which the person
expresses ideas only in
sweeping, global terms.
• Ex : “Well, my problem is something
huge. People are after me. Things are
getting me down”.

7. Verbal Clues
• One of the skills of TA is to
identify discounting by
listening to the words people
use.
• The difficulty in practice is
that everyday speech is full of
discounts, so much so that we
become desensitized to them.
• We need to re learn the skill
of listening to what is really
being said and testing each
statement against reality.

8. Verbal Clues
• When someone says “ I
can’t..”, he will most often be
discounting.
• “I will try to…” is usually a
discount, since what it implies
is usually “ I will try to, but I
won’t do it”.
• The same is true will all driver
wordings. Be strong discounts
are particularly common. Ex:
“What you say is boring to
me.”

9. Verbal Clues
• Sometimes, a discount is
signaled by leaving out a part
of the sentence.
• For instance, a member of the
TA group may ask “I want a
hug”.
• She doesn’t say from whom
she wants hug from.
• She is omitting information
relevant to the solution of the
problem.

10. Non verbal Clues
• Equally important is the skill
of identifying discounts
from non verbal clues.
• Here, the discount is
signaled by a mismatch
between the words being
said and the non verbal
signals that go with them.
• This mismatching is called
incongruity.

11. Non verbal Clues
• For example, teacher asks his
pupil : “Do you understand the
assignment I have set you?”.
• The pupil replies : “Sure”.
• But at the same time, he
puckers his brow and scratches
his head.
• If teacher is aware about the
thinking martian, he will ask
more questions to check
whether his pupil is
discounting.

12. Gallows
• One frequent indication of a
discount is gallows laughing.
• Here, the person laughs when
making a statement about
something unpleasant.
• Ex: “That was silly of me, ha
ha”.
• In gallows, there is incongruity
between the laugh and the
painful content.

13. Gallows
• When someone gives a gallows
laugh, he is making a non
verbal invitation to the listener
to reinforce once of his script
belief.
• The straight response to
gallows is to refuse to join in
the laughing.
• You may also say : “That is not
funny”, if you are in a situation
where it is socially appropriate
to do so.

14. Stroke Filter / Discount
• When someone gets a stroke that
doesn’t fit in with her preferred
stroke quotient, she is likely to
ignore it or belittle it.
• Discounts are an internal
mechanism by which people
minimize or maximize
(grandiosity) an aspect of
reality, themselves or others.
• In other words they are not
accounting for the reality of
themselves or others or the
situation.

15. Activity
• Think about the strokes you gave and received.
• Was it counterfeit, marshmallows, straight?
• Who received it openly, who discounted it?
• Which strokes you received and which one you discounted?

16. Strokes Vs Discounts
• A discount always entails some distortion of reality unlike a straight negative
stroke.
• NCS – You spelled the word wrong.
• Discount – I see you can’t spell
• NUCS – I hate you.
• Discount – You are hateful.
• Unlike a straight negative stroke, a discount gives me no signal on which I
can base constructive action.

17. Thank you

18. Other TA topics available on slideshare
1. Strokes - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/strokes-24081607.
2. Games People Play - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/psychological-
games-people-play.
3. Structural Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/the-ego-state-model.
4. What is TA? - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/what-ta-is
5. Cycles of Development - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/cycles-of-
developement-pamela-levin-transactional-analysis.
6. Stages of Cure - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stages-of-cure.
7. Transactions - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/transactions-33677298.
8. Time Structuring - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/time-structuring.
9. Life Position - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/life-position.
10. Autonomy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/autonomy-33690557.
11. Structural Pathology - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/structural-pathology.
12. Game Analysis - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/game-analysis-33725636.
13. Integrated Adult - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/integrated-adult.
14. Stroke Economy - http://www.slideshare.net/manumjoy/stroke-economy-
33826702.