SHORT COMMUNICATION

The Egogram Feature of Late Teenager in the

Internet Generation
Tomohiro Yokoyama1, Hiroshi Bando2
1
Department of Advanced Technology and Science, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan, 2Department of 
Internal Medicine, Tokushima University and Medical Research, Tokushima, Japan

ABSTRACT

Background: Historically, transactional analysis (TA) was initiated and developed by Berne and Dusey, and egogram
analysis has been utilized for years. The egogram includes five egos such as critical parent (CP), nurturing parent (NP),
adult (A), free child (FC), adapted child (AC), and has been applied using Tokyo University Egogram (TEG) in Japan.
University students were given our class of egogram, and they were studied for further evaluation of the egogram analysis.
Research Protocol and Results: Subjects were 376 late teenagers in university students. They were to answer TEG
questionnaire with the evaluation of the personality trait. There are 29 typical standard personality patterns acceptable in Japan.
By analyzing the data of the subjects, six types with higher prevalence were found in the students than the standard ratio. These
are dependent, short temper, self-centered, conflict, solitude, and pessimism. Discussion and Conclusion: From the analyzed
data, the overall trend would be as follows: (1) NP is generally low. (2) CP and AC are relatively high, and (3) distribution of A
and FC is wide. Subjects are in the internet generation. Obtained data would suggest the probable involvement of the continuing
daily internet utilization and various growing environments of each subject.

Key words: Egogram, internet generation, late teenager, nurturing parent, tokyo university egogram, transactional analysis

INTRODUCTION transactional analysis (TA) was begun by the Eric Berne. It was a
personality theory which was easy to understand by everyone.[4,5]

I
n recent years, there have been various psychological TA has been one of the practical and useful psychotherapies
problems for ordinary people in daily life.[1] One of because it can evaluate preferable mutual human communication.
the reasons would be probably from interpersonal It can also improve the personality trait and growth in adequate
communication associated with increasing stressful matters. manner. It has been called egogram including three egos which
are parent (P), adult (A), and child (C).[4,5]
In developed and developing countries, our quality of life,
activities of daily living, and environment have become
This useful psychotherapy has been handed over by John M.
better than before from physical point of view. However, our Dusey. He developed the egogram further and proposed to
circumstance has not so improved to ideal situation in the include five egos. They are critical parent (CP), nurturing
light of our states of mind, heart, and spirits.[2] Human may parent (NP), Adult (A), free child (FC), and adapted child
have difficulties in spending every day, unless he feels stable (AC).[6,7] Successively, it has become popular and used
and happy from the points of biopsychosocial aspects.[3] widely due to its simple usefulness for clinical application.

Psychology is one of the crucial fields of medicine with clinical The concept of the egogram was introduced to Japan and
practice and research. In the development of psychology, developed by Tokyo University. The psychosomatic group

Address for correspondence:

Hiroshi BANDO, Tokushima University/Medical Research, Nakashowa 1-61, Tokushima 770-0943 Japan.
Tel: +81-90-3187-2485. E-mail: [email protected]
https://doi.org/10.33309/2639-9113.010201 www.asclepiusopen.com
© 2018 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

Clinical Research in Psychology  •  Vol 1  •  Issue 2  •  2018 1

 Yokoyama and Bando: Egogram of late teenager at internet generation

had established Japanese style of the egogram, which is Tokyo Table 1: Results of the egogram types
University Egogram (TEG).[8,9] During some decades, TEG
Classification of types Students Standard
has been one of the reliable examination psychologically. It
has been proved to be adequate standardization by sufficient Egogram types (%) (%)
statistical investigation.[8,9] Dominant type
Stubborn 1.0 3.4
On contrast, clinical application and research for TEG have Nursemaid 2.6 7.7
been continued by the authors. Previously, we have already
Computer 5.5 8.1
reported clinical research of the personality in music learners
and teachers.[10] Moreover, we have given lectures for Free spirit 6.9 6.8
university students for long, which would be useful for the Dependent a) 10.1 6.1
psychological development of the adolescence period during Inferior type
their meaningful daily life.[4] In this investigation, we show
Loose 3.9 2.1
the data of TEG from the students and compare and analyze
them in the light of biopsychosocial aspects. Short temper b) 12.5 2.8
Unrealistic 5.0 4.8
RESEARCH PROTOCOL AND Patient 1.3 4.7

RESULTS Administrator 0.8 3.1

Mixed type
In this study, subjects enrolled were 376 late teenagers in Family man 1.6 3.5
university students, who were in the Faculty of Engineering Volunteer 0.8 1.2
of Tokushima University. Approximately 1–2 month after
Self‑centered c) 4.0 1.8
entering the university, they took our class and workshop
of the egogram. We gave them special lectures including Conflict d) 5.8 2.6
psychology, culture, medicine, multidisciplinary subjects, Paranoid 0.8 1.1
and so on. This class concerning the theory and practice of Sulky 0.8 1.1
the egogram has been continued for years associated with our Good hearted 4.7 4.1
management and research. These classes have been provided
Big mama 3.4 4.1
to the students at the 1st and also the 4th grade of 4-year faculty
course and also the 1st grade of postgraduate course. Workaholism 1.9 1.8
Solitude e) 5.3 4.0
Methods in this study included the investigation of personality Playboy 2,9 3.2
trait using TEG. It has been known as a highly reliable Too convinced 1.3 1.9
psychological test, which was established with the concept
of TA.[8,9,11] TEG has 60 simple questions, and everyone can
answer, calculate, and evaluate easily within 5–10 min. DISCUSSION
As the evaluation for TEG, it can show and speculate five ego In the field of psychotherapy, the egogram has been useful
states and personality trait. Psychologically speaking, there and effective for medical practice and research. Several kinds
are five egos in our mind, such as CP, NP, A, FC, and AC. of diseases or states include anorexia nervosa, obesity, coat
hypertension, and so on.[11-14] These reasons for the efficacy
Results of the egogram in this study were shown in Table 1. would be from the characteristic points of psychosomatic
As the interpretation for TEG, there are 29 different types of diseases from biopsychosocial aspects.
personality trait. These types have been speculated through
continuing TEG research for years. This classification has Subjects of this study are in the internet generation. Based on the
been accepted for Japanese people and human communication results, six types were more frequently observed than standard
situation. data. The overall trend would be as follows: (1) NP is generally
low, (2) CP and AC are relatively high, and (3) distribution of
The current data were also compared with the previous A and FC is wide. In the discussion, we would focus on lower
standard value, which are from more than 4500 Japanese NP and rather higher CP and AC. The main perspectives are
people.[8,9] From the results of 29 kinds of pattern in TEG, internet world and growing environment.[15]
characteristic six types were picked up and discussed, in
which frequency was more than the standard value. Those With the spread of the internet, SNS has rapidly developed
types were (1) dependent, (2) short tempered, (3) self- and became a part of communication method. Among them,
centered, (4) conflict, (5) solitude, and (6) pessimist. convenient matter is to communicate with the other party

2 Clinical Research in Psychology  •  Vol 1  •  Issue 2  •  2018

 Yokoyama and Bando: Egogram of late teenager in the internet generation

at any time on the internet, unlike actually communicating declines for years, children are more likely to feel loneliness
people. Meanwhile, there could be a risky matter. Since it is and lack of love due to nuclear family and dual work of the
not face to face, person may feel that there is no instant replay parents. Consequently, there is a possibility that it may lead
or that his situation is tightly bound for pending condition. to indifference to others.[18]
Such situation may bring him stress. It is considered
that this stressful state would be caused by a decrease in In such situations feeling solitude, the compensation way to
morality related to interpersonal relationship adjacent to NP fill the heart has changed. In the past, it was an interpersonal
decrease.[16] relationship and communication. However, in recent years, it
has replaced to the internet approach. With this trend, mutual
Along with the popularization of the internet worldwide, human relationship seems to be weaker for years.[20]
desiring information can be obtained instantly and easily. As
a result, people have tendency not to think deeply, inducing a Regarding the AC factor, there seems to be some characteristic
decreased level of factor A. features in recent years. There are few children brought up by
grandparents; then, it seems to be rather rare that AC was
Conflicting behavior may be seen in both the normal life acquired with balanced five egos in natural environment
world and the internet-related world. In other words, people with parents and grandparents. On the other hand, due to the
have been taking high caution and action of other people current situation of school life, important points have been
associated with elevated AC level. placed on not disturbing the atmosphere of the place, not
disturbing the group and taking cooperative action. For that
There is always human ego suppressed by AC in ordinary reason, it is thought that many students do not clarify their
daily life. On contrast, there is no need to worry about other own opinion.[21] These situations have brought the elevation
people at all in the internet world. As its rebound reaction, of AC, leading to the increased ratio of the ego type of
the ego may be reversed and released in the internet.[17] As a dependent.
result, criticism and violent behavior against others are apt to
develop more than usual. For this reason, a flow in which CP In summary, six types were found more in this study. The
rise and NP decrease are conceivable can be found. reasons would be as follows: (1) There is basically a decline
in NP and A, (2) high AC is required in daily life, (3) high CP
Comprehensively, it seems that the spread of the internet is is found for aggressive attitude against people in the internet
greatly related to the transition of ego state in the student. world, and (4) NP declines due to growth background in
Considering the environment in which students of 18–20 years nuclear families. We expect that the current results would
old had been raised, the internet was always popular and become a fundamental reference and there will be further
presents in normal circumstances during childhood and developed in the future research.
adolescence. Since the generation was brought up in such
a convenient and less human-like environment, they could
have received various influence of the internet.[18]
REFERENCES
1. Balint M. The Doctor, His Patient and the Illness. 2nd ed.
Furthermore, it seems that the Japanese family structure
London: Pitman; 1964.
also affects the decline of NP. In the Showa era, the family 2. Ikemi Y. Psychosomatic medicine as a link of the west and the
composition has included many relatives. However, there are east. Jpn J Psychosom Med 1993;33:546-52.
more nuclear families, and the children often tend to grow 3. Komaki G. A new milestone for biopsychosocial medicine.
away from their grandparents. The NP factor is characteristic Biopsychosoc Med 2018;12:10.
for its gentle mother heart. Although the influence of the 4. Bando H. Transactional analysis would be useful for various
mother is large for NP, the influence of the grandparents is situations in psychotherapy. Psychol Psychother Res Stud
also considered to be equal or greater than that of the mother. 2018;1:504.
5. Berne E. Transactional Analysis. New York: Ballantine Books;
In the past, mothers were always with their children. Even if 1978.
the parents worked together, the grandparents have always 6. Dusay J. Egograms-How I See You and You See Me. New York:
Harper and Row; 1977.
took care of them with affection. Grandparents tend to grow
7. Berne E. Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy:
their grandchildren relatively in dependent manners.[19] This
A Systematic Individual and Social Psychiatry. Verlag: Martino
relationship may have the possibility that a child will grow a Fine Books; 2015.
little selfishly. However, children could obtain the valuable 8. Kuboki T, Nomura S, Wada M, Akabayashi A, Nagataki M,
temperaments such as kindness, tolerance, and comfort. Suematsu H, et al. Multidimensional assessment of mental
state in occupational health care-combined application of
As described above, there is a mutual relationship between three questionnaires: Tokyo university egogram (TEG), time
the internet and the growing environment. As NP gradually structuring scale (TSS), and profile of mood states (POMS).

Clinical Research in Psychology  •  Vol 1  •  Issue 2  •  2018 3

 Yokoyama and Bando: Egogram of late teenager at internet generation

Environ Res 1993;61:285-98. 16. Sakagami Y. Qualitative job stress and ego aptitude in male
9. Psychosomatic Medicine Department of Tokyo University. scientific researchers. Work 2016;55:585-92.
Egogram Pattern New Edition. Personality Analysis. Tokyo: 17. de Graaf A. The group in the individual. Trans Anal J
Kaneko Publishing; 1995. 2013;43:311-20.
10. Bando H, Yoshioka A, Nakanishi A. Investigation of egogram 18. Jo EH, Lee DH. The effect of personality traits on stress
in music teachers and learners. Jap J Biomusic 1997;15:152-8. and academic achievement. Indian J Public Health Res Dev
11. Nakao M, Kumano H, Nomura S, Kuboki T, Murata K. 2018;9:1374-9.
Assessment of ego state in anorexia nervosa and bulimia 19. Karumur RP, Nguyen TT, Konstan JA. Personality, user
nervosa. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1999;99:385-7. preferences and behavior in recommender systems. Inf Syst
12. Saito H, Kimura Y, Tashima S, Takao N, Nakagawa A, Baba T, Front 2017;1-25. DOI: org/10.1007/s10796-017-9800-0.
et al. Psychological factors that promote behavior modification 20. Nakao M, Tamiya N, Yano E. Gender and somatosensory
by obese patients. Biopsychosoc Med 2009;3:9. amplification in relation to perceived work stress and social
13. Cai L, Kaneko S, Morita E. Changes in salivary chromogranin support in Japanese workers. Women Health 2005;42:41-54.
21. Suda M, Onoe H, Harigai K. Cases which were treated by
A levels in adults with atopic dermatitis are correlated with
giving grounds to delusion: What is client-centered medical
changes in their condition. J Dermatol 2018;45:554-9.
care? J Gen Fam Med 2017;18:108-13.
14. Muneta S, Kobayashi T, Matsumoto I. Personality
characteristics of patients with “white coat” hypertension.
Hypertens Res 1997;20:99-104. How to cite this article: Yokoyama T, Bando H. The
15. Bando H. Psychological study of egogram can be helpful Egogram Feature of Late Teenager in the Internet
medically and socially for better life. Arch Psychiatry Behav
Generation. Clin Res Psychol 2018;1(2):1-4.
Sci 2018;1:11-4.

4 Clinical Research in Psychology  •  Vol 1  •  Issue 2  •  2018