Origins of the ‘OK Corral’

Transactional Analysis (TA) was originally conceived by Eric Berne, during the 1950s and 1960s, as a system of psychotherapy. One of the underlying principles of TA, is that we are all 'OK'. By this, we mean that everyone has value and worth; I accept myself as me and I accept you as you. Sometimes we might behave in ways which are unacceptable, but this does not mean that our existence doesn't have value; I may not like your behaviour, but I still value your existence as a human being. TA offers models to understand ourselves, our relationships and our ways of communicating with each other. Over the years, TA has evolved and today the theories also have great utility in educational and organisational settings.

The 'OK Corral' is a concept by Franklin Ernst, one of the first contributors to Transactional Analysis. Published in the Transactional Analysis Journal in 1971, as the 'OK Corral: Grid for What's Happening', it describes what Ernst calls four categories of 'dynamic social operations' - positions we take up when we interact with other people - based on whether we believe we are ‘OK’, or not, and whether other people are ‘OK’, or not.

The Four Ways of Existing