Life position is one of the many basic phenomenon behind the transactional analysis theory. It offers very important concepts about human thinking and behavioral patterns and can help to understand them. Life position also provides a justification for our decisions and for the way we interact with other people around us.

The concept behind life positions is also used to understand various behavioral patterns. According to the developers of this theory, every individual has his own general stance in life, which means that every person has a fixed life position.

Though in adult life, we switch between different life positions, underneath these positions lies only one stance which acts like a default position when we are stressed and under pressure. For instance, a pessimistic man who generally believes in a negative philosophy might think positively during some situations, but when under stress he would have a pessimistic view about things.

Transactional analysis theorists have classified life positions in four primary groups. “I’m OK. You’re not OK” is one of those four positions. People who have this life position generally believe in an aggressive philosophy. This position is called a paranoid position and as it is obvious from the description, these people are hostile towards other people. Basically, they believe that other people are of no use to them and hence want to get rid of them.

Because these people believe in an aggressive philosophy, they are mostly distrustful and arrogant and consider themselves superior. They are authoritative and give orders forcefully. “I’m OK. You’re not OK” people are mostly independent as they are over-confident. They are very hard to impress and bossy. They can be indifferent to others but sometimes can be very critical of other people’s mistakes and shortcomings. They are mostly bossy as they think they are superior.