Adaptive Child:

The adaptive child — in transactional analysis (TA) developed in the 1950s by psychiatrist Eric Berne — is one of the child ego states. It refers to the part that learns to adjust, comply, appease, or rebel in response to authority figures in childhood in order to stay safe, connected, or approved of. The adaptive child is not inherently unhealthy — it reflects early intelligence and survival — but in adulthood it can show up as people-pleasing, self-silencing, perfectionism, or reactive defiance when old power dynamics are unconsciously replayed.