PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT: PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST [TAT]

•Thematic (adj. having or relating to subjects or a particular subject) Apperception (n. assimilation into the mind of a new concept) Test [TAT] was developed by Henry Murray & Christiana Morgan in 1935. 

•TAT is a little more structured than the Rorschach Inkblot Test.

•Altogether, there are 30 cards; 29 having ambiguous black and white pictures, showing one or more persons, in a variety of situations; and 1 blank card.

•Some of these cards (10) are meant for adult males and females, others (10) are used with boys and girls, and still others (9) are used in some combinations.

•20 cards (19picture cards+ 1 blank card) are appropriate for a subject, although a lesser number of cards (even 5) has also been successfully used.

•The pictures are vague about the events depicted and can be interpreted in several ways. 

METHOD

•The person taking the test is presented these (20) cards, one at a time. The test-taker is asked to construct a story about the people and objects depicted in the picture. 

•The subject is asked to describe:

i) What led up to the situation shown?

ii) What is happening at the moment?

iii) What the people are thinking and feeling?

iv) What the outcome is likely to be?

SCORING & INTERPRETATION

•Psychologists consider many factors in interpreting the stories constructed by the TAT test-takers. 

•These include the kinds of personal relationships involved, the motivations of the characters, and the degree of contact with reality shown by the characters. 

•There are no objective scoring systems for TAT, and its reliability and validity are low when used for diagnostic purposes. 

•Attempts have been made to develop standard procedures for scoring TAT responses.

•The TAT has also been modified for use with children and the aged.

•Uma Chaudhary’s Indian adaptation of TAT is also available.

Nevertheless, TAT is widely used to uncover internal conflicts, dominant drives, interests, and motives. Specific motives include the need for achievement, need for power, the need for intimacy, and problem-solving abilities. 

OTHER PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

Apart from the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the TAT, psychologists use a number of other Projective Techniques to assess human personality. These include: 

1. Rosenzweig’s Picture-Frustration Study (P-F Study), 

2. Word-Association Test, 

3. Sentence-Completion Test, and 

4. Draw- a- Person Test

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

•This test makes use of a number of incomplete sentences.

•The starting part of the sentence is first presented and the subject has to provide an ending to the sentence.

•It is held that the type of endings used by the subjects reflect their attitudes, motivation and conflicts. 

•The test provides subjects with several opportunities to reveal their underlying unconscious motivations.

•Interpretations of the responses with this approach can be highly subjective.

•However, some sentence-completion tests, such as the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank, provide for more objective scoring.

DRAW-A-PERSON TEST

•It is a simple test in which the subject is asked to draw a person on a sheet of paper.

•A pencil and eraser is provided to facilitate drawing.

•After the completion of the drawing, the subject is generally asked to draw the figure of an opposite sex person.

•Finally, the subject is asked to make a story about the person as if s/he was a character in a novel or a play.

CONCLUSION

•The assessment of personality with the help of projective techniques appears fairly interesting. 

•It helps one to understand unconscious motives, deep-rooted conflicts, and emotional complexes of an individual.

•However, the interpretation of the responses requires sophisticated skills and specialized training.

•There are problems associated with the reliability of scoring and validity of interpretations.

•Nevertheless, the practitioners have found these techniques quite useful in assessing human personality.