projective test, in psychology, examination that commonly employs ambiguous stimuli, notably inkblots (Rorschach Test) and enigmatic pictures

1. Projective
Personality
Testing
Psychological Testing

2. Projective hypothesis
DEFINITION: In a projective test, an
individual “supplies structure to
unstructured stimuli in a manner
consistent with the individual’s own
unique pattern of conscious and
unconscious needs, fears, desires,
impulses, conflicts, and ways of
perceiving and responding.”

3. Concerns About Projectives
 Assumptions:
 The more unstructured
the stimuli, the more
examinees reveal about
their personality.
 Projection is greater to
stimulus material that is
similar to the examinee.
 Every response provides
meaning for personality
analysis.
 There is an
“unconscious.”
 Subjects are unaware of
what they disclose.
 Situational variables:
 Age of examiner.
 Specific instructions.
 Subtle reinforcement
cues.
 Setting - privacy.

4. Inkblots as projective stimuli
The Rorschach:
Hermann Rorschach (1884 - 1922).
10 bilaterally symmetrical inkblots on
separate cards:
 5 black and white.
 2 black, white, and red.
 3 multicolor.

5. Inkblots: Initial administration
“What might this be?”
Record response verbatim:
Include time until first response.
Position of card, spontaneous statements,
nonverbal gestures or body movements.
No discussion of examinee’s responses.

6. Inkblots: “The inquiry”
“What made it look like _____?” or “How
do you see ____?”
Clarify initial responses and determine
which aspects of inkblot were most
influential.
Determine if examinee remembers
initial responses and if original response
is still seen.
Ask about “any new perceptions?”

7. Inkblots: “Testing the limits”
Ask specific questions to get additional
information about personality
functioning.
Identify confusion/misunderstanding
about the task.
Determine if examinee is able to do
better with more testing structure.

8. Inkblots:
Scoring Categories
 Location:
 Part of inkblot utilized:
 Entire blot, large or small
section, minute detail, white
space.
 Determinants:
 Qualities of the inkblot:
 Form, color, shading,
movement.
 Popularity of response
 Frequency of response.
 Content:
 Human figures,
animal figures, blood
etc.
 Form:
 How accurately
examinee’s
perception matches
the corresponding
part of the inkblot.

9. Inkblots:
Interpretation of scores
Generate hypotheses based on
patterns of response, recurrent
themes and interrelationships among
scoring categories:
Whole responses - conceptual thought
processes.
Form - reality testing.
Human movement - imagination.
Color - emotional reactivity.

10. Inkblots:
Psychometric Properties
Split-half and test-retest methods are
not feasible.
Inter-scorer reliability (with respect to
categories) is acceptable.
Inter-scorer reliability (with respect to
interpretation) is not always acceptable.
Convergent validity of .41:
WAIS - .62
MMPI - .46

11. The Rorschach Ink Blot:
Still widely used clinical instrument:
Most frequently used projective test;
Most frequently taught projective technique
in counseling psychology programs and
practicum sites.
Extensively used as a research
instrument:
Thousands of references in the Mental
Measurements Yearbook.

12. Exner’s system for the
Rorschach
 Comprised of best
features of 5
different systems.
 Coding categories:
 Location.
 Determinants.
 Form quality.
 Content.
 Popularity.
 Coding categories
(cont.):
 Organizational
activity.
 Special scores.
 Indexes derived:
 Obsessive style.
 Depression.
 Coping deficit.
 Schizophrenia.

13. Pictures as Projective Stimuli
 First used in 1907:
 Differences reported
in responses of boys
and girls to 9
pictures.
 Variety of pictures
utilized:
 Paintings, drawings,
etchings, or photos
of animals, people,
objects or anything.

14. Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
Morgan and Murray (1935).
Elicit fantasy material from patients in
psychoanalysis.
31 cards:
30 black & white with scenes:
 Describe story.
1 blank:
 Imagine picture on card and tell related story.

15. TAT: Administration
A set of 20 cards is recommended, but
the number may vary based on length
of stories:
Some cards are suggested for use with
adult males, adult females, or both.
Some cards are best used with children;
however, all cards may be administered
to any subject.

16. TAT: Conclusions
Based on:
Stories told by examinee.
Clinician’s notes:
 Examinee’s response to the cards.
 Extra-test behavior and verbalizations.
Analysis of story requires special
training.

17. TAT: Interpretation
Murray’s concepts:
Need - determinants of behavior arising
from within the individual.
Press - determinants of behavior arising
from within the environment.
Thema - interaction between need and
press.

18. TAT Interpretation (cont.)
Basic assumption:
Examinee is identifying with protagonist in
the story.
Examinee’s concerns, hopes, fears, and
desires are reflected in the protagonist’s
needs, demands, and conflicts.
That is, the examinee’s personality is
projected onto the protagonist.

19. TAT Psychometric properties
 Reliability:
 Split-half, test-retest,
and alternate-form
reliability measures are
not appropriate.
 Inter-rater reliability is
acceptable.
 Situational factors:
 Examiner.
 Events just prior to
administration.
 Delivery of instructions.
 Transient internal needs
states.
 Stimulus pull.
 Desire to fake good or
bad.
 Validity:
 Conflicting opinions
regarding the validity of
the assumptions and the
interpretations.

20. Variations of the TAT
 Thompson TAT
1949:
 Use with African
Americans.
 CAT 1949 (3-10):
 Pictures of animals.
 CAT - H:
 Humans instead of
animals.
 Blacky Pictures Test
1950:
 Used Blacky the dog
and his family and
friends.

21. Blacky Test

22. Blacky Test

23. Blacky Test

24. Blacky Test

25. Other Picture-Story Tests
The Picture Story Test 1949:
Used with adolescents.
Education Apperception Test and
School Appreciation Test:
Measure kids’ attitudes toward school and
learning.
TEMAS:
Hispanic characters and urban settings.

26. Other picture-story tests (cont.)
Make A Picture Story Method 1952:
Arrange pictures of figures on pictorial
backgrounds.
The Apperception Personality Test
1990:
8 stimulus cards with recognizable people
in everyday settings; more upbeat than
TAT.
Multiple choice questions fill in the gap.

27. Words as Projective Stimuli
Semi-structured technique:
Use of open-ended words, phrases and
sentences provides a framework within
which the examinee must operate.
Word association and sentence
completion tests:
2 best-known examples.

28. Early Influences:
Word Projection
Galton 1879:
Present series of words and respond with first
word that comes to mind.
Jung 1910:
Key words representing possible areas of
conflict.
Kent-Rosanoff Free Association Test
1910:
Attempt to standardize responses to specific
words.

29. Word Association Test
Rapaport, Gill and Schafer (1946):
3 part test consisting of 60 words.
Basis of evaluation:
Popularity.
Response time.
Content.
Test-retest response.

30. Sentence Completion Tests
Complete the following:
“I like to _____________.”
Stems may be general or specific
depending on the setting.
Obtain information about interests, goals,
fears, conflicts, needs, etc.
High degree of face validity:
Most vulnerable projective test to faking.

31. Rotter Incomplete Sentences
Blank (1950)
Most popular.
40 incomplete sentences .
3 levels:
high school, college and adult.
Estimates of inter-scorer reliability (with
respect to scoring categories) are in the
.90s.

32. Projective:
Figure Drawings
Quick and easy administration:
Individually or in a group.
Non-clinicians can administer.
Pencil and paper only.
Used to obtain information about
intelligence, neurological intactness, visual-
motor coordination, cognitive development,
and learning disabilities.
Questionable use.

33. Machover’s
Draw-A-Person Test
 Administration:
 “Draw a person” on
piece of 8 1/2 X 11
blank white paper.
 2nd drawing of
other sex.
 “Tell me a story
about the figure.”

34. Machover’s
Draw-A-Person Test Evaluation
Criteria
Placement of the figure:
right - future; left - past; upper right - suppress
past and optimism; lower left - depression.
Facial expressions:
large eyes or ears - suspiciousness; paranoid.
Light pencil pressure:
character disturbance.
Figure size, line quality, symmetry etc.

35. Other Figure Drawings
 House Tree Person
(HTP)
 Buck 1948.
 Kinetic Family Drawing
(KFD):
 Burns & Kaufman (1970).
 Picture of everyone in
family doing something.
 No widely accepted
scoring system.