I. Name of Test: Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
II. Author(s): Henry A. Murray, M.D. and Christiana Morgan
III.Publisher: Harvard University Press
IV. Date of Publication: Copyright 1943; Copyright 1971
V. Introduction/Overview:
The idea for the TAT emerged from a question asked by one of Murray’s undergraduate
student, if picture could be employed in clinical settings to explore the dynamics of personality.
Focusing on the manual, Thematic Apperception Test is a method of revealing to the trained
interpreter with level C qualifications some of the dominant drives, emotions, sentiments,
complexes, and conflicts of personality. Special value resides in its power to expose the
underlying inhibited tendencies which the subject, or patient, is not willing to admit, or cannot
admit because he is unconscious of them. The TAT will be found useful in any comprehensive
study of personality and in the interpretation of behavior disorder, psychosomatic illness,
neuroses, and psychoses which is not suitable for children under four years of age. The
technique is especially recommended as a preface to a series of psychotherapeutic interview or
to a short psychoanalysis. It can cost an estimate of 85 dollars and above if only manual and
accessories, but can cost as much if the training in administration and interpretation is added in
the package.
The procedure is merely that of presenting a series of pictures to a subject and encouraging
him to tell stories about them, invented on the spur of the moment. The fact that stories
collected in this way often reveal significant component of personality is dependent on the
prevalence of two psychological tendencies: the tendency of people to interpret an ambiguous
human situation in conformity with their past experiences and present wants, and the tendency
of those who write stories to do likewise: draw on the fund of their experiences and express
their sentiments and needs, whether conscious or unconscious.
The material consists of nineteen picture printed on white bristol board and one blank card,
calling for a total of 20 stories although the original cards are 31. It is, of course, possible to get
along without any pictures by simply directing the subject to “make up a story,” it has been
found (1) that pictures are effective in stirring the imagination; (2) that they serve to force the
subject to deal, in his own way, with certain classical human situations; finally (3) that the
advantages of using standard stimuli here, as in other tests, considerable.
In estimating the effectiveness of a picture they waited in each case until the personality of
the subject taking the test had, with the help of other methods, been thoroughly studied and
understood; and then picture are rated according to the amount of information contributed to
the final diagnosis by the story it had evoked. The average of such ratings was accepted as a
measure of the stimulating power of the picture. This is the most dependable method of
judging the efficacy of any non-specific diagnostic procedure. Experience has shown that in the
long run the stories obtained are more revealing and the validity of the interpretation is
increased if most of the pictures include a person who is of the same sex as the subject. This
does not mean that it is necessary to have two completely different sets of pictures, since some
pictures of proved value contain no human figures; others portray an individual of each sex, and
in others the sex of the one figure shown is questionable. In fact, eleven of our pictures
(including the blank card) have been found suitable for both sexes.
Expert’s experience has been limited almost entirely to testing subjects between fourteen
and forty years of age, and the present set of pictures reflects this limitations, most of them
conforming to the principle that one figure in the picture should be, no only of the same sex as
the subject but not much older, not old enough, say, to be a contemporary of his/her parents.
Experts explained, however, that in testing children this principle is not of critical importance,
and that most of the present lot of pictures, with a few necessary substitutions, is appropriate
for ages seven to fourteen. Other workers have obtained satisfactory results with still younger
boys and girls.
Each set is divided into two series of ten pictures, the picture of the second series being
purposely more unusual, dramatic and bizarre than those of the first. One full hour is devoted to
a series, the two sessions being separated by day or more.
In administration, preparation of the subject is not required, but for those who exhibit
bizarre behavior, resistant and suspicion, or who never encountered psychological test or any,
must be supplemented by other test such as intelligence test, aptitude test, other projective
test, etc. Air of friendliness must be establish as the atmosphere of testing situation, wherein
rapport is build by the therapist, psychologist or experts in using TAT, adopting encouragement
and appreciation as the best routine attitude in eliciting a good story that comes from the client.
The procedure is done in two sessions, untimed using paper and pencil and can be administered
individually or by group; (1) first session, subject is seated in a comfortable chair or stretched
out on a couch, preferably with his back to the experimenter and instruction is given in two
forms (a) form A which is suitable for adolescent and adults of average intelligence, (b) form B
which is suitable for children, for adults with little education or intellectual deficit, and for
psychotics, (2) second session is quite similar to the first one, but, at least one day should
intervene between the two sessions. In this session complete freedom of imagination is implied.
For training of the interpreter, a layman with refined intraceptive intuitions and beginner’s
luck can often, without any experience in testing, make valid and important inferences by
feeling his way into the mental environment of the author of a set of TAT stories; ad even an old
hand at the game must rely on the same process -- emphatic intuition first and last,
disentangled as far as possible form personal elements. Intuition alone is highly unreliable but
what is required is a rigorously trained critical intuition. Interpreter of the TAT should have a
background of clinical experience, observing, interviewing and testing patients of all sorts; and,
if he is to get much below the surface, knowledge of psychoanalysis and some practice in
translating the imagery of dreams and ordinary speech into elementary psychological
components. In addition, he should had months of training in the use of this specific test, much
practice in analyzing stories when it is possible to check each conclusion against the known facts
of thoroughly studied personalities. The future of the TAT hangs on the possibility of perfecting
the interpreter more than it does on perfecting the material.
The most important thing is that the interpreter must now the necessary basic data such as
the sex and age of the subject, whether the parents are dead or separated, the ages and sexes
of his siblings, vocation and marital status. Without these, the interpreter may have difficulty
orienting himself as he reads. A blind analysis is a stunt in which may or may not be successful, it
has no place in clinical practice.
VI. Psychometric Characteristics/Properties:
Several psychometric characteristics/properties are observed:
1. Content analysis is observed by analyzing successive into the (a) force or faces
emanating from the hero, and (b) from the environment, distinguishing the character with
whom the subject has identified himself is very important. Also, the shifts among the course of
the story such as primary and secondary hero as well as partial heroes which is not a
component element of the story-teller’s personality but an element of his environment. The
analysis of each variety of emotion manifested by the hero is rated on a 1 (one) to 5 (five) scale,
5 being the highest possible mark for any variable on a single story. The criteria of strength are
intensity, duration, frequency and importance in the plot. After the twenty stories have been
scored in this way, the total for each variable is compared to the standard scores for a given age
and sex, and the variables which are either well above or well below the standard are listed and
scrutinized in relation to each other. The comprehensive list of press is measured similar to how
the hero is rated plus the interpretation of the outcome after looking at the two important
factor in TAT.
2. One criterion by which the examiner can measure his ability to perform his function is
the length of the stories which his subjects invent for him. Three hundred words is the standard
average length for stories from adults subjects; one hundred and fifty words for stories from
ten-year-old children. Lengthy stories are practically dubbed as having strength compared to
brief stories which is comparably weak.
3. Base on the TAT manual, there is some pragmatic basis, to be sure, for this expectation
in as much as statistical studies have shown that with most variables there is a positive
correlation between the strength of their imaginal expressions and the strength of their
behavioral expressions. Relying in the overall findings without considering others lead to
inconsistencies. Although, positive correlation is observed but, what is revealed by the TAT is
often the very opposite of what the subject consciously and voluntarily does and says in his
daily life.
4. Depth interpretation is needed, inferences of this sort can be further validated only by
the data derived from some kind of psychoanalysis, and it would be better if the experts submit
their depth interpretations to those analyst and experts who have the ability to verify them.
5. In terms of reliability, experts must not expect the repeat reliability of the test to be high
since responses reflects on fleeting mood as well as the present situation of the subject vary or
even though the content objectifies tendencies and traits that are relatively constant, still data
on this point are lacking. Also, the TAT is implicitly based on a multiple regression model, for
which coefficient alpha is not appropriate -- misapplication of traditional psychometric
measures are not appropriate to this test. In addition, test-retest may be adversely affected by
the standard instruction to write a “creative story” and the subjectivity of raters rating.
6. TAT are meant to evoke an involuntary display of one’s subconscious. Standardization for
evaluating one’s response to the picture is lacking; each evaluation is completely subjective
which garner uniqueness. So, validity and reliability are consequently in questioned. Even when
individual scoring procedures are examined, the absence of standardization or norms make it
difficult to compare the results of validity and reliability across studies.
7. The utility of TAT is quite high to be confident of, this test is found beneficial in any
broad study of personalities and its complexities, and in the interpretation psychological
disorders. This would be effective if supplemented by other test and tools for assessment.
VII. Concluding Comments:
Thematic Apperception Test is one of the famous projective tests that captured my interest.
My underlying passion for art and curiosity of being a professional in the field of psychology
lead me to unravel this test with my own hands. As I scan through the whole manual and read
some researches related to the test, I come to understand the complexity, beauty and
importance of TAT in the field. Although, historically considered as most popular and widely
researched test, some issues arises trying to counter its effectiveness.
In this last section, I will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this test, so that we will
be able to understand that nothing is perfect, that test have lapses and issues but at the same
time beyond this weaknesses, we can draw answers for future purposes.
Strengths:
1. If interpreters are trained and become veteran in the field, he/she can explore the
dynamics of personality with confidence, revealing the underlying inhibited tendencies of the
client and to aid that conflict.
2. TAT is very useful in broad and comprehensive study of personality and psychological
disorder, also it may help to unravel new psychological disorders and theories in personality.
3. If supplemented by another projective techniques such as Rorschach, etc, and other tool
for assessment, it will yield a much stronger result as pointed out by the experts in the manual,
it can be peculiarly effective.
4. Client can declare their personality freely, thus it will not be boxed on a certain standard
resulting to the response of the client that will explain the benefit of personality.
5. Lastly, since it is widely used in the field, TAT can be of used in marketing, advertisement,
business and other fields due to its great implication and help to the professionals.
Weaknesses:
1. It needs a highly qualified and experienced professionals, thus TAT requires high
maintenance and due to high maintenance the client can be intimidated. In addition, the lack of
expertise of those who are practicing in the field may harm the client or make their conflict
worse.
2. Practicality is in questioned due to the cost of TAT. Thorough administration and the
confidence to the trained professionals’ analysis and interpretation make it expensive. Thus,
some professional resort to a shift, from the use of projective techniques to objective one.
3. The administration of TAT is time consuming, one session can last for one (1) hour to a
day and the other session is the same. This will cause fatigue to the client (in story telling
process) and trained professionals (listening and becoming an emotional trash bin).
4. During interpretation, there are risk of biases due to subjectivity and if the expert
cannot grasp the important factor, it will lead to blind analysis, a stunt which may or may not be
successful; it has no place in clinical experience; or it will lead to probing the client to get the
expected intention of the expert.
5. Also, authenticity will be in questioned, due to the stories that the subject will tell. It is
mentioned in the manual, if the clients are not properly oriented they will share invented stories
on the spur of the moment or tell the story that they read in the books or seen in other
mediums that create stories.
6. Age range must must be extended also to children, not limited to adolescent and
adulthood.
7. Psychometric properties are also in questioned in TAT and other projective tests.
Reliability and validity are one of the criteria to be considered. Though, labeling TAT as lacking in
those criteria, but it cannot suffice the assumption,.
8. TAT cards have observed that the characteristics and environment are dated, even
‘old-fashioned,’ creating a cultural or psychosocial distance between patients and the stimuli
that makes identifying with them less likely. In addition to this issue, TAT cards evoked ‘deviant’
stories than photographs.
9. Finally, TAT is not revised until now from the date of its publication, it means few or no
research is held recently about this, making it unreliable.
Mentioned above are the strengths and weaknesses of Thematic Apperception Test.
Despite the issues, other professionals in the field are still looking in the positive side of it. The
important thing is that TAT can help aid problem in the society and answer question that are
unanswerable, also it help us professionals learn that not all the time we can rely to the
standardized one but also to the least. Always remember that the number one principle in
assessing the clients are not the given tools in the book, but by yourself (professionals). You,
yourself is the tool.