Projective Personality
Tests
Projective Personality Tests

Based on PROJECTIVE HYPOTHESIS:


when people attempt to understand an ambiguous or
vague stimulus their interpretation of that stimulus
relfect their needs, feelings, experiences, prior
conditioning, thought processes
Ambiguous stimuli that have been used include:
Ink blots (Rorschach)
 Ambiguous pictures (Thematic Apperception Test)
 Sentence stems

Popularity
of
Projective
Tests
The Rorschach Inkblot Test





use of inkblots to assess personality functioning
proposed by Binet in 1916
Rorschach was first person to use them to
identify psychological disorders
began his inverstigations around 1911
“Psychodiagnostik” 1921
died in 1922 at age of 36
History of the Test





initially unenthusiastic response to book
David Levy brought test to US from Europe
his student, Samuel J. Beck, wrote a no. of books about
the test, & helped popularize it until his death in 1980
others who popularized it were Marguerite Hertz,
Bruno Klopfer, Zygmunt Piotrowski & David Rapaport
became extremely popular


WLU library holds about 20 books on Rorschach
there is an annual international conference just on the
Rorschach
Test Stimuli


inkblots formed by dropping ink on piece of
paper & folding it
Rorschach selected 10 from thousands of
inkblots he experimented with:
five black & gray;
 2 black, grey & red;
 3 different colours

Administration of Test



examiner hands card to subjects & asks “what might
this be”
examiner keeps a verbatim record of responses to each
card, reaction time & duration of responses, position in
which cards are held, spontaneous remarks, emotional
expressions
each card administered twice



free association
inquiry
during inquiry, tester attempts to ascertain what in the
inkblot made person see what he/she saw
What might this be?
Scoring
Scoring Systems


Content analysis
Exner’s scoring system
Reliability & Validity


Reliability using Exner’s scoring system is reasonably
high (.61 to .74), but many do not consider this to be
adequate
Poor as a diagnostic tool: no relationship with







psychopathology
conduct disorder
antisocial personality
depression
PTSD
anxiety disorder
antisocial personality etc., etc., etc.
The Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)



introduced by Christiana Morgan & Henry
Murray in 1935 as a method to explore
unconscious thoughts and fantasies
based on Murray’s theory of needs
test material administered to any one subject
consists of 10 or 12 cards, chosen from 31
available (1 of these being blank)
Administration Procedure

“I am going to show you some pictures. I want
you to tell me a story about each picture. Tell me
what led up to the story, what is happening,
what the characters are thinking and feeling, and
what the outcome will be”
Scoring

HERO:



NEEDS of the hero:



character with whom subject seems to have identified
traits of hero: superiority, intelligence, loneliness
using Murray’s formulation – includes achievement,
agression, nurturance
scored on an intensity scale from one to five
PRESS (environmental forces that interfere with or
facilitate satisfaction of various needs)

e.g., aggression, in which hero’s property or possessions are
destroyed; dominance, where hero is exposed to commands;
rejection, where hero is rejected, ignored
Scoring (continued)

OUTCOMES




amount of hardship, frustration experienced
degree of success, failure
usually inferred from the way in which respondents wind up
their stories
THEMES



interplay of the hero’s needs, press, and unsuccessful or
successful resolution of conflicts, constitute a theme
they represent need-press combinations
when reviewing totality of response, question is “what issues,
conflicts, or dilemmas are of the greatest concern to the
respondent?”
Reliability & Validity


mixed results for reliability and validity
better for specific scoring protocols, such as
achievement motivation
Other Projective Tests





Blacky Pictures
Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Test
Draw-a-Person Test
Word Association Test
Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank