Personality Theories
and Assessment
PY101:
Psychological Perspectives
on Human Behavior
How do psychologists define and use the
concept of “personality”?
 The
behaviors that make people different
from one another are those behaviors that
psychologists consider to be at the root of
personality.
 Personality refers to the relatively enduring
characteristics that differentiate one person
from another and that lead people to act in a
consistent and predictable manner, both in
different situations and over extended
periods of time.
Personality
“Characteristic pattern of thinking,
feeling and acting.”
Four Major Perspectives on Personality
Psychoanalytic - unconscious motivations
Trait - specific dimensions of personality
Humanistic - inner capacity for growth
Social-Cognitive - influence of environment
Sigmund Freud pioneered personality psychology!
Psychoanalytic Perspective
“first comprehensive theory of personality”
University of Vienna 1873
Voracious Reader
Medical School Graduate
(1856-1939)
Specialized in Nervous
Disorders
Some patients’ disorders
had no physical cause!
Sigmund Freud pioneered personality psychology!
 What
is the structure and development of
personality, according to Sigmund Freud
and his successors (i.e.,psychoanalysts)?
 According to psychoanalysts, much of
behavior is caused by parts of personality
which are found in the unconscious and of
which we are unaware.
 Freud’s
–
–
–
3 levels of awareness/consciousness:
the conscious mind;
the preconscious mind; and
the unconscious mind.
Psychoanalysis: The Unconscious
“the mind is like an iceberg - mostly hidden”
Conscious Awareness
Unconscious
small part above surface below the surface
(Preconscious)
(thoughts, feelings,
wishes, memories)
Repression
banishing
unacceptable
thoughts and passions
to
unconscious:
Dreams and Slips
Psychoanalysis:
Freud’s Theory of Personality
 Three
–
–
–
levels of consciousness:
Conscious mind:
things we are
focusing on.
Preconscious mind:
things are are not
currently aware of
but which we could
focus on.
Unconscious mind:
that which we are
unaware of.
Psychoanalysis:
Freud’s Theory of Personality
 Freud’s
theory suggest that personality is
composed of the id, the ego, and the superego.
 id: the unorganized, inborn part of personality
whose purpose is to immediately reduce tensions
relating to hunger, sex, aggression, and other
primitive impulses.
 ego: restrains instinctual energy in order to
maintain the safety of the individual and to help
the person to be a member of society.
 superego: the rights and wrongs of society and
consists of the conscience and the ego-ideal.
Freud and Personality Structure
Id - energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives
Pleasure Principle
Ego - seeks to gratify the Id in realistic ways
Reality Principle
Super
Ego
Ego
Id
Super Ego
- voice of conscience
that focuses on how
we ought to behave
Freud’s Theory:
“the ID”
 The
id uses the most primitive of thinking process.
 Basic biological urges (e.g., hunger, self-protection).
 The id operates on the Pleasure Principle.
–
Seeks pleasure and avoids pain: “I want what I want NOW!”
 The id operates completely
– No direct contact with reality.
at an unconscious level.
 The id has 2 major instincts:
– Eros: life instinct = motivates people to focus on pleasure-seeking
tendencies (e.g., sexual urges).
– Thanatos: death instinct = motivates people to use aggressive
urges to destroy.
 The
energy for the id’s instincts comes from the
libido, (the energy storehouse).
Freud’s Theory:
“the Ego”
The
ego consists of a conscious faculty
for perceiving and dealing intelligently with
reality.
The ego acts as a mediator between the
id and the superego.
– The ego is partly conscious.
– Deals with the demands of reality.
– Makes rational decisions.
Freud’s Theory:
“the Ego”
 The
ego serves the ID:
– The rational part of personality that maintains
contact with reality.
–
Governed by ‘Reality Principle’
•
 The
–
ego is the Executive of the personality
The ego controls higher mental processes.
•
–
“What consequences are there to my behavior?”
Reasoning, problem solving.
The ego uses these higher mental processes to
help satisfy the urges of the ID.
Freud’s Theory:
“the Superego”
 Superego:
the moral part of personality.
– Internalized rules of parents and society.
 Superego
consists of two parts:
– Conscience: “notions of right/wrong.”
– Ego Ideal: “how we ideally like to be.”
 Superego: constrains us from gratifying every
impulse (e.g., murder) because they are
immoral, and not because we might get caught.
 Superego: partly conscious, partly unconscious.
Freud: superego, id, and ego
According
to Freud, an
individual’s feelings,
thoughts, and behaviors are
the result of the interaction
of the id, the superego,
and the ego.
Freud’s Theory of Personality:
 The
id, the ego, and the superego are continually
in conflict with one another.
 This conflict generates anxiety.
 If the ego did not effectively handle the resulting
anxiety, people would be so overwhelmed with
anxiety that they would not be able to carry on
with the tasks of everyday living.
 The ego tries to control anxiety (i.e., to reduce
anxiety) through the use of ego defense
mechanisms.
 Ego defense mechanisms => next slides.
EgoDefense
Defense
Mechanisms:
Mechanisms
Ego
Id
When the inner war
gets out of hand, the
result is Anxiety
Ego protects itself via
Defense Mechanisms
Super
Ego
Defense Mechanisms reduce/redirect
anxiety by distorting reality
Ego Defense Mechanisms
 Definition:
An defense mechanism is a
psychology tendency that the ego uses to help
prevent people from becoming overwhelmed by
any conflict (and resulting anxiety) among the
id, the ego, and the superego.
 Defense mechanisms operate at an
unconscious level:
– We are not aware of them during the time that we
are actually using them.
– However, we may later become aware of their
previous operation and use.
Freud’s Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
 Repression: pushing unacceptable and anxiety-
producing thoughts into the unconscious;
involves intentional forgetting but not consciously
done; repressed material can be memories or
unacceptable impulses.
–
A rape victim cannot recall the details of the attack.
 Regression: acting in ways characteristic of
earlier life stages/earlier stage of personality.
– A young adult, anxious on a trip to his parents/
home, sits in the corner reading comic books,
as he often did in grade school.
Freud’s Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
 Reaction
formation: replacing an anxiety-
producing feeling with its exact opposite, typically
going overboard; repressed thoughts appear as
mirror opposites.
– A man who is anxious about his interest in gay
men begins dating women several times a week.
 Rationalization: creating false but believable
excuses to justify inappropriate behavior; real
motive for behavior is not accepted by ego.
– A student cheats on an exam, explaining that
cheating is legitimate on an unfair examination.
Freud’s Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
 Denial:
claiming and believing that something
which is actually true is false.
–
A person disbelieves that she is age, asserting that “I
am not getting older.”
 Displacement:
redirecting emotional feelings
(e.g., anger) to a substitute target; involves
directing unacceptable impulses onto a less
threatening object/person.
– A husband, angry at the way his boss treated him,
screams at his children.
– Instead of telling your professor what you really think of
her, you tailgate and harass a slow driver on your way
home from school.
Freud’s Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
attributing one’s own
unacceptable feelings or beliefs to others;
perceiving the external world in terms of
one’s own personal conflicts.
 Projection:
– An employee at a store, tempted to steal some
merchandise, suspects that other employees
are stealing.
 Sublimation:
substitute socially acceptable
behavior for unacceptable impulses.
–
Playing video games instead of getting in a
fight.
Freud:
Stages of Personality Development
 Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory of personality
suggests that personality develops through
a series of stages, each of which is
associated with a major biological function.

.
 More
specifically, Freud theorized that as
people age, they pass through several
systematic stages of psychosexual
development in their personality.
Psychosexual Stages of Development are
Source of Unconscious Conflicts.
 The
stages of personality development
involve critical events that occur in every child’s
life.
 At
each level, there is a conflict between pleasure
and reality.
–
 At
–
The resolution of this conflict determines personality.
any stage, “a fixation” can occur:
If needs are either under-gratified or over-gratified, we
become fixated at a particular stage.
 Each
–
stage also involves an erogenous zone.
Parts of the body that involve sexual pleasure.
Freud and Personality Development
“personality
“personality forms
forms during
during the
the first
first few
few years
years of
of life,
life,
rooted
rooted in
in unresolved
unresolved conflicts
conflicts of
of early
early childhood”
childhood”
Psychosexual Stages
Oral (0-18 mos) - centered on the mouth
Anal (18-36 mos) - focus on bowel/bladder elim.
Phallic (3-6 yrs) - focus on genitals/“Oedipus Complex”
(Identification & Gender Identity)
Latency (6-puberty) - sexuality is dormant
Genital (puberty on) - sexual feelings toward others
Strong conflict can fixate an individual at Stages 1,2 or 3
Freud’s Stages of Personality Development:





Oral stage: the oral state is the first period, occurring
during the first year of life.
Anal stage: next comes the anal stage, lasting from
approximately age 1 to age 3.
Phallic stage: the phallic stages follows, with interest
focusing on the genitals.
Latency period: then follows the latency period lasting
until puberty.
Genital stage: after puberty, people move into the genital
stage, a period of mature sexuality.
(1) Oral stage of development:
 Time
–
Erogenous zone is mouth.
•
Gratification through sucking and swallowing.
 Oral
–
fixation has two possible outcomes.
Oral receptive personality:
•
•
•
–
period: Birth to 18 months:
Preoccupied with eating/drinking.
Reduce tension through oral activity.
eating, drinking, smoking, biting nails
Passive and needy; sensitive to rejection.
Oral aggressive personality:
•
Hostile and verbally abusive to others.
(2) Anal stage of development:
 Time
period: 1 1/2 to 3 years of age.
 Erogenous zone is the anus.
 Conflict surrounds toilet training.
 Anal fixation has two possible outcomes.
–
–
Anal retentive personality.
• Stingy, compulsive orderliness, stubborn,
perfectionistic.
Anal expulsive personality.
• Lack of self control, messy, careless.
(3) Phallic stage of development:
 Time
period: 3 to 6 years.
 Erogenous
zone is the genitals: self-stimulation
of the genitals produces pleasure.
 At age 5 or 6, near the end of the phallic stage,
children experience the Oedipal conflict (boys)/the
Electra conflict (girls)--a process through which
they learn to identify with the same gender parent
by acting as much like that parent as possible.
 Oedipus complex (boys) vs Electra complex (girls)
– Child is sexually attracted to the other sex parent
and wishes to replace the same sex parent.
(3) Phallic stage of development:
Oedipus
complex (little boys):
Castration anxiety:
– Son
believes father knows about his
desire for mom.
– Fears dad will castrate him.
– Represses his desire and defensively
identifies with dad.
(3) Phallic stage (continued):
Electra
 Penis
–
–
–
–
complex (little girls):
envy:
Daughter is initially attached to mom.
Shift of attachment occurs when she realizes
she lacks a penis.
She desires dad whom she sees as a means to
obtain a penis substitute (a child).
Represses her desire for dad.
•
•
incorporates the values of her mother
accepts her inherent “inferiority” in society
(4) Latency Period:
 During
the latency period, little girls and little
boys try to socialize only with members of their
own gender.
 Freud posits that children do this so as to help
minimize the awareness of “sexuality.”
 Thus, they continue the process of sexual
repression that began in the previous stage (for
those who successfully made it through the
Oedipal Complex/Electra Complex).
(5) Genital Stage:
 When
adolescence begin puberty, they enter
the 5th stage of psychosexual development.
 They develop secondary sexual characteristics
(e.g., pubic hair).
 The onset of the physical sexual characteristics
“re-awakens” people sexual urges, and thus
they are no longer able to successfully repress
their sexual desires, impulses, and urges.
 They begin searching for a marital mate, with
whom they can share sex and intimacy.
Summary of Freud (on personality):
 Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory has provoked a
number of criticisms.
•
•
•
a lack of supportive scientific data;
the theory’s inadequacy in making predictions; and
its limitations owing to the restricted population on
which it is based.
 Still,
•
the theory remains popular.
For instance, the neo-Freudian psychoanalytic theorists
built upon Freud’s work, although they placed greater
emphasis on the role of the ego and paid greater
attention to social factors in determining behavior.
Psychoanalysis: Freud and Personality
Evaluating the Psychoanalytic
Perspective
Were Freud’s theories
the “best of his time”
or were they simply
incorrect?
Current research
contradicts
many of Freud’s
specific ideas
Development does not
stop in childhood
Slips of the tongue are
likely competing
“nodes” in memory network
Dreams may not be
unconscious
drives and wishes
Summary: Freud and Personality
Freud’s Ideas as Scientific Theory
Theories must explain observations
and offer testable hypotheses
Few Objective Observations
Few Hypotheses
(Freud’s theories based on his recollections &
interpretations of patients’ free associations,
dreams & slips o’ the tongue)
Does Not PREDICT Behavior or Traits
4 Types of Personality Theories:
(1). Psychodynamic approaches
to personality.
(2). Humanistic approaches
to personality.
(3). Trait approaches to personality.
(4). Social Cognitive approaches
to personality.
(1) Psychodynamic Personality Theories:
 Source
•
Obtained from expert analyst from people in therapy.
 Cause
•
•
of information about personality:
of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
unconscious internal conflict associated with childhood
experiences.
Also, unconscious conflicts between pleasure-seeking
impulses and social restraints.
 Outlook
•
on humans:
negative.
 Comprehensiveness
•
very comprehensive.
of theory:
Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytic) Theories:
Many are called Neo-Freudians.
All place less emphasis on sex.
 Carl Jung:
– Personal
vs. Collective Unconscious.
– Balance between introversion and extroversion.
 Alfred
Adler:
– Striving
for superiority = motivation to master
environment.
– Notion of an Inferiority Complex.
 Karen
Horney:
– Personality
is Cultural rather than biological.
(2) Humanistic Personality Theories:
 Source
•
obtained from self-reports from the general population
and people in therapy.
 Cause
•
•
•
of information about personality:
of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
self concepts,
self-actualizing tendencies.
conscious feelings about oneself (based on one’s
previous experiences).
 Outlook
•
on humans:
positive.
 Comprehensiveness
•
fairly comprehensive.
of theory:
The Humanistic Perspective
Maslow’s
Self-Actualizing
Person
Roger’s
Person-Centered
Perspective
“Healthy” rather than “Sick”
Individual as greater than the sum of test scores
Humanistic Personality Theories:
Maslow and Rogers
 Humanistic
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
approach (Third Force):
Rejected Freud’s pessimistic view of personality.
Rejected Behaviorist’s mechanistic view.
More optimistic/positive about human nature.
Humans are free and basically good.
Humans are inner-directed.
Everyone has the potential for healthy growth.
Health growth involves Self actualization:
•
•
“Be all you can be.”
Given the right environmental conditions,
we can reach our full potential.
Roger’s Person-Centered Perspective
People are basically good
with actualizing tendencies.
Given the right environmental
conditions, we will develop
to our full potentials
Genuineness, Acceptance, Empathy
Self Concept:
Concept central feature
of personality (+ or -)
Humanistic Personality Theories:
Carl Rogers
Self-concept:
our image or perception of
ourselves (Real Self versus Ideal Self).
 We
have a need for positive regard/approval
from others.
–
Conditions of worth or conditional positive regard.
• The conditions under which other people will approve
of us.
• We change our behavior to obtain approval.
• What we need is: Unconditional positive regard.
 Anxiety
signifies that we are not being true to
our ideal self.
 Well-adjusted
persons: self-concept & experience.
 Poorly adjusted person: self-concept & experience.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of human motives: one must
satisfy lower needs before one satisfies higher needs.
Humanistic Personality Theories:
Abraham Maslow
Self-actualization
is the culmination of a
lifetime of inner-directed growth and
improvement:
•
•
•
Challenging ourselves to the fullest.
Can you identify a self-actualized individual?
Characteristics of the self-actualized person:
• Creative and open to new experiences.
• Committed to a cause or a higher goal.
• Trusting and caring of others, yet not dependent.
• Have the courage to act on their convictions.
(3) Trait Personality Theories:
 Source
•
obtained from observation of behavior and
questionnaire responses from the general population as
well as from people in therapy.
 Cause
•
•
of information about personality:
of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
stable internal characteristics;
some emphasize genetic basis.
 Outlook
•
on humans:
neutral - neither positive nor negative.
 Comprehensiveness
•
of theory:
not very comprehensive.
(3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
Trait
approaches have tried to identify
the most basic and relatively enduring
dimensions along which people differ from
one another--dimensions known as traits.
 How
many trait dimensions are there?
 How can we measure these trait dimensions?
 Where do these trait dimensions originate?
(3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
Allport
 Allport:
Most important personality traits are
those that reflect our values.
 Allport suggested that there are 3 kinds of traits:
• cardinal: a single personality trait that directs
most of a person’s activities (e.g., greed, lust,
kindness).
• central: a set of major characteristics that make
up the core of a person’s personality.
• secondary: less important personality traits
that do not affect behavior as much as central
and cardinal traits do.
(3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
Eysenck
 Hans
Eysenck:
found two (2) major
trait dimensions:
• introversion
versus
extroversion
(quiet versus
sociable).
• Neuroticism
versus
emotional stability
(moody versus
calm).
(3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
Cattell’s Theory of Personality:
Cattell’s
–
Trait Theory:
Distinguished 3 types of traits:
• Dynamic.
• Ability.
• Temperament.
 Also:
–
–
Surface Traits: Less important to personality.
Source Traits: More important basic underlying traits.
 Cattell identified 16 basic traits.
•
He developed the 16PF to measure these traits.
(3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
 Recently
personality theorists have begun to
converge on the view that there are 5 basic
personality dimensions:

1: emotional stability versus neuroticism:
–

2: extraversion versus introversion:
–

imaginative, independent VS practical, conforming.
4: agreeableness versus disagreeableness:
–

sociable, fun-loving, affectionate VS retiring, sober, reserved.
3: openness versus close-mindedness:
–

calm, secure, self-satisfied VS anxious, insecure, self-pitying.
kind, trusting, helpful VS ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative.
5: conscientiousness versus undependable:
–
organized, careful, disciplined VS disorganized, careless, impulsive.
Five Factor Model of Traits
Five Factor Model of Traits
The Big Five
Emotional Stability
Extraversion
Openness
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
• Calm/Anxious
• Secure/Insecure
• Sociable/Retiring
• Fun Loving/Sober
• Imaginative/Practical
• Independent/Conforming
• Soft-Hearted/Ruthless
• Trusting/Suspicious
• Organized/Disorganized
• Careful/Careless
Trait Theories of Personality:
Summary
Traits:
– Characteristics
or typical ways of acting:
Consistency:
across situations, over time.
• Distinctiveness:
each personality is unique.
 Explain why individuals behave in certain ways.
 How many traits are there, and what are they?
– Not easy to answer; little consensus.
•
Assessing Personality Traits
How can we assess traits?
(aim to simplify a person’s behavior patterns)
Personality Inventories
MMPI:
• most widely used personality inventory.
• assess psychological disorders
(not normal traits).
• empirically derived - test items selected based
upon how well they discriminate between
groups of traits.
Do traits exist?
The Trait-Situation Debate
 Walter
–
–
–
Mischel (1968) argued that:
Behavior is not consistent across time or situation.
If no consistency, not much point in arguing for
“personality.”
Thus, “personality” is an illusion.
 Situationism:
•
Mischel believed that behavior is influenced more by
the situation than any internal “trait.”
 Person
–
x situation interactionism:
Both (a) internal traits and (b) the situation we are
in are important determinants of behavior.
(4) Social-Cognitive (Learning) Approaches to
Personality Theories:
 Source
of information about personality:
Obtained from experiments, observations of behavior, and
questionnaire responses from the general population.
 Cause
of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
•reciprocal
influence between people (cognitions and
behavior) and their environmental situations, colored by
their perceptions of control.
 Outlook
•neutral:
on humans:
neither positive nor negative.
 Comprehensiveness
•not
very comprehensive.
of theory:
Social-Cognitive-Learning Perspective
Behavior learned through
conditioning and observation
What we think about our situation
affects our behavior
Interaction of
Environment and Intellect
Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Social Learning Theory
 Bandura:
Theoretical origins in behaviorism.
 Emphasizes the role of learning in personality.
–
–
–
Classical Conditioning.
Operant Conditioning .
Modeling.
 Instead
of studying what’s going on inside the
person (traits), study what is going on outside
the person (environment).
 How does the environment shape personality?
Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Social Learning Theory
 Bandura
also emphasized the importance of
cognition in personality development.
 People develop a sense of self-efficacy:
–
–
Our beliefs about our ability to achieve goals.
Individuals with higher self-efficacy:
•
•
accept greater challenges.
try harder to meet challenges.
 Bandura
also discusses the notion of
Reciprocal Determinism:
–
The individual and the environment continually
influence one another.
Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Reciprocal Determination
Personal/
Cognitive
Factors
Environment
Factors
Behavior
Internal World + External World = Us
Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Reciprocal Determination
Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Personal Control
Internal Locus of Control:
You pretty much control your own destiny
External Locus of Control:
Luck, fate and/or powerful others control your destiny.
Methods of Study:
• Correlate feelings of control with behavior.
• Experiment by raising/lowering people’s sense of
control and noting the consequences and effects.
Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Outcomes of Personal Control
Learned Helplessness:
Uncontrollable
bad events
Perceived
lack of control
Important Issues:
• Nursing Homes
• Prisons
•Colleges
Generalized
helpless behavior
Comparison of Personality Theories
Personality Assessment
Personality
assessment involves
the techniques for systematically
gathering information about a person
in order to understand and predict
behavior.
Goal of personality assessment:
to obtain reliable, valid measures of
individual differences that will permit
the accurate prediction of behavior.
How do we measure “Personality”?
 (1)
–
–
Ask the person about themselves.
Obtain information that reveals personality.
 (2)
–
Interview:
Behavioral Observation:
Watch the individual’s behavior in an actual or
simulated situation.
 Personality
–
–
Tests:
(3) Objective tests (questionnaire tests).
(4) Projective tests.
How do we measure personality?
(2) Behavioral assessment
Behavioral
assessment is based
on the principles of learning
theory.
Behavioral assessment employs
direct measurement of behavior to
determine the characteristics
related to personality.
How do we measure personality?
(3) Objective Test Assessment
 Objective
personality tests (self-report
questionnaires) present the test taker with a
number of specific items to which she is
asked to respond, either on paper or on a
computer screen.
 Self-report measures ask people about a
sample range of their behaviors.
 These reports are used to infer the presence
of particular personality characteristics.
How do we measure personality?
(3) Objective Test Assessment
 Examples
of objective personality measures:
– the MMPI (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory).
– the 16 PF (the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire).
– the NEO-PI (the NEO Personality Inventory).
 The
most commonly used self-report
measure is the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (MMPI-2), designed to
differentiate people with specific sorts of
psychological difficulties from normal
individuals.
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI-2)
 Most
–
–
widely used personality instrument.
Used in clinical and employment settings.
MMPI-2 Has several different scales (multiphasic).
 MMPI
•
•
sample items:
‘I usually feel that life is worthwhile and interesting’
(FALSE) = Depression.
‘I seem to hear things that other people can’t hear’
(TRUE) = Schizophrenia.
 Measures
aspects of personality that, if
extreme, suggest a problem:
–
Extreme suspiciousness may indicate paranoia.
How do we measure personality?
(4) Projective Test Assessment
 A projective
personality test is one in which
the subject is given an ambiguous stimulus and
asked to respond spontaneously.
pictures or inkblots.
– No clear answer.
 The ambiguous stimulus allows test takers to
project their own needs, dreams, feelings into
their response.
 The observer’s responses to the stimulus are then
used to infer information about the observer’s
personality.
–
How do we measure personality?
(4) Projective Test Assessment (continued)
 All
projective tests are based on the
projective hypothesis which states that the
individual's response to an ambiguous
stimulus represents a projection of his or
her own inner, often unconscious, feelings
and needs.
 Indirect method of personality assessment:
 Based on psychoanalytic assumptions:
–
–
Personality is mostly unconscious.
People are unaware of contents of unconscious.
How do we measure personality?
(4) Projective Test Assessment (continued):
The
2 most frequently used projective
tests are:
• the Rorschach: reactions to inkblots
are employed to classify personality
types.
• the Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT): stories about ambiguous
pictures are used to draw inferences
about the storyteller’s personality.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
 Most
popular projective technique.
 Respond to inkblot: “What could this be?”
THE END