MA Psychology CCE Submission 2022-24, Nov 2023 Projective Tests The Rorschach Inkblot Test The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) The Draw-A-Person Test The House-Tree-Person Test

1. Projective Tests
Girish D. Kishnani
MA Psychology
Class 2022-24 - Sem-3 (Nov 2023)
Govt. Hamidia Arts & Commerce College
Barkatullah University, Bhopal
Enrolment Number AE04267

2. Projective Test
A projective test is a type of personality test in which you offer
responses to ambiguous scenes, words, or images.
A person's responses to a projective test are thought to reflect hidden
conflicts or emotions, with the hope that these issues can then be
addressed through psychotherapy or other appropriate treatments
History of the Projective Test
Emerged from the psychoanalytic school of thought, to uncover feelings, desires, and
conflicts that are hidden from conscious awareness.
By interpreting responses to ambiguous cues, psychoanalysts hope to uncover
unconscious feelings that might be causing problems in a person's life.
Training in projective testing in psychology graduate settings has rapidly declined over
the past decade or so. Despite the controversy over their use, projective tests remain
quite popular and are extensively used in both clinical and forensic settings.
At least one projective test was noted as one of the top five tests used in practice for
50% of 28 worldwide survey-based studies

3. Strengths
• Projective tests are most frequently used in therapeutic settings.
• In many cases, therapists use these tests to learn qualitative
information about individuals.
• Some therapists may use projective tests as a sort of icebreaker to
encourage people to discuss issues or examine their thoughts and
emotions.
Projective Test
Weaknesses
• Projective tests that do not have standard grading
• scales tend to lack both validity and reliability.
• The respondent's answers can be heavily influenced by the
examiner's attitudes or the test setting.

4. Types of Projective Tests
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
This test was one of the first projective tests developed and continues to be one of the
best-known and most widely used. Developed by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann
Rorschach in 1921, the test consists of 10 different cards that depict an ambiguous
inkblot.
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
In the TAT test, people are asked to look at a series of ambiguous scenes and then to
tell a story describing the scene. This includes describing what is happening, how the
characters are feeling, and how the story will end.
The Draw-A-Person Test
This type of projective test involves exactly what you might imagine. People draw a
person and the image that they created is then assessed by the examiner.
The House-Tree-Person Test
In this type of projective test, people are asked to draw a house, a tree, and a person.
Once the drawing is complete, they are asked a series of questions about the images
they have drawn.

5. Thematic Apperception Test
• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) or "picture interpretation
technique," is a type of projective test that involves describing ambiguous
scenes to learn more about a person's emotions, motivations, and
personality.
• Developed by American psychologists Henry A. Murray and Christina D.
Morgan at Harvard University in the 1930s. The TAT is one of the most
widely researched and clinically used personality tests.
How TAT Works
• The TAT involves showing people a series of picture cards depicting a
variety of ambiguous characters (that may include men, women, and/or
children), scenes, and situations.
• They are then asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture
presented, including:
1. What has led up to the event shown
2. What is happening in the scene
3. The thoughts and feelings of characters
4. The outcome of the story

6. Scoring & Interpretation
Three common scoring methods that are currently used in research are
Defense Mechanisms Manual (DMM)
1. Denial (least mature),
2. projection (intermediate), and
3. identification (most mature)
Social Cognition and Object Relations (SCOR)
1. Complexity of Representations of People,
2. Affect-Tone of Relationship Paradigms,
3. Capacity for Emotional Investment in Relationships and
4. Moral Standards, and Understanding of Social Causality
Personal Problem-Solving System—Revised (PPSS-R)
1. This scoring system is useful because theoretically, good problem-solving ability is
an indicator of an individual's mental health
2. PPSS-R only uses six of the 31 TAT cards: 1, 2, 4, 7BM, 10, and 13MF.
3. It provides information about four different areas related to problem solving
ability - Design, Orientation, Solutions, and Resolution

7. General Interpretation
Interpretation will vary depending on the examiner and what type of scoring was used.
Standard scoring systems are used more in research settings than clinical settings.
Clinician use some general guidelines that can be utilized.
Response to the TAT cards are combination of three things:
1. The card stimulus,
2. The testing environment, and
3. The personality of the examinee.
It is beneficial to look at the common themes in the stories' content and structure to
help make conclusions.
Murray states that in the stories built by the person being evaluated there is a hero
with whom the subject identifies and to whom he attributes his own motivations.
On the other hand, there are the characters that interact with this hero, and represent
the real social and family environment of the person.
Cautions
1. The examiner should always be conservative when interpreting responses.
2. The examiner should consider all the data and not look at a response in isolation
3. One response should not be given more importance over the other responses.
4. Individual's developmental status and cultural background should be considered

8. TAT Uses & Criticisms
Why the Thematic Apperception Test Is Used
1. To learn more about a person
2. Used as an Icebreaker
3. Potential emotional conflicts of respondent
4. Express their feelings
5. To explore themes related to the person's life experiences
6. To assess someone for psychological conditions
7. Assess personality or thought disorders.
8. To evaluate crime suspects.
9. To screen job candidates
10. As a therapeutic tool - express feelings in a non-direct way
Criticisms of TAT
Not being standardized,
No rules of administration or formal scoring system.
Only few practitioners use Murray's complex scoring system and instead
rely on their subjective interpretation and clinical opinion

9. Murray’s TAT Cards

10. • The person is asked to describe what they see in ambiguous inkblot
images.
• The therapist then interprets the person's answers.
• This projective test often appears in popular culture and is frequently
portrayed as a way of revealing a person’s unconscious thoughts,
motives, or desires.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
History
Hermann Rorschach blended his favorite childhood game
Klecksography & his study of Sigmund Freud's dream symbolism, to
create a systematic approach to using inkblots as an assessment tool.
Alfred Binet also experimented with the idea of using inkblots as a way
to test creativity and originally planned to include inkblots in his
intelligence tests.

11. Uses
1. The Rorschach test is used in psychotherapy and counseling,
although not as frequently as in the past.
2. Practitioners use it to gain qualitative information about their
patients, including their personalities, emotional functioning, and
thinking patterns.
3. The results serve as a springboard to further discussion about issues
they purportedly illustrate. In fact, psychologists once used the
Rorschach to diagnose mental conditions such as schizophrenia.
4. Likewise, organizations use the test to measure attributes such as
creativity, intelligence, and temperament and to assess suitability for
employment, acceptance into organizations, and adoption approval.

12. Administration
There are 10 official inkblots, each printed on separate white cards.
5 black and gray, 2 black, gray, and red; and 3 multicolored without any black.
During administration, the examiner will sit next to you. This helps them see what you
see. The test involves certain steps:
Respond:
Respondent free to interpret the ambiguous image however you want.
No time limit, No Limit to responses.
Cards can be held in any position
Record:
Examiner records everything you say, no matter how trivial.
They’ll note the time taken for each response, the position the card is being held,
your emotional expressions, etc. during the test.
Confirm: Once you go through all the inkblots once, your examiner will take you
through each inkblot a second time. The goal of this is not to get new information, but
to help your examiner see what you see. They’ll ask you to identify where you see
what you originally saw and what features make it look like that.
On average, it takes about 1.5 hours to administer and score the test.

13. Scoring
interpreters of the Rorschach test look for when they are analyzing responses to the
inkblots? The actual content of the responses is one thing, but other factors are
essential as well.
Content
Content refers to the name or class of objects used in your responses. Some common
contents include:
• Whole Human (H): A whole human figure.
• Human Detail (Hd): An incomplete human form (e.g., a leg) or a whole form without
a body part (e.g., a person without a head).
• Human Detail (fictional or mythological; Hd): An incomplete fictional or
mythological human figure (e.g., wings of an angel).
• Animal Detail (Ad): An incomplete animal form (e.g., cat’s head, claw of a crab).
• Sex (Sx): Anything involving sex organs, activity of a sexual nature, or sexual
reproduction (e.g., sexual intercourse, breasts).
• Nature (Na): Anything astronomical or weather-related (e.g., sun, planets, water,
rainbow).
Some responses are quite common, while others may be much more unique. Highly
atypical responses are notable since they might indicate disturbances in thought
patterns.

14. Scoring
Location
Identifying the location of your response is another element scored in the Rorschach
system. Location refers to how much of the inkblot you used to answer the question.
“D” if a commonly described part of the blot was used.
“Dd” if an uncommonly described or unusual detail was used.
“S” if the white space in the background was used.
“W” if the whole inkblot was used to answer the question.
Determinants
This is where the examiner considers the reasons why you see what you see.
What inkblot features helped determine your response and how?
There are six broad categories of inkblot determinants you could be responding to:
Color Form Movement
Pairs Reflections and Shading
For example, if respondent report seeing a flower in Card because of the red color,
your examiner may code that response as Color determinant.
Each category has its own subcategories and there are at least 26 possible determinant
codes. More than one determinant can be used in a single response.

15. Interpretation
• Complex process.
• High knowledge & experience in personality dynamics
• Interpretation is behaviors expressed
• Patterns of scores across responses
• Unique or consistent themes
• Unique or idiosyncratic perceptions
A relatively fast response might indicate being at ease with others and comfortable
with social relationships. A delayed response, however, might reveal that the individual
struggles with social interactions.
Criticisms of the Rorschach Inkblot Test
Despite its popularity, the Rorschach is a controversial test. Many of the criticisms
center on how the test is scored and whether the results have any diagnostic value.
• Multiple Scoring Systems
• Lacks Reliability
• Poor Validity

16. Rorschach Cards

17. Girish D. Kishnani MA Psychology
Semester - 3
Class 2022-24
CCE Submission – Projective Tests
Nov 2023