3. THEMATIC APPERCEPTION
TEST
This test was developed byMorgan
and later developed by Murray in
1935 in the course of research
programme at the Howard
Psychological clinic.
4. Cont…
It may be considered as an improvement
over the Rorschach test.
The main use of TAT is to expose the
underlying inhabited tendencies which a
person can not admit in normal situations
due to unconsciousness of them or
unwillingness to admit.
5. The term thematic has been derived
from the word “Thema” meaning a topic
on which a person think, speaks or
writes.
Thema according to Murry is an
interaction of the need and press
variables.
Need according him, is a hypothetical
process within the organism which
stimulates him to overt or covert action.
Press according him, is a force in the
environment which may, facilitate or
interfere in the satisfaction of need.
6. ASMINISTRATION OF TEST
TAT material consists of 31 cards.
Thirty of them are vague pictures in black and white
and one is blank.
These cards has been shown to four groups.
One set for boys >14 symbolized as “B”
One set for girls >14 symbolized as “G”
One set for males <14 symbolised as “M”
One set for females <14 symbolised as “F”
7. OUT OF 31 cards
11 = shown to all
07= BM
07 = GF
01 = M
01 = F
01 = MF
01 = G
01 = B
01 = G
18. Instructions for adults and
children's under 14
This is a test of imagination. I shall show
you some pictures, one at a time. Your task
will be to describe a story. The story must
related to the events shown in the picture,i,e
what is happing at the movement, what the
characters are feeling and thinking etc.You
can devote about five minutes to each story.
19. Recording and scoring
The response of the examine are recorded
verbatim and comments of the examiner are given
after every card. The purpose of the comment is to
know whether outcome has been mentioned or
not, whether a story is long or short.(Average
length of a TAT story is 300 words).A story of less
than 140 words is not scored at all. If an examinee
describes more than one story in a single card, he
is motivated to concentrate on only one long story,
rather than several short stories.
20. Interpretation of the test: Hero
Hero of the story (male and female) is the central
figure around whom the entire events revolve. The
examinee recognizes the hero by his principle
traits like superiority, criminality, belongingness,
inferiority etc. The examinee identifies himself
with the hero by taking much interest in him.
Hero is the main character of the story who
dominates from the beginning of the story. There
may be more that one hero’s in the stories.
21. Motives, trends and feelings of the
heroes
Here, the interpreter analyses the overt
behavior of the hero, i.e., what the hero
thinks, feels and does. These overt behavior
reflects the needs and emotions of the
heroes which are actually the needs and
emotions of the examinee. Some of these
needs are aggression, achievements, sex
related needs etc.
22. Forces of the hero’s
environment:
Here emphasis is given on environment
variables which is called press. They
can either facilitate or interfere in
fulfilling the needs. Some of these
press are rejection, dominance,
physical injury etc.
23. Outcomes:
Outcome refers to how the story ends.
This ending may be tragic or comedian.
This ending shows how an examinee
thinks about the future of his life.
24. Thema:
It refers to the interaction of the hero
with the forces of the environment.
The purpose of thema is to study
different types of forces which work for
or against the hero in the story.Thema
actually helps us to understand the
problems of the examinee.
25. Interests and sentiments:
Here choice of the topics of the stories
and ways of handling them are
analysed.The assumption is that an
examinee chooses a story according to
his own interest or attitudes and
handles them on the same line.
26. Conclusion:
After analyzing all the above six points conclusion
are drawn. But following points must be kept in
view while drawing conclusions.
Only 6 out of 20 stories should fall under the impersonal
category. The elements given under this category are not
personal. They are rather derived from films, novels, story
books etc.
If more than 6 out of 20 stories fall under this category. It
indicates three things.
1.Examinee is not involved in the test.
2.Content is psychologically irrelevant.
3. Administration of the test is poor.
27. Murray has given three types of
normal personality:
1. Inner
2. middle
3. outer
TAT has been designed to reveal the
second level not the first level.
28. Limitations of TAT
1.Limited applicability of the test : It can be applied
only on those people who are intellectually above than
average. Those who are low in intelligence are not
expected to form stories on the basis of cards.
2. Validity of the test: Validity of the TAT is very low,
because there is lack of standardized procedure of
final normative data.
3. Fantasies and real life contradiction: Every man
wants to become a superman and every poor wants to
become a billionaire. So ideas given by him in the
stories may not necessarily reflect the real personality
of man.
29. Reliability of TAT
4. Reliability of TAT: Reliability of the
test can be calculated only by test
retest method or equivalent form
method and split half method cannot
be used here at all because set of
pictures can not be divided into two
equal halves.
