The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective psychological test developed in the 1930s at Harvard University. It consists of 31 cards depicting people and scenes that prompt test takers to make up stories about what is happening in the image. The stories are analyzed to understand the test taker's motivations, conflicts, and underlying personality traits. Reliability is high when examiners are well-trained and use consistent analysis methods. Validity depends on the examiner's skill in distinguishing traits influenced by the testing situation from enduring personality characteristics.

1. THEMATIC APPERCEPTION
TEST

2. ORIGIN & METHOD
 T.A.T is the most widely used constructive projective
technique.
 This test was developed in American university
unlike Rorschach, it has its roots in America.
 It has been developed by Murray & Morgan in 1935,
1943 in Harvard University.
 It is a popular technique to measure personality, it is
equally popular in personality research.
 Along with Rorschach & WAIS, TAT forms the test
battery to evaluate a client in a precise & accurate
manner.

3. ORIGIN & METHOD Contd…
 It is more structured than Rorschach & less
structured than WAIS.
 In assessing the personality, the content of the story
provide us the base to assess patient.
 The TAT is sometime described as a test of
personality.

4. METHOD/PROCEDURE
 It includes 31 cards, 1 blank & others show scenes
related to inter personal events.
 In the 1st card boy is shown in a pensive mood
towards violin(a musical instrument) put before him.
 In a recommended administration 20 cards used,
they are selected on the basis of sex & age of patient.
 Cards are administered in two sessions.
 In usual practice less than 20 cards are used in 1
hour long session.
 Instructions are given to the testee.

5. METHOD/PROCEDURE Contd…
 A series of pictures will be shown to the testie &
he/she will have to make story for each one. The
story should be dramatic & imaginative.
 In that story there must be 3 factors which are:
1. What is happening in the picture
2. What led up to it
3. What will be the outcome
 Further, for the blank card the subject is asked to
draw a picture & describe it or unite a story about it.

6. METHOD/PROCEDURE Contd…
 To encourage the flow of story, the examiner asks.
Some non leading questions like: What happens
then?, How does it turn out?
 At the end, the examiner asks the source of the stoty
whether they are from personal experience, movies,
novels, TV serial or whether they were just “made
up.”
 Stories are to be recorded as such the way it has been
told including the examiners problems/questions.

7. MODE OF ANALYSIS
 To evaluate TAT there are many accepted systems of TAT
scoring & interpretation. While scoring the emphasis is
on
1. Major themes
2. Feelings expressed
3. Nature of outcome
4. Frustrations expressed
5. Conflicts
6. Major needs
7. Defense mechanisms used
All the qualities of story are characterized & then its
meaning is drawn

8. MODE OF ANALYSIS Contd…
 While evaluating the stories, the examiner has to
read and re read the stories many times. While doing
so clinician or examiner note down the type of
stories written, repetitive themes & a characteristic
traits & behaviour of the hero of the story. (Usually
the hero represents the subject himself)
 The clinician also takes help of whatever knowledge
he has about the patient because that will provide
him the base line & the guiding hypothesis regarding
the need & conflicts of the patients.

9. MODE OF ANALYSIS Contd…
 In doing the analysis of TAT stories the clinician’s
main task is to construct a set of hypothesis which
can explain the stories as well as the person behind
it.
 The skilled interpreter or the clinician takes help of
the stories written by others against which he
compares stories in hand.
 The stories which have unusual plots are of
particular importance to the clinician.
 Stories intensely told with visible signs of emotions,
with repetition & which provides little justification to
the picture shown to the subject.

10. MODE OF ANALYSIS Contd…
 The clinician also note down how the subject differs
from others. He’s quick to note deviations; e.g., the
patient has written all the stories with happy
endings. This shows blank optimism.
 The clinician also note failures & frustration
expressed by the patient & it becomes more
important if they become the base for distinguishing
the qualities of the patient with others.
 He also notes down if the patient show conflict only
in the presence of older & stranger males.

11. MODE OF ANALYSIS Contd…
 It is important to note down functional relationship
between stories & the examiner is more interested in
the implicit behaviour rather than explicit.
 In the process of interpretation examiner use his
perception, statistical inference & also the
conclusions based on stories.
 Examiner has to read & re read stories without or
minimal preconception.
 Stories are also judged in comparison with past
evidence also.

12. MODE OF ANALYSIS Contd…
 Clinician also take help from frame work of
personality theory. The way the stories reveal the
different aspect of personality.
These inferences can be possible only if it is being done
by skilled clinician.

13. STRUCTURAL ASPECT OF TAT
It includes:
 How the stories are told as well as what they contain.
 Information regarding subject can be attained by the
way he tells story, degree to which he follow
instructions, his manners & language. How he
perceives or misperceives the picture material & how
the stories are organized in literally point of view.
All these points tell us about subjects characteristics
behaviour ego processes & his motivational aspects
also.

14. STRUCTURAL ASPECT OF TAT Contd…
 We all know TAT stories requires imagination. So we
have to see stories are original or creative or they are
banal or trite, stories are dramatic or engrossing or
dull or limited.
 It is also seen that subject cling closely to story & it
seems it is a description of a card rather than story.
 While writing some subjects reveal, creative
intelligence & his capacity for imagination on the
other hand, he also reveal his inability to detach
himself from concrete reality of picture, this shows
his limited intelligence & imagination.

15. STRUCTURAL ASPECT OF TAT Contd…
 There is emphasis on 3 points, what led upto this
situation what happen & what going on. Subjects
who limit there story uniting to the present show
that they have minimal time perspective.
 The subjects who cover the extended time including
past, present & future create the stories in an
integrated way & it seems to be well turned novel.
 Depressed patient emphasized the past with little
concern for the present & no concern for the future.
 Repressive people such as hysterical patients stay
primarily in the present & they predict vague &
artificially happy events in the future.

16. STRUCTURAL ASPECT OF TAT Contd…
 Schizophrenics shifts between past, present & future
events almost quite often.
 In analyzing the story not only the time perspective
but the organization of sequences which is known by
the name of means, ends, relationship is also
analyzed.
Here is an example of minor government official who
while telling the stories TAT reflected his
characteristic approach to life & work task. Each
story was written in identical numbered & labeled
paragraphs such as:

17. STRUCTURAL ASPECT OF TAT Contd…
1. Now happening
2. Led up
3. Will happen next
This shows a meticulous & dull man at work.
 The other important aspects of patient behaviour
include:
1. Vocabulary
2. Clarity of verbal expression
3. Singular verbalization
4. Communication Style
5. Overall behaviour during testing & reactions to his
own stories

18. STRUCTURAL ASPECT OF TAT Contd…
 Sequence analysis reveals coping patterns over time
& under scores interpretations based on single
stories. E.g., after telling the harsh & aggressive story
the patient defensively hide his hostile feelings by
making the next story simple & optimistic.

19. CONTENT OF TAT STORIES
 The major elements of the story includes:
1. The hero
2. The needs, strivings & characteristics of the hero.
3. The environmental forces acting on him.
4. The themes(press need outcome combination)
5. Affective tone of the story & of the major actors.
6. The outcomes
The “hero assumptions” is pivotal, in that the subject
identifies with the central figure & represents in
him, directly or symbolically, his own needs, values
& expectations.(Lindzey, 1952)

20. RELIABILITY & VALIDITY
The study is more complex than the Rorschach test. In
one of the pioneering studies Shendman, 1951 Gaul
the story of one patient to 15 TAT authorities. None
of there knew patient & Shendman presented each
psychologist report along within work notes, scores
& analytical considerations it is really important to
read the entire book because it shows lots of
differences in opinion yet there are number of areas
where psychologists agree with each other especially
those who were working in the same general
conceptual environment.

21. RELIABILITY & VALIDITY Contd…
 Harrison 1965 collected the findings of almost
hundred studies of inter judge, reliability where
some sort of quantitative rating was made.
 In 62 studies the correlation was observed many of
there showed .80 to .90 reliability but there were few
studies which reported low coefficients also.
 It was observed that reliability can be quite high if
the examiners are well trained & share the same
conceptual system.
 As reported by Tunekins 1947 that in Murray Group
reliability of TAT comes out to be .90

22. RELIABILITY & VALIDITY Contd…
 Other approaches are also there to study reliability
such as split half & retest methods. In these
reliability findings are less convincing but such
methods are application or not is itself questionable.
 To ask whether a person will tell the same story
when retesting is some what like asking whether
someone will laugh again when same joke is
retold(Tomskin 1961). Though Tomskin found that
the major theme of the stories were almost as they
were in the first administration.

23. RELIABILITY & VALIDITY Contd…
 VALIDITY: The validity of TAT is complex. It
includes contradictory opinions & findings. TAT is a
test in which it is very important to check on the
method of analysis, criteria & experimental
conditions that are inappropriate. Moreover the
clinician in TAT is inseparable part of the test. It is
more of a test of a tester.
So the assessment of TAT depends upon skill,
knowledge & self constrain of the clinician. Similarly
important is the fact to discriminate between the real
personality traits & the traits which has been aroused
situationally means the examiner has to distinguish
between traits of personality & the state personality

24. RELIABILITY & VALIDITY Contd…
There are a few personality traits affected by age, sex,
occupation, cultural groups etc. The examiner must know
that the personality include both state & trait variable,
momentary an enduring traits which are determined due
to social factors.
For e.g., The stethoscope is not invalidate because the
patient arrive breathlessly at the doctor’s office & his
pulse is abnormally high. The hard, but necessary task of
physician is to confirm what is situationally determined
& what might be a symptoms of heart condition.
Similarly the psychological clinician has able to judge
what is tested related, situation related & psycho socially
determined. As well as what reflects the individual
personality, only then we can consider TAT to be valid &
reliable test of assessing the personality.