Word Association Test

1. ASSIGNMENT
OF
PERSONALITY
ON
WORD
ASSOCIATION
TEST
(WAT)
SUBMITTED BY:-
HARPREET(220111110055)
SANDEEP(220111110053)
PARMOD(220111110052)
SUBMITTED TO:-
PROF. JYOTSANA MAM

2. WORD ASSOCIATION TEST(WAT)
❑ Introduction :-
▪ It is a projective test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli,
presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts projected by the person
into the test.
▪ The word association technique consists of a list of words which is read by the
examiner to the subject one at a time.
▪ The subject is asked to respond with the first word, image, idea or percept that occurs
to him.
▪ He is asked not to reflect or reason but to give his most immediate response.
▪ The word association test comes in the group of association techniques.
▪ Originally the test was known as the “free association test”.

3. ▪ The word association test may be considered in the group of verbal techniques also.
Most of the projective techniques require verbal responses but certain projective
techniques are wholly verbal, utilizing only words in both stimulus material and
responses.
▪ The classical form of verbal projective test is the word association. It is fully a verbal
technique.We may call it ‘word-word association test.’
▪ According to Rotter (1952),“The word association method, sometimes called the
‘free association method’, is perhaps one of the oldest procedures used in personality
study and may be well considered a forerunner of the more recent projective
techniques. It consists of presenting a stimulus word to a subject and having him
answer quickly with the first word that comes to mind. Generally in the word
association various disconnected–words are to be presented in chain to the
respondent and asked not to reflect or reason but to give his most immediate
response. In individual testing, the verbal responses are recorded as well as
hesitations, reflections, blockings, etc. of responses are also recorded.”

4. HISTORY & DEVELOPMENT
▪ The word-association test was first described by Galton in 1879.
▪ Later on, the early experimental psychologists like Wundt and Cattel introduced this technique to
study thinking processes.
▪ The clinical psychologists also became interested in the technique and started using it as a means
of exploring emotions, conflicts and anxieties.
▪ Kraepelin used this technique in the exploration of personality of mentally ill persons.
▪ However, Jung in 1910 made a systematic effort to introduce the technique in his psychoanalysis. He
presented a standard list of 100 words (some neutral and some emotionally toned) and analyzed the
responses of the examinees from different angles to get a variety of diagnostic clues. His main analysis
included the analysis of time taken in responding (reaction-time) and the content of the responses.A
longer time was taken to be indicative of some conflicts, anxieties, repressed experiences and a sign of
emotional embarrassment. Delays indicated that those words touched off painful experiences and
threatened to bring to light the anxiety-provoking or guilt-laden materials or were close to the
repressed experiences.

5. ▪ Jung had also studied the retest behaviour in the word-association test. He obtained the responses
towards his preselected words (which included both neutral and emotional words) and then, the
examinee was again administered the test with the instruction to recall the responses given previously.
Changes in responses were taken as important clues for further exploration of emotional complexes
of the individual.
▪ Later on, Kent and Rosanoff also developed their own test for use as a screening instrument in
psychiatric clinics.The test is known as the ‘Kent-Rosanoff Free AssociationTest’, which consists of 100
words belonging to the neutral and common category. On the basis of the responses to each word of
the examinees, the frequency tables of the responses of each word are prepared. An 'Index of
commonality' (or the median frequency value) is calculated on the basis of the frequency tables. Kent
and Rosanoff found that mentally ill persons exhibit a lower index of commonality, that is, they tend to
give uncommon or individual responses (or less common responses) more than the normal ones.
▪ Still another important word-association test was developed by Rapaport and his associates in
1946.The test consists of 60 words and aimed at exploring the areas of aggression and sexuality with
special emphasis upon oral, anal and phallic levels of psychosexual development.

6. PURPOSE
 This projective method is intended to reveal the associative connections between stimulus words and
free verbal responses.
 Its main purpose is to collect information about the disturbances in the mind through associational
disturbances on specific words.
 Since the subject is at liberty to choose from as multiplicity of logically possible reactions, the ones he
spontaneously produces are expected to have a more or less personal significance for him.
 It is felt that stimulus words which are there in the list, tap the critical points of the different ideational
areas and reveal the nature and amount of conflict that exists there.
 The W.A.T. is also considered as a tool for the diagnosis of complexes that cause emotional irritation.
 Complexes may be disclosed by unusual response content, thinking disturbances and by the formal
characteristics of the associative process.

7. STRUCTURE
 The Kent-Rosanoff’s Word Association List consists of 100 words.
 These are 71nouns, 21simple adjectives and 8verb forms.
 Of the 8 verb forms, 6 may be taken as nouns (comfort, whistle, command, wish, sleep,
and trouble), and 2 are participle forms (working, eating).
 The adjective and verb forms are interspersed with no apparent purposive pattern,
and all of the words would be generally considered to be innocuous.
 The table has four columns:- the stimuli word, reaction word, reaction time and
reason of response.

8. Reason of Response

10. Reason of Response

12. ADMINISTRATION
❑ Administering a WAT is relatively uncomplicated compared to other projective
techniques.
❑ Instructions:-
▪ We are now going to do a ‘Word Association Test’ which consists a list of 100 words.
▪ I read them one at a time. After each word I read, say the first word that comes to
your mind.The word may or may not be related to the word I speak.
▪ The subject is also sometimes asked to explain any obscure connections between
stimulus and response words.

13. ❑ Procedure:-
1. First, we build rapport with the subject.
2. Then, we gave instructions to the subject properly.
3. Practice was given on five words which were not included in the K-R WAT.
4. After that, we gave him response sheet of original K-R WAT.
5. The 100 stimulus words of the list were read off one at a time.
6. The subject's response, reaction time and reactions (such as repetition of stimulus
word before giving the response and failure to make any response) were noted.
7. After taking reaction time for all stimulus words, if the response words are to be
recalled, the second reaction time may be noted again along with the second
response word.
8. Then, scoring is done by finding average reaction time.
9. Then, we interpret the result by using various methods.
10. At last, we discuss the result with the subject and provide him suitable guidance or
therapy.

14. ➢ Woodworth and Schlosberg (1954) presented a four-fold classification to the diversity of
individual response word, i.e.
▪ Class 1. Definition:- This class would include Synonyms, Supra-ordinates and probably
Subordinates.
Examples:
Afraid--Scared
Table--Furniture
▪ Class 2. Completion or Predication:- Many associations in this might of the adjective-noun or
the noun-verb sort, expressive of descriptive or a functional association.
Examples:
White--Snow
Table--Eat
Afraid--Dark
SCORING & INTERPRETATION

15. ▪ Class 3. Coordinates and Opposites:- In this class, similar or contrasting responses are associated
with the stimulus words because they have been found together. Opposites and coordinates are found
frequently in this class.
Examples:
Chair--Table
Black--White
Afraid—Brave
▪ Class 4. Unique Responses:- Many type of unique responses may occur. Some responses are
governed by personal experience of person responding.The responses may be evaluative in relation to
the stimulus. Another variety of this classification is the clang association with the response tending to
echo part of the stimulus sound.
Examples:
Table--Celsey
White--Almost
Afraid--Rocks

16. ❑ Other Method for Analyses:-
▪ ReactionTime:-
The time for association is recorded by the Stop-Watch.The Stop-Watch is started while speaking the
first syllable of the stimulus word and it is stopped on hearing the first syllable of the response word.
The average reaction time for the whole list may be found by employing the formula given below:-
Average R.T. =
Total Reaction Time
𝑁𝑜.𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠
➢ For getting most accurate comparison, Bureau of Psychology,Allahabad, U.P. has given a critical
reaction time in its Manual:-
▪ Critical ReactionTime (CRT) means a stage where there is a difficulty and on going beyond this,
there are chances of a break-down.Thus, the
Critical ReactionTime = Average ReactionTime + 2/3 of Average R.T.

17. StimulusWord Responses Form or Parts of speech
Hair Head Noun
....... Black Adjective
....... Weeping Verb
➢ The following interpretation on the basis of grammatical analysis is made:-
• Nouns 70% and above:- Ego is normal.
• Nouns 60% and above:- Difficult to say that ego is abnormal.
• Nouns 50% and above:- Ego is not functioning well.
• Adjectives High:- a) Aesthetic sense (Poet, etc.)
b) Obsessional tendency (repeated behaviour and thoughts).
• Verbs High:- A sign of more activity. (He is action-minded).
▪ Standard Average Reaction Time:- Many investigators have done researches on association and they
have calculated average reaction time. Woodworth and Scholsberg (1954) have quoted some of the
investigator's findings, to which we also add a few more from Indian data as given below:-
▪ Grammatical Analysis:- In WAT, the analysis is mostly on the basis of form and structures and this analysis on the
basis of form may be done as given below:

18. Sr. No. Name of the Investigator Average ReactionTime in Milli-Seconds/Seconds
1. Aschaffenburg (1895) 1150ms.
2. Wreshner (1907) 1600ms.
3. Menzerath(1908) and Well(1911) Average to go down from 1750 to 1200-1300ms.
4. Murphy (1917) 1276ms, going down to1030ms. on repetition of the stimulous list.
5. Jung (1919) 1800ms; Men 1600ms; Women 2000ms.
6. Cason and Cason (1925) 1520ms. with distribution of individual averages showing a S.D. of 400ms.
7. Kapoor, S.D. (1956) 2.13 seconds, going down to 1.8 seconds on repetition of stimulus words.
(Indian Norms based on the college students for Jung's and K-R's Lists).
8. Kapoor, K. (1961) 2.46 seconds, going down to 2.14 seconds on repetition of stimulus words
(Indian Norms based on female college students for Jung's and K-R's Lists.)
9. Kapoor, S.D. (1968) 2.24 seconds, going down to 1.91 seconds on repetition of stimulus words.
(Norms based on 1100 college male and female students for the Hindi
versions of Jung's Free Assn. List Forms A&B, and K-R’s List Forms A&B.
10. Kocher and Pratap (1971) 4.49 seconds (Indian Norms, mostly based on 250 yoga trainees).

19. ❑ Interpretation:-
▪ The extent to which the responses agree with those commonly given by normal individual yields a
measure of the conformity between the Subject's thinking and that of the average person.
▪ Poorly adjusted individuals have a larger number of unique responses.
▪ Responses of unusual content may be analysed as a source of information about special problems in
the personality. Such complexes may, for instance, be found in relation to sexual, vocational or social
adjustment.
➢ Complex Indicators:- Given by Jung in his 'Studies in Word Association" (1919)
1. Long reaction time or failure to react.
2. Repetition of the stimulus word before reacting.
3. Misunderstanding of the stimulus word.
4. Response having no obvious relation to the stimulus word, far-fetched, extremely personal or
merely a clang association.
5. Signs of excitement or embarrassment, laughing or smiling, stammering, interjection, whispered or
shouted responses.
6. Failure to recall the original response to word when that word isgiven in the production list.

20. APPLICATIONS
 Supplementing other techniques in individual case studies,
 Group Studies,
 Vocational Selection,
 Psychiatric and ClinicalTool,
 Measurement of Interests and Attitudes,
 As a Lie-Detector etc.

21. ADVANTAGES
 Administering a word-association test is relatively easy.
 Free association works best in the unstructured situation.
 Used as a tool for the exploration of thinking processes.
 The technique can be of considerable value, particularly when the subject is not
readily willing or able to discuss his problem.

22. DISADVANTAGES
 The word association procedure is not widely used at the present time because it
does not appear to provide very rich insights in the person being studied.
 Because sufficient material is not provided by the word association test to
understand the personality as a meaningful whole.

23. THANK YOU ALL!