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Projective
Personality
Testing
Psychological Testing
Projective hypothesis
 DEFINITION:
In a projective test, an
individual “supplies structure to
unstructured stimuli in a manner
consistent with the individual’s own
unique pattern of conscious and
unconscious needs, fears, desires,
impulses, conflicts, and ways of
perceiving and responding.”
Concerns About Projectives
 Assumptions:
 The
more unstructured
the stimuli, the more
examinees reveal about
their personality.
 Projection is greater to
stimulus material that is
similar to the examinee.
 Every response provides
meaning for personality
analysis.
 There
is an
“unconscious.”
 Subjects are unaware of
what they disclose.
 Situational
 Age
variables:
of examiner.
 Specific instructions.
 Subtle reinforcement
cues.
 Setting - privacy.
Inkblots as projective stimuli
 The
Rorschach:
 Hermann
Rorschach (1884 - 1922).
 10 bilaterally symmetrical inkblots on
separate cards:
5
black and white.
 2 black, white, and red.
 3 multicolor.
Inkblots: Initial administration
 “What
might this be?”
 Record response verbatim:
 Include
time until first response.
 Position of card, spontaneous statements,
nonverbal gestures or body movements.
 No
discussion of examinee’s responses.
Inkblots: “The inquiry”
 “What
made it look like _____?” or “How
do you see ____?”
 Clarify
initial responses and determine
which aspects of inkblot were most
influential.
 Determine
if examinee remembers
initial responses and if original response
is still seen.
 Ask about “any new perceptions?”
Inkblots: “Testing the limits”
 Ask
specific questions to get additional
information about personality
functioning.
 Identify confusion/misunderstanding
about the task.
 Determine if examinee is able to do
better with more testing structure.
Inkblots:
Scoring Categories
 Location:
 Part

 Content:
of inkblot utilized:
Entire blot, large or small
section, minute detail, white
space.
 Determinants:
 Qualities

of the inkblot:
Form, color, shading,
movement.
 Popularity
of response
 Frequency
of response.
 Human
figures,
animal figures, blood
etc.
 Form:
 How
accurately
examinee’s
perception matches
the corresponding
part of the inkblot.
Inkblots:
Interpretation of scores
 Generate
hypotheses based on
patterns of response, recurrent
themes and interrelationships among
scoring categories:
 Whole
responses - conceptual thought
processes.
 Form - reality testing.
 Human movement - imagination.
 Color - emotional reactivity.
Inkblots:
Psychometric Properties
 Split-half
and test-retest methods are
not feasible.
 Inter-scorer reliability (with respect to
categories) is acceptable.
 Inter-scorer reliability (with respect to
interpretation) is not always acceptable.
 Convergent validity of .41:
 WAIS
- .62
 MMPI - .46
The Rorschach Ink Blot:
 Still
widely used clinical instrument:
 Most
frequently used projective test;
 Most frequently taught projective technique
in counseling psychology programs and
practicum sites.
 Extensively
used as a research
instrument:
 Thousands
of references in the Mental
Measurements Yearbook.
Exner’s system for the
Rorschach
Comprised of best
features of 5
different systems.
 Coding categories:

 Location.
 Determinants.
 Form
quality.
 Content.
 Popularity.
 Coding
categories
(cont.):
 Organizational
activity.
 Special scores.
 Indexes
derived:
 Obsessive
style.
 Depression.
 Coping deficit.
 Schizophrenia.
Pictures as Projective Stimuli

First used in 1907:
 Differences
reported
in responses of boys
and girls to 9
pictures.

Variety of pictures
utilized:
 Paintings,
drawings,
etchings, or photos
of animals, people,
objects or anything.
Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
 Morgan
and Murray (1935).
 Elicit fantasy material from patients in
psychoanalysis.
 31 cards:
 30
black & white with scenes:
 Describe
1
story.
blank:
 Imagine
picture on card and tell related story.
TAT: Administration
 A set
of 20 cards is recommended, but
the number may vary based on length
of stories:
 Some
cards are suggested for use with
adult males, adult females, or both.
 Some cards are best used with children;
however, all cards may be administered
to any subject.
TAT: Conclusions
 Based
on:
 Stories
told by examinee.
 Clinician’s notes:
 Examinee’s
response to the cards.
 Extra-test behavior and verbalizations.
 Analysis
training.
of story requires special
TAT: Interpretation
 Murray’s
 Need
concepts:
- determinants of behavior arising
from within the individual.
 Press - determinants of behavior arising
from within the environment.
 Thema - interaction between need and
press.
TAT Interpretation (cont.)
 Basic
assumption:
 Examinee
is identifying with protagonist in
the story.
 Examinee’s concerns, hopes, fears, and
desires are reflected in the protagonist’s
needs, demands, and conflicts.
 That is, the examinee’s personality is
projected onto the protagonist.
TAT Psychometric properties
 Reliability:
 Split-half,
test-retest,
and alternate-form
reliability measures are
not appropriate.
 Inter-rater
reliability is
acceptable.
 Situational factors:
 Examiner.
 Events
just prior to
administration.
 Delivery
of instructions.
 Transient internal needs
states.
 Stimulus pull.
 Desire to fake good or
bad.
 Validity:
 Conflicting
opinions
regarding the validity of
the assumptions and the
interpretations.
Variations of the TAT

Thompson TAT
1949:
 Use
with African
Americans.

CAT 1949 (3-10):
 Pictures
of animals.
 CAT
- H:
 Humans
instead of
animals.
 Blacky
Pictures Test
1950:
 Used
Blacky the dog
and his family and
friends.
Blacky Test
Blacky Test
Blacky Test
Blacky Test
Other Picture-Story Tests
 The
Picture Story Test 1949:
 Used
with adolescents.
 Education
Apperception Test and
School Appreciation Test:
 Measure
kids’ attitudes toward school and
learning.
 TEMAS:
 Hispanic
characters and urban settings.
Other picture-story tests (cont.)
 Make
A Picture Story Method 1952:
 Arrange
pictures of figures on pictorial
backgrounds.
 The
Apperception Personality Test
1990:
8
stimulus cards with recognizable people
in everyday settings; more upbeat than
TAT.
 Multiple choice questions fill in the gap.
Words as Projective Stimuli
 Semi-structured
technique:
 Use
of open-ended words, phrases and
sentences provides a framework within
which the examinee must operate.
 Word
association and sentence
completion tests:
2
best-known examples.
Early Influences:
Word Projection
 Galton
1879:
 Present
series of words and respond with first
word that comes to mind.
 Jung
1910:
 Key
words representing possible areas of
conflict.
 Kent-Rosanoff
Free Association Test
1910:
 Attempt
words.
to standardize responses to specific
Word Association Test
 Rapaport,
3
Gill and Schafer (1946):
part test consisting of 60 words.
 Basis
of evaluation:
 Popularity.
 Response
time.
 Content.
 Test-retest
response.
Sentence Completion Tests
 Complete
 “I
the following:
like to _____________.”
 Stems
may be general or specific
depending on the setting.
 Obtain information about interests, goals,
fears, conflicts, needs, etc.
 High degree of face validity:
 Most
vulnerable projective test to faking.
Rotter Incomplete Sentences
Blank (1950)
 Most
popular.
 40 incomplete sentences .
 3 levels:
 high
school, college and adult.
 Estimates
of inter-scorer reliability (with
respect to scoring categories) are in the
.90s.
Projective:
Figure Drawings
 Quick
and easy administration:
 Individually
or in a group.
 Non-clinicians can administer.
 Pencil and paper only.
 Used
to obtain information about
intelligence, neurological intactness, visualmotor coordination, cognitive development,
and learning disabilities.
 Questionable use.
Machover’s
Draw-A-Person Test
 Administration:
 “Draw
a person” on
piece of 8 1/2 X 11
blank white paper.
 2nd drawing of
other sex.
 “Tell me a story
about the figure.”
Machover’s
Draw-A-Person Test Evaluation
Criteria
 Placement
of the figure:
 right
- future; left - past; upper right - suppress
past and optimism; lower left - depression.
 Facial
 large
 Light
expressions:
eyes or ears - suspiciousness; paranoid.
pencil pressure:
 character
 Figure
disturbance.
size, line quality, symmetry etc.
Other Figure Drawings
 House
Tree Person
(HTP)
 Buck
1948.
 Kinetic
Family Drawing
(KFD):
 Burns
& Kaufman (1970).
 Picture of everyone in
family doing something.
 No widely accepted
scoring system.