Ψlogical
Testing

Chapter 14
Projective
Personality Tests

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The projective hypothesis:

When people attempt to understand an ambiguous or vague stimulus, their interpretation of that stimulus reflects their needs, feelings, experiences, prior conditioning, thought processes, and so forth (informed by Frank, 1939)

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

  • General idea of using ambiguous inkblots in testing dates to 1800’s
  • Rorschach gained notoriety because he leveraged inkblots to identify psychological disorders
  • 10 “original” stimuli widely accessible
  • goal is for subject’s response to reflect only the subject (zero adminstrator expectation influence)






Note

Rorschach created the stimuli himself by dropping ink on a card, then folding it 😎

Rorschach administration1

  • individually administered with no restriction placed on type of response given
  • generally, ambiguity is favored over communication of expectations
    • this is obviously VERY different from most test administration contexts
  • each card is administered twice (free–association & inquiry phases)
  • subject handles the card, which explains why “rotation/ position” at time of response is recorded

Rorschach scoring1

Free–association phase:

  • verbatim responses are typically recorded as well as duration and card position

Inquiry phase:

  • location – section being used (whole, detail, white space)
  • determinant – features responded to (form, movement, shading)
  • form quality – is answer a “fit” to location of inkblot indicated
  • content – name used in response (human, animal, geography)
  • frequency – common (to other respondents) or unique

The Holtzman (1961)…

…is an alternative inkblot test that addresses common criticisms of the Rorschach (variable number of respondent answers, lack of administration protocol standardization, & no alternative form)

  • subject only allowed one response per card
  • administration and scoring are carefully explained and standardized
  • two forms (A & B) both consisting of 45 cards

Note

22 scoring dimensions include direct appraisals of constructs such as anxiety and hostility

Thematic Apperception Test

Intended to evaluating normal personality characteristics1 through the lens of Murray (1938)’s model of 28 human needs (same theoretical framework as was retained for the EPPS).

  • 30 pictures + 1 blank card (gender– & age–specific)
  • no widely–accepted standardized administration or scoring

Note

the achievement motive has traditionally been the need most vigorously evaluated with the TAT

TAT interpretation

Response latencies (to first uttered response) are interpreted as possible indicators of difficulty with card interpretation – as with other projective tests, verbatim responses are also recorded

Common interpretations focus on:

  • hero – character subject identifies with
  • needs – what motivates the hero
  • press – factors interfering with satisfaction of needs
  • themes – mood or characteristic given (e.g., depression)
  • outcomes – consequence of story (e.g., success/ failure)

Nonpictoral projective procedures…

…ask subjects to respond to requests that don’t involve visual stimuli

Word Association Test (Jung, 1910)

  • respond with first word that comes to mind (after a prompt)

Sentence Completion Tasks1

  • partial statements to be completed (e.g., I feel ________ )

Figure Drawing Tests

This projective assessment asks subjects to tell a story from ambiguous pictures

  • Thematic Apperception Test
  • Rorschach
  • Holtzman
  • Figure Drawing Test

Within the TAT, the character the subject identifies with is referred to as the ___________

  • hero
  • subject
  • focus
  • character

Methodologically, response times are also sometimes referred to as __________

  • latencies
  • durations
  • milliseconds
  • intervals

Which of the following is considered to have the greatest degree of standardization?

  • Holtzman
  • Rorschach
  • TAT
  • Word Association

Rorschach was only ______ years old when he died 😢

  • 37
  • 27
  • 57
  • 47

References

Frank, L. K. (1939). Projective methods for the study of personality. The Journal of Psychology, 8(2), 389–413.
Holtzman, W. H. (1961). Holtzman inkblot technique. New York: The Psychological Corporation.
Jung, C. G. (1910). The association method. The American Journal of Psychology, 21(2), 219–269.
Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in personality. Oxford University Press.