• Projective tests of personality are widely used by psychologists.
• Projective techniques are most indirect method to assess personality.
• Psycho analytic theory proposed that behaviour is also determined by unconscious forces.
• The projective techniques were developed to assess unconscious motives and feelings.
— The stimulus material is relative or fully unstructured and poorly defined.
— The person being assessed is usually not told the purpose and the method of scoring and interpretation before the administration of test.
— The person is informed that there are no right or wrong responses.
— Each response is considered to reveal a true and significant aspect of personality.
— The scoring and interpretation in projective assessment are lengthy and subjective.
Projective Techniques
— Developed to assess unconscious motives, feelings and conflicts.
— A less structured or unstructured stimulus or situation will allow the individual to project his/her feelings, desires and needs on to that situation,
— Projections are interpreted by experts.
— Cannot be scored objectively, require qualitative analysis for which a rigorous training is needed.
1. The Rorschach Inkblot Test (Hermann Rorschach)
• Consists of 10 inkblots—5 black and white, 2 with red ink, 3 in pastel colours.
• Blots are symmetrical in design with a specific shape or form, made by dropping ink on a piece of paper and then folding the paper in half (hence called inkblot test).
• The cards are administered individually in two phases:
—Performance proper: The subjects are shown the cards and are asked to tell what they see in each of them.
—Inquiry: A detailed report of the response is prepared by asking the subject to tell where, how, and on what basis was a particular response made.
• Fine judgment is necessary to place the subject’s responses in a meaningful context. Use and interpretation of this test requires extensive training
2. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Morgan and Murray
•This test consists of 30 black and white picture cards and one blank card—each picture card depicts one or more people in a variety of situations.
• Some cards are used specifically with adult males or females, boys or girls—have been modified for the children and the aged.
• The cards are presented one at a time and the subject is asked to tell a story describing the situation presented in the picture—what led up to the situation, what is happening at the moment, what will happen in the future, what the characters are feeling and thinking?
. Uma Chaudhury’s Indian adaptation of TAT is also available.
3.Rosenzweig’s Picture-Frustration Study (P-F Study)
• This study assesses how people express aggression in the face of a frustrating situation.
• Presents with the help of cartoon-like pictures a series of situations in which one person frustrates another, or calls attention to a frustrating condition.
• The subject is asked to tell what the other (frustrated) person will say or do.
• The analysis of responses is based on the type and direction of aggression—examine whether the focus is on the frustrating object (environment), or on protection of the frustrated person (oneself), or on constructive solution of the problem.
• Pareek has adapted this test for the Indian population
4. Sentence Completion Test
• This test makes use of a number of incomplete sentences—the starting part of the sentence is first presented and the subject has to provide an ending to the sentence.
• The type of endings used by the subjects reflect their attitudes, motivation and conflicts.
• The test provides subjects with several opportunities to reveal their underlying unconscious motivations.
5. Draw-a-Person Test
• In this test, the subject is asked to draw a person on a sheet of paper and then a figure of an opposite sex person.
• Finally, the subject is asked to make a story about the person as if he/she was a character in a novel or play. •Some examples of interpretations are as follows:
— Omission of facial features suggests that the person tries to evade a highly conflict-ridden interpersonal relationships.
— Graphic emphasis on the neck suggests lack of control over impulses.
— Disproportionately large head suggests organic brain disease and pre-occupation with headaches.
Limitations
• Interpretation of the responses requires sophisticated skills and specialized training.
•There are problems associated with the reliability of scoring and validity of interpretations.
