Projective Personality Tests

Projective Test

• Have no clearly defined answers

• Use an open-ended format

• Present ambiguous stimuli and ask test taker to interpret what they see

- The interpretation is thought to reveal information about their personality

• Two most common projective personality tests are the– Rorschach Inkblot Test– Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Rorschach Inkblot Test

• Created by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1921

• Uses 10 official inkblots– 5 black and white– 2 black and red and white– 3 multicolored

Rorschach Inkblot

• Person is shown card with inkblot and asked what they think it could be

• Responses to cards are interpreted according to the following factors:– Location responding to whole card or part of card?– Determinants responding to particular shaping,

coloring, textures– Content the precise object that the test-taker is

seeing– Form is the answer based on the actual shape of

the blot, or are they seeing a different form entirely?

Thematic Apperception Test

• Created in the 1930’s by Harvard psychologist Henry Murray

• Involves a picture interpretation technique

• Test takers are shown ambiguous pictures and asked to create a story for the picture

TAT

• Subject’s story may include:– What has led up to the event shown– What is happening at the moment– What the characters are feeling and thinking– What the outcome of the story was

TAT

• Each story is carefully analyzed to uncover the test takers unconscious mind, including any– Repressed aspects of personality– Motives and needs for achievement– Power and intimacy– Problem solving abilities