Psych Notes: Projective Tests

Projective tests were instruments that psychologists used to evaluate personality from a perspective that would reveal the hidden unconscious mind.

An example of a TAT picture card.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): developed by Henry Murray. It is a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes.

The subject is asked to tell the examiner a story about each card that includes the following elements: the event shown in the picture; what has led up to it; what the characters in the picture are feeling and thinking; and the outcome of the event. In addition to assessing the content of the stories that the subject is telling, the examiner evaluates the subject's manner, vocal tone, posture, hesitations, and other signs of an emotional response to a particular story picture. (Read more about it  here).

Rorscharch Inkblot Test: designed by Hermann Rorscharch. It is the most widely used projective test that uses a set of 10 inkblots that is meant to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots. 

Criticisms

Critics argue that projective tests lack both reliability (consistency of results) and validity (predictability in what it is supposed to do), therefore it is not an effective method of identifying most psychological disorders. However, it has been shown to be effective in diagnosing schizophrenia and bipolar disorder .