Objective Scoring of the TAT: Further Validation

Attention was called to a highly objective, reliable and parsimonious. method for scoring the TAT and further empirical evidence of its validity was presented. The scores obtained through this method were found to be significantly related to two other TAT scoring methods and to ratings by independent interviewers of the level of maturity of 64 male and 61 female young adults. The results were related to research bearing on the relation between projective material and overt behavior.     

Personal Problem-Solving Scoring of the TAT: Sensitivity to Training

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) is one of the most frequently taught and administered projective instruments in the United States. Nevertheless, formal scoring systems are not often used when evaluating story responses; thus, the reliability and validity of response interpretations remain controversial. The sensitivity-to-training of a procedure that uses the TAT to assess personal problem-solving skills, namely the Personal Problem-Solving System (PPSS; Ronan, 1990), was evaluated. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students received either detailed (n = 30) or minimal (n = 29) training in the problem-solving skill of generating alternative solutions to personal problems and subsequently wrote responses to three TAT cards. In Experiment 2, subjects received either detailed (n = 22) or minimal (n = 22) training in a utility model of decision making and thereafter responded to the same three TAT cards. Subjects who received detailed training, when compared to their minimally trained counterparts, reported an increase in their knowledge of the relevant problem-solving skill, and this increased knowledge influenced their responses to the TAT cards as measured by the PPSS scores. Implications for the construct validity of the PPSS are discussed.     

Society for Projective Techniques,Inc

While in the Army, I read Freud and decided to become a psychologist. Opting to be close to my fiancée I entered graduate school at Indiana University. After a year in academia, I chose a clinical position that offered valuable experience. Then I returned to academia (University of Pittsburgh) in order to teach and do research full time. I have taught 2 generations of students and still teach. I am proud of former graduate students. My scholarly pursuits were typically not planned, but in hindsight there were paths taken as I wandered into areas of aggression, psychopathology, temperament, shyness, and several topics concerning the self.     

Projective Techniques and the Development of Personality

Two studies were conducted to clarify the relationship between locus of control and depression. In the first study, 157 students rated the mood level of Rotter's I-E items. As predicted, the external responses were rated as significantly, more depressive in tone than the internal responses. This result suggested that the frequently found relationship between depression and external locus of control might be artifactual, resulting from the mood level rather than the content of the external responses, In the second study, 108 students completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the I-E; as predicted, the scales were significantly positively correlated. However, also as predicted, the correlation was no longer significant once the mood level was partialed out from the I-E items.     

Projective Techniques in the Counseling Process

Projective techniques have a lengthy and vital history in personality assessment, but they have evoked a minimal degree of interest on the part of counselors. Psychometric limitations, lack of training opportunities, and the obscure qualities of the instruments have restricted their use among practitioners. The author proposes a method to stimulate the use of projectives as an integral part of the counseling process and provides justification for the expanded use of the technique as a counseling tool.     

Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Society for Projective Techniques

This study assesses the concurrent validity of two Rorschach defense scales designed to identify borderline defensive structure. A Rorschach scale designed by Cooper and his colleagues was systematically compared to a defense scale constructed by Lerner and Lerner. Despite considerable overlap on a conceptual and operational level, the scales are based on divergent theoretical models (developmental arrest and fixation) and Rorschach units of analysis (all responses and human responses). Our results are based on the capacity of each scale to discriminate between independently diagnosed samples (neurotic, outpatient borderline, inpatient borderline, schizophrenic) and the relative discriminatory power of particular defenses within each scale to differentiate between groups.     

A Trial of Psychopharmacologic Measurement with Projective Techniques

An interactive computer program was developed in the BASIC language to present the performance and inquiry phases of the Rorschach Inkblot Test. As the subjects handled the traditional cards they entered their perceptions into the computer database, guided by instructions presented on the computer display. No assumptions were made about the percepts, but the Klopfer scoring questions were asked directly by the computer during the inquiry. The program scored the test as the subject answered the scoring questions on the keyboard. Thirty subjects were assessed using a test-retest design. One subgroup was tested first by a psychologist, and the other was tested first by the computer. The determinants of the psychologist and computer testing situations were found to be correlated and overall not significantly different except in location and time scores where the media differed.     

Projective Techniques for Adolescents and Children (Book)

A large sample (N = 483) of community-living adults (M age = 23.6 years) responded to questions about the frequency and adequacy of emotional, practical, and informational support during the past month from three sources-confidants, peers, and supervisors-using the Multi-Dimensional Support Scale. Factor analysis was used to distinguish meaningful regularities in item responses, and the resulting five scales have high internal reliability. Scores correlated significantly with measures of self-esteem, depressive affect, and psychological disturbance according to the General Health Questionnaire. To investigate what contribution support measures could make to the prediction of psychological well-being, hierarchical regression analyses were carried out with stressors entered first and support scores entered second. As expected, respondents' psychological well-being was related to their level of life stress; however, the addition of social support measures doubled the explained variance in measures of psychological well-being. The support measure with the strongest association with well-being was the frequency of supportive behaviors toward the respondent by close family and friends.     

On the Comparison of TAT and Free Speech Techniques in Personality Assessment

Schnurr, Rosenberg, and Oxman (1992) recently compared the free speech samples and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) responses of 95 normal adults. They concluded that the two techniques are not interchangeable, and that the TAT, which proved superior in the prediction of individual differences, may be preferable to free speech instructions for eliciting data in content analytic studies. We disagree with both conclusions. Various forms of narrative speech samples may be highly correlated, so long as psychologically meaningful, well-validated, and higher order content categories are used. The use of first-order content categories is less likely to contribute to the study of personality.     

The Research Use of Projective Techniques: A Seventeen Year Survey

The past 17 volumes (from 1947 to 1064) of the Journal of Projective Techniques and Personality Assessment were surveyed with regard to the degree of research usage of the various projective techniques. The most commonly used techniques in research have remained quite unchanged over the past 17 years, i.e., the Rorschach, the thematic tests, human figure drawings, and sentence completions. An analysis and comparison of the first five years covered by the survey with the last five years suggests that the Szondi, the Mosaic, Finger Painting Analysis, and the Make-A-Picture show relative decline in research usage; the Blacky, the Holtzman Inkblots, and the Hand Test appear to be increasing. The correlation between the degree of clinical usage reported by Sundberg (1961) and the degree of research usage found in this study was .60, suggesting a high relationship between the two measures. However, it was suggested that an increase or decline in the research usage of an instrument may precede a corresponding increase or decline in its clinical usage.     

Structural Analysis: A Theory of Personality Based on Projective Techniques

A new theory, Structural Analysis, is presented which postulates that personality is mediated through two hypothetical structures, the Facade Self and the Introspective Self. Implications for understanding personality dynamics and psychopthology were discussed. Applications of the theory to the interpretation and integration of projective test data were considered.     

Geographical Directory of Membership of the Society for Projective Techniques United States and Territories

We examined empirical findings related to the integration of the Rorschach and the MMPI in assessing adolescents. Intercorrelations between 50 Rorschach variables and the 13 MMPI basic scales are reported for a clinical sample of I97 adolescents. Significant correlations only slightly exceeded the number expected by chance. A review of six additional studies of adolescent samples also generally revealed either very modest or nonsignificant relationships between the Rorschach and the MMPI. These findings leave open the possibility that combining data from the two instruments may increase incremental validity, an issue that should be assessed by using multivariate analyses. Guidelines for integrating Rorschach and MMPI data in clinical practices with adolescents are provided.     

Comparison of TAT and Free Speech Techniques for Eliciting Source Material in Computerized Content Analysis

We compared the free speech samples and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) responses of 95 community-residing volunteers by using the General Inquirer content analysis computer program and the Harvard III Psychosociological Dictionary (Stone, Dunphy, Smith, & Ogitvie, 1966). Comparability was assessed by computing mean differences and correlations among techniques. The techniques were evaluated by assessing the ability of data derived from each to predict individual differences in developmental level, gender, depressive symptomatology, and personality. Results show highly discriminable profiles and low reliability among techniques. TAT data were superior in predicting individual, differences. We suggest that structured techniques like the TAT are preferable to standard free speech instructions for eliciting data in content analytic studies and discuss the possibility of computerized content analysis as a method of scoring the TAT.