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.     

Personal problem-solving system for scoring TAT responses: preliminary validity and reliability data

Personal problem solving has emerged as an important construct in the cognitive-behavioral literature, yet there is a lack of clinically useful, performance-based measures practitioners can use to assess the personal problem-solving skills of their clients. Two studies evaluated the validity and reliability of a scoring system for measuring personal problem-solving processes via the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Morgan & Murray, 1935). In Experiment 1, undergraduate students (N = 87) completed two measures of personal problem solving, as well as three TAT cards, which were scored using the Personal Problem-Solving System (PPSS; Renan, 1990). In Experiment 2, an additional group of undergraduates (N = 56) responded to three TAT cards on two separate occasions and also completed a different measure of personal problem solving. Results from both studies supported the use of the PPSS for scoring TAT responses to assess personal problem-solving processes. Suggestions for future research are highlighted.     

Gender bias on the Thematic Apperception Test

Thirty male and 30 female college students generated stories to a set of nine Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards with either male or female stimulus characters. The Fine scoring system was factor analyzed to produce seven factor clusters plus three outcome variables. Multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a main effect for type of card. The female TAT cards elicited significantly more responses on the General Concerns scale than did the male TAT cards. A main effect for subject gender showed the females gave more responses than males on the Interpersonal Relations scale. No differences were found on the outcome variables.     

Gender Bias on the Thematic Apperception Test

Thirty male and 30 female college students generated stories to a set of nine Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards with either male or female stimulus characters. The Fine scoring system was factor analyzed to produce seven factor clusters plus three outcome variables. Multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a main effect for type of card. The female TAT cards elicited significantly more responses on the General Concerns scale than did the male TAT cards. A main effect for subject gender showed the females gave more responses than males on the Interpersonal Relations scale. No differences were found on the outcome variables.     

Formal characteristics of Thematic Apperception Test stories as indices of emotional disturbance in children

Formal characteristics of stories told about picture cards from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were defined as reflecting the storyteller's ability to accomplish the task and were distinguished from content that expresses the unique concerns of the individual. It was argued that increased emphasis on formal aspects of TAT responses is warranted, because these characteristics can be determined more objectively and are more suitable for direct group comparison. Therefore, the variables included in our study consisted of an integration and expansion of formal characteristics previously developed with adults, which showed promise in differentiating disturbed and normal groups of children. Based on these formal characteristics of TAT stories, 95% of the comparison group members and 85% of the disturbed group members were correctly classified. Emotionally disturbed boys (n = 40) differed from a comparison group (n = 40) on seven formal scoring categories which were hypothesized to differentiate the groups.     

Formal Characteristics of Thematic Apperception Test Stories as Indices of Emotional Disturbance in Children

Formal characteristics of stories told about picture cards from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) were defined as reflecting the storyteller's ability to accomplish the task and were distinguished from content that expresses the unique concerns of the individual. It was argued that increased emphasis on formal aspects of TAT responses is warranted, because these characteristics can be determined more objectively and are more suitable for direct group comparison. Therefore, the variables included in our study consisted of an integration and expansion of formal characteristics previously developed with adults, which showed promise in differentiating disturbed and normal groups of children. Based on these formal characteristics of TAT stories, 95% of the comparison group members and 85% of the disturbed group members were correctly classified. Emotionally disturbed boys (n = 40) differed from a comparison group (n = 40) on seven formal scoring categories which were hypothesized to differentiate the groups.     

PROBLEM SOLVING TO PREVENT WORK INJURIES IN SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT

A problem-solving strategy was used to teach three groups of 3 individuals in supported employment how to prevent work-related injuries. The problem-solving strategy was taught in two training phases. The first training phase involved the use of cue cards, and the second involved the withdrawal of the cue cards. Interviews and staged generalization assessments in the participants' natural work environments were conducted before, during, and up to 12 weeks after training. In these assessments, situations were presented that were either similar or dissimilar to situations presented in training. Results of both the interviews and staged assessments indicated that the participants' newly acquired problem-solving skills generalized to similar and dissimilar situations.     

Quantitative studies of responses elicited by selected TAT cards

Quantitative differences in subjects' responses to selected TAT cards were studied. 70 white, female college students wrote stories in response to TAT Cards 1, 2, 3BM, 12M, and 13MF. Stories were scored for several measures of drive intensity, defensive pattern, and object relational pattern. On all measures, the several cards were associated with different patterns of response. The use of the pattern of scores on several cards (as opposed to aggregate measures summing responses to several cards) for exploration of the ebb and flow of various aspects of intrapsychic functioning is discussed.     

What Is the TAT? A Review of Ten Years of Research

Research using the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is generally pessimistic in regard to its validity and reliability. One reason for this is the wide range of stimulus materials accepted under the title of TAT. Stimulus cards are so varied that generalization from one study to another or to clinical practice is hardly possible. In this study, all articles indexed under TAT in Psychological Abstracts for a 10-year period were examined. When possible to make this determination, cards were listed in order of usage. Suggestions for future research are given.     

When shoes become hammers: Goal-derived categorization training enhances problem-solving performance

Problem-solving theories have not examined how solvers navigate their knowledge to interpret problem situations or to plan strategies toward goals. In this article, the author argues that success in problem solving depends on the solver's ability to construct goal-derived categories, namely categories that are formed ad hoc to serve goals during the instantiation of problem frames. Experiment 1 (N = 140) showed improved problem-solving performance after training to construct goal-derived categories. Experiment 2 (N = 80) demonstrated that effects of training in category construction can be obtained without participants being explicitly informed regarding the relevance of training to problem solving. These studies suggest that problem solving is a dynamic expression of goal-directed cognition and provide evidence for the involvement of categorization in problem-solving processes.     

Efficacy of written modeling and vicarious reinforcement in increasing use of problem-solving methods by distressed individuals

The authors evaluated an application of social cognitive theory principles intended to increase adherence to a problem-solving intervention. The study included 132 adult volunteers who wanted to reduce their distress levels. All participants received group training in problem-solving methods. Before attempting to solve at least 1 distressing problem in their lives over the next 3 weeks, participants were randomly assigned to either (a) a modeling with vicarious reinforcement condition in which they received 3 personal anecdotes written by individuals who had successfully applied problem-solving methods to a real problem or (b) a control condition in which they received a fact sheet about problem solving. Word counts of problem-solving writing, self-reports of adherence, and observer ratings of adherence showed that participants in the vicarious reinforcement condition demonstrated significantly higher adherence than did those in the control condition. These results provide support for the effectiveness of symbolic modeling and vicarious reinforcement in increasing adherence to problem-solving methods by individuals who want to decrease their distress.     

Season's greetings: adults' social contacts at the holiday season.

Close friends and family play an important role in adults' lives, but little is known about the implications of infrequent or peripheral social ties that adults maintain. Eighty-seven adults, ranging in age from 24 to 87 years (M = 51.25) provided information about their holiday card networks. Participants completed surveys for up to 25 cards that they received during one holiday season (n = 1,405 surveys completed) and provided the holiday greetings as well, if they were willing (n = 1,152 cards). Over half of the cards participants received were from individuals whom participants did not consider to be close friends or family members and whom they had not seen in over a year. Adults of all ages described emotional reactions to approximately one third of the cards they received. Younger adults tended to view their holiday greetings as a means of maintaining or building new social ties, whereas older adults were more likely to view their holiday greetings as a link to their personal past. Receiving a greater number of holiday cards and receiving cards from close social contacts were associated with increased feelings of social embeddedness. Similarities and differences between peripheral ties and close social ties are considered.     

Massed trial Overtraining Effects on Extinction and Reversal Performance in Turtles (Geoclemys reevesii)

Two experiments with turtles (Geoclemys reevesii) examined the overtraining extinction effect (OEE) and the overtraining reversal effect (ORE), under massed training conditions. In Experiment 1, three groups of turtles received 7, 14, or 21 sessions of training in a runway situation for food reinforcement, followed by 15 sessions of extinction. Extinction was faster, the greater the number of acquisition sessions. In Experiment 2, the two groups of turtles learned a spatial discrimination for food reinforcement either to a criterion (19 of 20 correct responses), or to that criterion plus 100 additional trials of overtraining. When the validity of the positions was reversed, learning was faster for the overtrained group than for the group trained to a criterion. This evidence of the OEE and the ORE is the first yet reported for a reptile. The results are discussed in the framework of comparative research on rewardschedule effects.     

Spontaneous configuring in conditioned flavor aversion

A series of experiments investigated spontaneous configuring using the conditioned flavor aversion paradigm with rat subjects. In Experiment 1, extended training of a two-flavor compound stimulus did not produce spontaneous differentiation of conditioned responding to that compound and its elements. In Experiment 2 we found that extended nonreinforced exposure to a compound stimulus generated spontaneous element-compound differentiation when the elements were later conditioned. Rats that received extended preexposure to the compound showed less conditioned responding to the compound than to either of its elements. However, rats that had not received preexposure to the compound showed greater conditioned responding to the compound than to either of its elements (summation). In Experiment 3, nonreinforced preexposure to the compound stimulus prior to minimal reinforced compound training produced spontaneous compound-element differentiation, but extended reinforced compound training eliminated that differentiation. In Experiment 4, extended partial reinforcement training with a compound produced differentiation of the compound from its elements. Implications of these data for the mechanisms responsible for spontaneous configuring and for the summation assumptions common to most learning theories are discussed.     

The effects of cognitive style and training on performance ratings' validity

This study investigated how personal cognitive style and training effect rating validity with two different rating tasks. Male undergraduate volunteers (n = 53) served as raters and rated videotaped lecturers. Using the Embedded Figures Test to measure cognitive style, two groups of raters were formed: those who tend to structure information presented (articulated) and those who do not (global). Half of each cognitive style received observational training designed to be congruent with the behavioral rating task. All raters completed two rating tasks: one requiring an evaluative judgment and one requiring a judgment of behavior frequency. It was hypothesized that with the evaluative rating task, cognitive style would be and training would not be a significant predictor of validity, because the training was not relevant to the task. It was also hypothesized that with the observational task training would improve rating validity (overcoming cognitive style), because the training was relevant to the rating task. Both hypotheses were supported.I wish to thank Dr. Kevin Murphy for the use of the videotapes.     

Serial learning with wild card items by monkeys (Cebus apella): implications for knowledge of ordinal position

We investigated monkeys' knowledge of the ordinal positions of stimuli that formed a 5-item serial list, ABCDE, by means of wild card items (W) that could substitute for items in the original series. In Experiment 1, training with wild cards was given on 3-, 4-, and 5-item series. In the last of these series, the wild card substitutions created five wild card sequences, WBCDE through ABCDW. During the final 10 sessions of training with each of two different wild cards (Items x and Y), the 3 subjects were able to successfully complete almost 60% of the wild card sequences. In Experiment 2, the two wild cards were presented on the same trial in 10 different double wild card sequences (e.g., AXCDY). The 2 monkey subjects correctly completed about 59% of the double wild card sequences during the final two training sessions. The performance levels achieved on single and on double wild card sequences, although well below that observed on the baseline sequence ABCDE (90% or better), support the view that the monkeys possessed some knowledge regarding the ordinal position of each baseline item. Consequently, an associative chain interpretation, which does not provide for knowledge of ordinal position, falls short as a complete account of the monkey's capacity for serial learning.     

A critique of Lilienfeld et al.'s (2000) "The scientific status of projective techniques"

Lilienfeld, Wood, and Garb (2000) published a largely negative critique of the validity and reliability of projective methods, concentrating on the Comprehensive System for the Rorschach (Exner, 1993), 3 systems for coding the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) cards, and human figure drawings. This article is an effort to document and correct what I perceive as errors of omission and commission in the Lilienfeld et al. article. When projective measures are viewed in the light of these corrections, the evidence for the validity and clinical usefulness of the Rorschach and TAT methods is more robust than Lilienfeld et al. represented.     

The Relationship between Creativity and Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills in Adults

The present study evaluated whether creativity training and interpersonal problem-solving training reflect equivalent or complementary skills in adults. A sample of 74 undergraduates received interpersonal problem-solving training, creativity training, neither, or both. Dependent variables included measures of problem-solving and creative performance, and problem-solving and creative style. The results suggested that creativity and interpersonal problem-solving represent complementary skills, in that each training program specifically affected performance only on related measures of performance. A combination of programs affected both abilities. Creativity training and interpersonal problem-solving training are popular psychoeducational interventions that developed in isolation from each other. Originally thought of as a mysterious process, the empirical analysis of the creative act can be traced to the work of Wallas (1926). Under the assumption that creativity is a desirable trait, a number of scales and training programs have been developed to measure and enhance creative skills. Creativity training has been used primarily in educational and industrial settings (e.g., Basadur, 1981). The principles of interpersonal problem-solving training have emerged more recently, in the work of Spivack and Shure (1974; Spivack, Platt, & Shure, 1976) and D'Zurilla (D'Zurilla & Goldfried, 1971; D'Zurilla & Nezu, 1982). These authors conceptualized interpersonal problem-solving training in the context of behavior therapy, and for this reason the literature on interpersonal problem-solving is more closely associated with therapeutic settings. Creativity and interpersonal problem-solving skills can be conceptually distinguished on the basis of their goals. Interpersonal problem-solving refers to one's skill in determining the means by which to achieve a specific end or overcome a specific problem. Creativity, on the other hand, need not be oriented towards achieving specific ends; it is associated with the capacity for thinking in new and different ways. Koestler (1964) has even argued that these two goals can be inimical, at least in adults, in that the ability to combine information in unique ways may be. hindered when the individual focuses his or her thinking on a specific problem. At the same time, there are clear similarities between the two domains of skills. Guilford (1977) noted that “creative thinking produces novel outcomes, and problem-solving involves producing a new response to a new situation, which is a novel outcome” (p. 161). Edwards and Sproull (1984) saw creativity training as a method for improving the quality of solutions to problems and increasing personal effectiveness. They considered problem-solving synonymous with creativity, since both training programs offer a variety of techniques to help identify useful solutions to problems. Similarly, Noller (1979) and others (e.g., Isaksen, Dorval, & Treffinger, 1994) have discussed the concept of creative problem solving, which attempts to integrate principles in the literature on creativity and on problem solving. Isaksen et al. conceptualized the process of creative problem solving as consisting of six steps which fall within three stages. The first stage involves understanding the problem, consisting of three steps: mess-finding, data-finding, and problem-finding. This is followed by the stage of generating ideas, involving the idea- finding step. Finally, there is planning for action, which involves solution-finding and acceptance-finding. The most important difference between the various creativity training models and the interpersonal problem-solving model lies in their emphasis. Creativity training models focus primarily on enhancing skill at generating solutions. The interpersonal problem-solving model places equal emphasis on the implementation and evaluation of potential solutions. Although many authors have suggested that participation in creativity training will have positive effects on social and interpersonal functioning (e.g., Parnes, 1987), only two studies have been conducted examining the relationship between the interpersonal problem-solving training model and creativity skills. Miller, Serafica, and Clark (1989) and Shondrick, Serafica, Clark, and Miller (1992) found that interpersonal problem-solving training for children also enhanced creativity skills, and that children's creative abilities appear to be predictive of their interpersonal problem-solving skills. The question of whether creativity and interpersonal problem-solving are equivalent, complementary, or even inimical has not been adequately addressed in the existing literature. For one thing, there are no studies examining the relationship between the two constructs in adults. This is an important question, given Koestler's (1964) conclusion that they are potentially inconsistent among adults. Second, there are no studies at all regarding the impact of creativity training on problem-solving skills in adults. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether creativity and interpersonal problem-solving skills can be distinguished in an adult sample.