Projective Tests PDF

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Projective Tests...

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Projective Tests  -

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Psychodynamic paradigm A group of tests usually consisting of a standard fixed set of stimuli that are presented to clients, but which are ambiguous enough for clients to put their own interpretation on what the stimuli represent (Davey 2008) Because the stimuli is ambiguous and allows variation in responses, the stimuli can be interpreted according to unconscious processes revealing true attitudes, motivations and modes of behaviour – known as the projective hypothesis Examples:  Rorschach Inkblot Test  Thematic Apperception Test  Sentence Completion Test

Rorschach Inkblot Test  -

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A projective personality test using inkblots The use of projective tests assumes the respondent would be unable or unwilling to express his true feelings if asked directly Look for recurring themes  if a person reports seeing eyes in inkblot = paranoia? Client asked to react to each inkblots, one at a time Client is believed to ‘project’ her personality onto responses systematically scored according to:  Vagueness/synthesis of multiple images  Location  Variety of determinants (shape, colour, texture etc)  Form quality (faithfulness to actual form)  Content  Degree of mental organising activity  Illogical/incongruous or incoherent aspects (Exner & Weiner, 1995) In administering the test, the clinician asks client what picture might be, client responds  this is ‘free association’ phase Show client again, but list everything they see in the picture and say where they see it  ‘enquiry’ phase There is systematic scoring for this test Can then compare client’s responses to standardised personality norms This will then uncover underlying psychopathology

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) -

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A projective personality test consisting of black and white pics of people in vague or ambiguous situations Client asked to tell the story behind each – how are they feeling, what happened before, after, what are the outcomes of the scene (Morgan & Murray 1935) Find that clients will identify with one of the individuals in the pictures which is termed the ‘hero’ Acts symbolic of client’s own feelings and emotions Helps express how client is feeling themselves

Sentence completion test  -

First 1920s Provide client with first part of uncompleted sentence:  ‘I like, I think of myself as, I feel guilty when’ Allows identification of  Topics to be further explored  Ways in which a person’s psychopathology might bias her thinking

 Ways in which she might process info Using the sentence completion test to identify trauma-relevant thinking biases in combat veterans with PTSD (Kimble et al 2002) 

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Pts given 22 sentences to complete Items generated so could be completed with military/non-military content ‘he was almost hit by a…’ The night sky was full of… The air was heavy with the smell of… The silence was broken by the… Graph shows that veterans with PTSD finished sentences with more war or trauma related words than those who were not diagnosed with PTSD People with PTSD have biases in coding and retrieving info, particularly trauma related info Sentence completion task might be useful in differentiating those with and without mental health problem

Problems with projective tests 

Use over the years has declined  psychodynamic approach has declined Tests/original set of pics were culturally biased, no ethnic minority pics shown but there is some rectification now Reliability of these tests – relying on client response and clinician interpretation – reliability is low Clinician training – need extensive training, time consuming to score and administer Some projective tests can infer psychopathology in the absence of other convincing evidence – Hamel, Shaffer, Erdberg 2000 Inkblot test to 100 school kids none of whom had any MHPs  Results of test were interpreted that in almost all cases there was evidence of faulty reasoning, might indicate schizophrenia or mood disorder...