Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Assessing Personality447image. The person’s response is thought to be a projection of her unconscious conflicts,motives, psychological defenses, and personality traits. Notice that this idea isrelated to the defense mechanism of projection, which was described in Table 10.1earlier in the chapter. The first projective test was the famous Rorschach InkblotTest, published by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach in 1921 (Hertz, 1992).The Rorschach test consists of 10 cards, 5 that show black-and-white inkblotsand 5 that depict colored inkblots. One card at a time, the person describes whateverhe sees in the inkblot. The examiner records the person’s responses verbatimand also observes his behavior, gestures, and reactions.Numerous scoring systems exist for the Rorschach. Interpretation is based onsuch criteria as whether the person reports seeing animate or inanimate objects,human or animal figures, and movement and whether the person deals with thewhole blot or just fragments of it (Exner, 1993; Exner & Erdberg, 2005).A more structured projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test, abbreviatedTAT, which we discussed in Chapter 8. In the TAT, the person looks at aseries of cards, each depicting an ambiguous scene. The person is asked to create astory about the scene, including what the characters are feeling and how the storyturns out. The stories are scored for the motives, needs, anxieties, and conflicts ofthe main character and for how conflicts are resolved (Bellak, 1993; Moretti &Rossini, 2004). As with the Rorschach, interpreting the TAT involves the subjectivejudgment of the examiner.Strengths and Limitations of Projective TestsAlthough sometimes used in research, projective tests are mainly used in counselingand psychotherapy. According to many clinicians, the primary strength of projectivetests is that they provide a wealth of qualitative information about an individual’s psychologicalfunctioning, information that can be explored further in psychotherapy.However, there are several drawbacks to projective tests. First, the testing situationor the examiner’s behavior can influence a person’s responses. Second, the scoringof projective tests is highly subjective, requiring the examiner to make numerousjudgments about the person’s responses. Consequently, two examiners may testthe same individual and arrive at different conclusions. Third, projective tests oftenfail to produce consistent results. If the same person takes a projective test on twoseparate occasions, very different results may be found. Finally, projective tests arepoor at predicting future behavior.The bottom line? Despite their widespread use, hundreds of studies of projectivetests seriously question their validity—that the tests measure what they purport tomeasure—and their reliability—the consistency of test results (Garb & others,2004; and see Lilienfeld & others, 2000, 2001). Nonetheless, projective tests remainvery popular, especially among clinical psychologists (Butcher & Rouse, 1996;Leichtman, 2004).What Do You See in the Inkblot? Intriguedby Freud’s and Jung’s theories, Swiss psychiatristHermann Rorschach (1884–1922)set out to develop a test that would revealthe contents of the unconscious. Rorschachbelieved that people were more likely toexpose their unconscious conflicts, motives,and defenses in their descriptions of theambiguous inkblots than they would be ifthe same topics were directly addressed.Rorschach published a series of 10 ink blotswith an accompanying manual in a monographtitled Psychodiagnostics:A Diagnostic Test Based on Perception in1921. Because he died the following year,Rorschach never knew how popular hisprojective test would become. Althoughthe validity of the test is questionable, theRorschach Inkblot Test is still the icon mostsynonymous with psychological testing inthe popular media.Rorschach Inkblot TestA projective test using inkblots, developedby Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschachin 1921.Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)A projective personality test that involvescreating stories about each of a series ofambiguous scenes.