Latina University of Panama

school of psychology
projective techniques

Student: Sergio Cortés

Identification card: 3-742-1302

Projective Techniques

Projective Techniques are indirect and unstructured methods of

investigation which have been developed by the psychologists and use
projection of respondents for inferring about underline motives, urges or
intentions which cannot be secure through direct questioning as the
respondent either resists to reveal them or is unable to figure out himself.
These techniques are useful in giving respondents opportunities to express
their attitudes without personal embarrassment. These techniques helps the
respondents to project his own attitude and feelings unconsciously on the
subject under study. Thus Projective Techniques play a important role in
motivational researches or in attitude surveys.

Important Projective Techniques

1. Word Association Test.

2. Completion Test.
3. Construction Techniques
4. Expression Techniques

1. Word Association Test: An individual is given a clue or hint and asked

to respond to the first thing that comes to mind. The association can
take the shape of a picture or a word. There can be many
interpretations of the same thing. A list of words is given and you
don’t know in which word they are most interested. The interviewer
records the responses which reveal the inner feeling of the
respondents. The frequency with which any word is given a response
and the amount of time that elapses before the response is given are
important for the researcher. For eg: Out of 50 respondents 20 people
associate the word “ Fair” with “Complexion”.
2. Completion Test: In this the respondents are asked to complete an
incomplete sentence or story. The completion will reflect their attitude
and state of mind.
3. Construction Test: This is more or less like completion test. They can
give you a picture and you are asked to write a story about it. The
initial structure is limited and not detailed like the completion test. For
eg: 2 cartoons are given and a dialogue is to written.
 4. Expression Techniques: In this the people are asked to express the
feeling or attitude of other people.

Disadvantages of Projective Techniques

1. Highly trained interviewers and skilled interpreters are needed.

2. Interpreters bias can be there.
3. It is a costly method.
4. The respondent selected may not be representative of the entire
population.

Some projective tests

Rorschach
The best known and most frequently used projective test is the Rorschach
inkblot test. This test was originally developed in 1921 to diagnose
schizophrenia. Subjects are shown a series of ten irregular but symmetrical
inkblots, and asked to explain what they see. The subject's responses are
then analyzed in various ways, noting not only what was said, but the time
taken to respond, which aspect of the drawing was focused on, and how
single responses compared to other responses for the same drawing. It is
important that the Rorschach test and other projective tests be conducted
by experienced professionals to ensure validity and consistency of
results. The Rorschach was commonly scored using the Comprehensive
System (CS), until the development of the newer scoring system, the
Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) in 2011.] The new
scoring system has stronger psychometric properties than the CS, and, like
the CS, allows for a standardized administration of the test which is
something that is lacking in a majority of projective measures. Additional
psychometric strengths present with the R-PAS include updated normative
data. The norms from the CS were updated to also include protocols from
15 other countries, resulting in updated international norms. The CS
international norm data set was based on fewer countries, most of which
were European only. The new international norms provide a better
representation of the Western hemisphere and westernized
countries. Concerning differences in administration of the task across both
scoring systems, a critical issue with CS administration was addressed in the
development of the R-PAS. Following CS administration procedure, it was
common to obtain too few or too many responses per card which could
result in an invalidated protocol (due to too few responses) or in error. The
new administration procedure introduced in the R-PAS requires the clinician
to initially tell the examinee that they should provide two or three responses
per card, and allows the clinician to prompt for additional responses if too
few are given, or to pull cards away if too many are given. Therefore, the
new administration procedure addresses the critical issue of number of
responses that was prevalent with use of the CS administration procedure.
The CS administration procedure prevented clinicians from prompting for
more responses or pulling cards when too many responses were provided.
An additional psychometric improvement concerns the presentation of
obtained scores. With the R-PAS system, it is now possible to change scores
to percentiles and convert percentiles to standard scores which can be
presented visually and allow for easy comparison to the normative
data. With the CS, this was not possible and it was more difficult to compare
results to normative comparison groups. Lastly, the R-PAS scores have been
shown to possess similar and sometimes stronger inter-rater reliability than
was seen in scores from the CS. This means that when different clinicians
score the same protocol, they are quite likely to derive the same
interpretations and scores.
Holtzman Inkblot Test
This is a variation of the Rorschach test, but uses a much larger pool of
different images. Its main differences lie in its objective scoring criteria as
well as limiting subjects to one response per inkblot (to avoid variable
response productivity). Different variables such as reaction time are scored
for an individual's response upon seeing an inkblot.
Thematic apperception test
Another popular projective test is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in
which an individual views ambiguous scenes of people, and is asked to
describe various aspects of the scene; for example, the subject may be
asked to describe what led up to this scene, the emotions of the
characters, and what might happen afterwards. A clinician will evaluate
these descriptions, attempting to discover the conflicts, motivations and
attitudes of the respondent. A researcher may use a specific scoring system
that establishes consistent criteria of expressed thoughts and described
behaviors associated with a specific trait, e.g., the need for Achievement,
which has a validated and reliable scoring system. In the answers, the
respondent "projects" their unconscious attitudes and motivations into the
picture, which is why these are referred to as "projective tests."
Draw-A-Person test
The Draw-A-Person test requires the subject to draw a person. The results are
based on a psychodynamic interpretation of the details of the drawing,
such as the size, shape and complexity of the facial features, clothing and
background of the figure. As with other projective tests, the approach has
very little demonstrated validity and there is evidence that therapists may
attribute pathology to individuals who are merely poor artists. A similar class
of techniques is kinetic family drawing.
Animal Metaphor Test
The Animal Metaphor test consists of a series of creative and analytical
prompts in which the person filling out the test is asked to create a story and
then interpret its personal significance. Unlike conventional projective tests,
the Animal Metaphor Test works as both a diagnostic and therapeutic
battery. Unlike the Rorschach test and TAT, the Animal Metaphor is
premised on self-analysis via self-report questions. The test combines facets
of art therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and insight therapy, while also
providing a theoretical platform of behavioral analysis. The test has been
used widely as a clinical tool, as an educational assessment, and in human
resource selection. The test is accompanied by an inventory, The Relational
Modality Evaluation Scale, a self-report measure that targets individuals'
particular ways of resolving conflict and ways of dealing with relational
stress. These tests were developed by Dr. Albert J Levis at the Center for the
Study of Normative Behavior in Hamden, CT, a clinical training and research
center.
Sentence completion test
Sentence completion tests require the subject complete sentence "stems"
with their own words. The subject's response is considered to be a projection
of their conscious and/or unconscious attitudes, personality characteristics,
motivations, and beliefs.
Picture Arrangement Test
Created by Silvan Tomkins, this psychological test consists of 25 sets of 3
pictures which the subject must arrange into a sequence that they "feel
makes the best sense". The reliability of this test has been disputed,
however. For example, patients suffering from schizophrenia have been
found to score as more "normal" than patients with no such mental
disorders. Other picture tests:

 Thompson version
 CAT (animals) and CAT-H (humans)
 Senior AT
 Blacky pictures test - dogs
 Picture Story Test - adolescents
 Education Apperception Test -attitudes towards learning
 Michigan Picture Test - children 8-14
 TEMAS - Hispanic children
 Make-A-Picture-Story (MAPS) - make own pictures from figures, 6 years
and older
Word Association Test
Word association testing is a technique developed by Carl Jung to explore
complexes in the personal unconscious. Jung came to recognize the
existence of groups of thoughts, feelings, memories, and perceptions,
organized around a central theme, that he termed psychological
complexes. This discovery was related to his research into word association,
a technique whereby words presented to patients elicit other word
responses that reflect related concepts in the patients’ psyche, thus
providing clues to their unique psychological make-up.