Projective Personality Assessment

Submitted to:
Madam Ghazala
Submitted by:
Areeda Tahir
Mahrukh Baber
Hira Zafar
Amara Arif
Maimoonah Saghir
Sahar Syed Bukhari
Date of Submission:
6th May,2015

Projective Personality Assessment

Introduction
Personality Assessment
Personality assessment is used for the measurement of
personal characteristics. Assessment is an end result of
gathering
information
intended
to
advance
psychological theory and research and to increase the
probability that wise decisions will be made in applied
settings (e.g., in selecting the most promising people
from a group of job applicants). The approach taken
by the specialist in personality assessment is based on
the assumption that much of the observable variability
in behavior from one person to other results from
differences in the extent to which individuals
possesses particular underlying personal characteristics (traits).
It is a proficiency in professional psychology that involves the administration, scoring, and
interpretation of empirically supported measures of personality traits and styles in order to:

Refine clinical diagnoses

Structure and inform psychological interventions
Increase the accuracy of behavioral prediction in a variety of contexts and settings
(e.g., clinical, forensic, organizational, educational).

Types of Personality Tests

There are two types of tests that can be used to assess the personality of an individual:

Projective Tests
Non-Projective Tests

Projective Tests
In psychology, a projective test is a personality test designed to let a person respond to
ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts projected by
the person into the test. This is sometimes contrasted with a so-called "objective test" or "selfreport test" in which responses are analyzed according to a presumed universal standard (for
example, a multiple choice exam), and are limited to the content of the test. The responses to
projective tests are content analyzed for meaning rather than being based on presuppositions
about meaning, as is the case with objective tests. Projective tests have their origins in
psychoanalytic psychology, which argues that humans have conscious and unconscious
attitudes and motivations that are beyond or hidden from conscious awareness.
Theory for Projective Tests

The general theoretical position behind projective tests is that whenever a specific question is
asked, the response will be consciously-formulated and socially determined. These responses
do not reflect the respondent's unconscious or implicit attitudes or motivations. The
respondent's deep-seated motivations may not be consciously recognized by the respondent
or the respondent may not be able to verbally express them in the form demanded by the
questioner. Advocates of projective tests stress that the ambiguity of the stimuli presented
within the tests allow subjects to express thoughts that originate on a deeper level than tapped
by explicit questions, and provide content that may not be captured by responsive tools that
may lack appropriate items. After some decrease in interest in the 1980s and 1990s, newer
research suggesting that implicit motivation is best captured in this way has increased the
research and use of these tools.
Hypothesis
This holds that an individual puts structure on an ambiguous situation in a way that is
consistent with their own conscious and unconscious needs. It is an indirect method- testee is
talking about something that comes spontaneously from the self without conscious awareness
or editing.

Reduces temptation to fake

Does not depend as much on verbal abilities
Taps both conscious and unconscious traits
Focus is clinical perspective - not normative - but has developed norms over the years

Types of Projective Tests

There are several commonly used projective techniques that were derived from Freudian and
Neo-Freudian Theories.
1- Rorschach Inkblot Test
The Rorschach is the most commonly used projective technique. The test consists of ten
white cards with blots of ink on them in black, black and red, or multi colored. These
inkblots were originally random in design and these have been maintained although much
research has gone into each card.
If you've ever looked to the sky and saw images in the clouds, then you can appreciate the
idea behind the Rorschach. If the cards have no
specific shape (see example to the left), just like the
clouds, the shapes we see are projections from our
unconsciousness. In other words, it is not uncommon
for children to see bunny rabbits, kitty cats and
monsters in the clouds. These images represent their
needs for life and love as well as their underlying fears
about death and aggression. The research that has taken

place with the Rorschach cards has produced a standardized protocol, eliminating the biggest
criticism of projective tests.

Method
The tester and subject typically sit next to each other at a table, with the tester slightly behind
the subject. This is to facilitate a "relaxed but controlled atmosphere". There are ten official
inkblots, each printed on a separate white card, approximately 18x24 cm in size. Each of the
blots has near perfect bilateral symmetry. Five inkblots are of black ink, two are of black and
red ink and three are multicolored, on a white background. After the test subject has seen and
responded to all of the inkblots (free association phase), the tester then presents them again
one at a time in a set sequence for the subject to study: the subject is asked to note where he
sees what he originally saw and what makes it look like that (inquiry phase). The subject is
usually asked to hold the cards and may rotate them. Whether the cards are rotated and other
related factors such as whether permission to rotate them is asked, may expose personality
traits and normally contributes to the assessment. As the subject is examining the inkblots, the
psychologist writes down everything the subject says or does, no matter how trivial. Analysis
of responses is recorded by the test administrator using tabulation and scoring sheet and, if
required, a separate location chart.

2- Thematic Apperception Test

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was developed by Henry Murray, a student of
psychoanalytic thought. The TAT consists of numerous cards with black and white and
grayscale pictures. These pictures where chosen for two reasons. First, they are ambiguous
to some extent and portray emotion and thought without specifying details. An example

would be a silhouette of a man looking off into the distance. While there is obvious
emotional and intellectual activity, the details are not revealed.
Second, they correspond to the major themes of psychoanalytic thought, such as the oedipal
complex, where the son develops an attraction for the mother and then identifies with the
father. There are relationship cards and several that portray both sexual and aggressive
undertones without depicted actual violence, aggression, or sexual activity.
The TAT probably comes in second after the Rorschach in terms of its use and research as a
projective test. Individuals being tested are asked to tell a story about each card, including
what led up to the picture, what is happening in the present, and how the story will end. The
basic premise is that unconscious themes will begin to develop relating to specific types of
cards or to the test in general. These themes can then be interpreted and used for further
exploration

3- House-Tree-Person

The House-Tree-Person test (H-T-P) requires no specific materials and is not standardized at
all. The assessor tells the
individual to draw a
picture of a house, a tree,
and a person.
Once
completed, he may ask
the individual to tell a
story related to each
picture, including who,
what, where, how, and
why's of each.
Examples of follow up
questions:
After the House: Who lives here? Is the occupant happy? What goes on inside the house?
What's it like at night? Do people visit the house? What else do the people in the house want
to add to the drawing?
After the Tree: What kind of tree is this? How old is the tree? What season is it? Has anyone
tried to cut it down? What else grows nearby? Who waters this tree? Trees need sunshine to
live so does it get enough sunshine?
After the Person is drawn: who is the person? How old is the person? What do they like and
dislike doing? Has anyone tried to hurt them? Who looks out for them?
HTP is given to persons above the age of three and takes approximately 150 minutes to
complete based on the subject's level of mental functioning. During the first phase, the testtaker is asked to draw the house, tree, and person and the test-giver asks questions about each
picture. There are 60 questions originally designed by Buck but art therapists and trained test
givers can also design their own questions, or ask follow up questions. This phase is done
with a crayon. During the second phase of HTP, the
test-taker draws the same pictures with a pencil or pen.
Again the test-giver asks similar questions about the
drawings. Note: some mental health professionals only
administer phase one or two and may change the
writing instrument as desired. Variations of the test may
ask the person to draw one person of each sex, or put
all drawings on the same page.
Different methods of interpretation are utilized, and
depending on the assessor's training and theoretical
approach, different interpretations can arise. Like most
projective techniques, its strength lies in weakening the
defenses and getting a clearer picture of the
unconscious.

4- Draw a Person Test

The Draw-a-Person tests (DAP, DAP test, or GoodenoughHarris Draw-a-Person test) is a
psychological projective personality or cognitive test used to evaluate children and
adolescents for a variety of purposes. Test administration involves the administrator
requesting children to complete three individual drawings on separate pieces of paper.
Children are asked to draw a man, a woman, and themselves. No further instructions are
given and the child is free to make the drawing in whichever way he/she would like. There is
no right or wrong type of drawing, although the child must make a drawing of a whole person
each time i.e. head to feet, not just the face. The test has no time limit; however, children
rarely take longer than about 10 or 15 minutes to complete all three drawings. Harris's book
(1963) provides scoring scales which are used to examine and score the child's drawings. The
test is completely non-invasive and non-threatening to children, which is part of its appeal.
To evaluate intelligence, the test administrator uses the Draw-a-Person: QSS (quantitative
scoring system). This system analyzes fourteen different aspects of the drawings (such as
specific body parts and clothing) for various criteria, including presence or absence, detail,
and proportion. In all, there are 64 scoring items for each drawing. A separate standard score
is recorded for each drawing, and a total score for all three.
The purpose of the test is to assist professionals in inferring children's cognitive
developmental levels with little or no influence of other factors such as language barriers or
special needs.

5- Animal Metaphor Test

The Animal Metaphor Test is a projective psychological test created by Dr. Albert Levis, the
director and founder of the Museum of the Creative Process. The Animal Metaphor test
consists of a series of creative and analytical prompts. Unlike conventional projective tests,
the Animal Metaphor works as both a diagnostic and therapeutic battery. It 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 primary purpose of Animal Metaphor Tests is to describe emotions
that vary from affectionate love to reasoning behind discerning insults.
The first step in the test is to ask the individual to draw two animals. The second step is to
describe each of the animals superficial and internal characteristics, including their age in
human years, their genders, and three of their personality traits. The individual is then
required to write a dialogue between the two animals, through which through which their
deepest subconscious processes and internal conflicts are revealed.
The ultimate purpose of the test is to identify how this animal drama pertains to your life and
what changes you are willing to make to reverse your particular patterns of conflict.

6-

6- Word Association
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.

Word Association tests can take many forms as there is no single accepted list of words.
Simply put, when using this type of test, the assessor would read a list of words, asking the
participant to write down the very first thing that comes to mind after each. The object is to

bypass defense mechanisms that are at play and get to the unconscious before these defenses
have a chance to work.

7- Sentence completion:
Sentence Completion Test, was first developed by Herman Ebbinghaus in 1897. Sentence
completions tests typically provide respondents with beginnings of sentences referred to as
stems, and respondents then complete the sentences in ways that are meaningful to them.
The responses are believed to provide indications of attitudes, beliefs, motivations, or other
mental states. There is debate over whether or not sentence completion tests elicit responses

from conscious thought rather than unconscious states. This debate would affect whether
sentence completion tests can be strictly categorized as projective tests.
A sentence completion test form may be relatively short, such as those used to assess
responses to advertisements, or much longer, such as those used to assess personality. A long
sentence completion test is the Forer Sentence Completion Test, which has 100 stems. The
tests are usually administered in booklet form where respondents complete the stems by
writing words on paper.
The structures of sentence completion tests vary according to the length and relative
generality and wording of the sentence stems. Structured tests have longer stems that lead
respondents to more specific types of responses; less structured tests provide shorter stems,
which produce a wider variety of responses. There are many sentence completion tests
available for use by researchers. Some of the most widely used sentence completion tests
include:

Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank was developed by Julian Rotter and Rafferty in
1950. It comes in three forms i.e. school form, college form, adult form for different
age groups, and comprises 40 incomplete sentences
Miner Sentence Completion Test The MSCS includes a 40 item multiple choice
scale. Among the 40 items are seven subscales. It measure managerial motivation
Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT) is pencil-and-paper
test which consists of 36 items and measures ego development.

Picture Arrangement Test

The Picture Arrangement Test is a psychological test created by Silvan Tomkins. It is
performed by giving the subject pictures of a person with various facial expressions. 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- make own pictures from figures 6yrs & up.

8- Graphology
Graphology is the analysis of the physical characteristics and patterns of handwriting
purporting to be able to identify the writer, indicating psychological state at the time of
writing, or evaluating personality characteristics. It is generally considered a pseudoscience
(false). The term is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to forensic document examination.
Clinicians who assess handwriting to derive tentative information about the writer's
personality attend to and analyze the writing's organization on the page, movement style and
use of distinct letterforms.

9- Free Association
A psychoanalytic technique first developed by Sigmund Freud and still used by some
therapists today, free association invites patients to relate whatever thoughts come to mind,
without censorship or embarrassment, in order for the therapist and patient to learn more
about how the
patient thinks and
feels.
Freud would sit in
his chair behind the
patient so as not to
allow
any
projection to occur.
He would then
allow the patient to
talk,
without

interruption or guidance, for an extended period.

Freud would take notes, analyze themes, and piece
together aspects of the unconscious that peak out.
Example:
Well, this morning I woke up and had coffeeOn
my drive to work I listened to the radioWhat is it
with the radio, anyway? So many ads all the timeI
really hate my workDid you know that beavers
can hold their breath for more than ten minutes?
That was on the radio tooGod, I wish I were a
beaver so I didnt have to go to work.
Others might provide a topic for this free
association, such as 'mother' or 'anger' and then sit back to allow the patient to freely
associate. Without pressures, anxiety, or fears, the aspects of the unconscious are freer to
show themselves. Interrupting or guiding the patient would therefore strengthen the defenses
and push the unconscious impulses back down.

10-

Dream Analysis

Another favorite of Psychoanalytic therapists, dream interpretation allows the assessor to

find themes and hidden meaning in the patients dreams. Freud believed that all dreams
consist of manifest, or obvious content, and latent or hidden content.
The manifest content of dreams is the story like details that we share with others. For
example, dreaming of flying would include details of how it came about, who was there,

where the person flew, how fast, how high, etc. The latent content consists of bits and pieces
of the unconscious that seep out while we are asleep and our defense mechanisms are their
weakest. The dream of flying may represent a deeper unconscious need for freedom, a fear
becoming too grounded or stuck, or perhaps even an expression of one's sexual impulses.
The interpretation afforded a specific dream can vary dramatically and most agree that using
this technique in conjunction with other information is its only ethical use.

Concerns with Projective Tests

Assumptions

The more unstructured the stimuli, the more examinees reveal about their personality.
Projection is greater to stimulus material that is similar to the examinee
Every response provides meaning for personality analysis.
There is an "unconscious."
Subjects are unaware of what they disclose

Situation Variables

Age of examiner
Specific instructions
Subtle reinforcement cues
Setting-privacy

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projective_test
http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/rorschach.html
https://medium.com/@gtweedy/the-animal-metaphor-test-d7845fd168a1
http://jungcurrents.com/jung-dreams-symbollically-magritte/
http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologicaltesting/f/projective-tests.htm
http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/personality/section7.rhtml
http://homepages.neiu.edu/~mecondon/proj-lec.htm