Projective Techniques -2

The best known projective test is the Rorschach inkblot test, in which a subject is shown a series of irregular but symmetrical inkblots, and asked to explain what they see. The response is then analyzed in various ways, noting not only what the patient said, but the time taken to respond, what aspect of the drawing was focused on, and how the response compared to other responses for the same drawing. For example, if someone consistently sees the images as threatening and frightening, the tester might infer that the subject may suffer from paranoia. There is some evidence showing showing that Rorschach's test is as effective as other, non-projective, methods such as Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

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 patient may be asked to describe what led up to this scene, the emotions of the characters, and what might happen afterwards.

The examiner then evaluates these descriptions, attempting to discover the conflicts, motivations and attitudes of the respondent. In the answers, the respondent "projects" their unconscious attitudes and motivations into the picture, which is why these are referred to as "projective tests."

Projective Techniques -1

To understand Projective Techniques we need to understand what is projective test. A projective test, in psychology, is a personality test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts. This is different from an "objective test" in which responses are analyzed according to a universal standard (for example, a multiple choice exam). 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. Unconscious attitudes and motivations form very early in life and are stored visually rather than verbally, and therefore cannot be verbally retrieved using objective tests. Unconscious attitudes and motivations can also be kept from consciousness by defense mechanisms, such as repression and projection. Conscious attitudes and motivations are formed after language skills have developed and are therefore easily articulated.

The general theoretical position behind projective tests is that whenever you ask a "question," the response that you get 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.

ref: wikipedia