Personality traits - Essay Example

THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST A. Title: Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) B. Author: H.A. Murray, PhD. C. Publisher: Harvard University Press (1943). D. Type of Test: Projective Test using construction technique. E. Description of tests and subtests (briefly): The Thematic Apperception Test aims to reveal personality traits through a person’s construction of stories in response to a given set of pictures. The intention is to look for patterns in thought, emotional responses and attention paid to details in such ambiguous pictures. The TAT is a popular projective technique which has been put to many uses. For instance, it is used to assess employment aspirants for stressful jobs or jobs that may require skillful interaction with others as in police, ministry, or diplomatic services and so on. The TAT is also used to assess criminals and find out any motives that may have been involved. This test has been received well as a research tool to understand dynamics of the human mind and behavior. The most common purpose of all is to look for deviations and disorders of behavior and personality. The TAT kit comprises of picture cards, a manual and sample forms. There is a set of 31 picture cards with human figures in a variety of ambiguous situations. Thirty of these are grayscale pictures depicting interpersonal and social situations. One card has been left blank for complete ambiguity. It gives the subjects full freedom to construct their own story. The examiner is required to ask a certain set of questions for each card which helps a subject tell a story in terms of past, present, future and the emotions represented. Evaluations are made on basis of recorded responses and reactions (Himelstein, n.d). . The TAT is administered with the idea that the stories reveal personality characteristics. This is because people tend to interpret situations based on their past experiences and also according to their conscious as well as unconscious desires. Murray had recommended the use of a selection of 20 cards for each subject depending on the nature of individual needs. However, many people use a selection of 10 to 14 cards. Out of the 31 cards, subsets have been created for girls, boys, men and women. Many practitioners now do not segregate cards on the basis of gender. The subsets recommended are as follows: 11 pictures cards are meant for both male and female adults, 7 cards are for adult males & boys, 7 cards are for adult females & girls. There is 1 each for male & female adults, male and female children, male child, female child and 1 blank card (Himelstein, n.d). The TAT is very often used in conjunction with other tests and methods to provide a rich pool of data. This test is usually administered as an oral test but it can also be given as a written test. Over the years, many adaptations have been developed by various practitioners to suit different cultures and assessment needs. Likewise, many interpretations and scoring methods have been devised. II. Practical considerations Practicality of a test is a very important consideration before using it. Cost of the test, time consumed, administration, scoring and analysis are all very important aspects. For instance a test which might take 10-12 hours is not at all feasible for both examiner and subjects. A. Cost: The test costs an amount of $62.95 as quoted on the Harvard University Press website. There are a number of online stores which take online orders. The prices vary and need to be compared before ordering. The kit includes picture cards, manual and sample scoring sheets. The test is reusable and a one time investment. The sample scoring sheets can be reproduced by photocopying. B. Time limits: Originally, with use of 20 cards, the time taken was two hours. These two hours could also be broken into one hour sessions over two days. In recent times, with lesser number (10-12) of cards being used, the test finishes in approximately one hour and one sitting. C. Format( multiple choice, essay, etc.): The examiner presents the subject with a selection of cards, one at time and asks a given set of questions orally to elicits responses/ stories. The responses are noted down by the examiner or tape recorded. D. Alternate forms (yes/no): No III. Technical Considerations A. Validity 1. Types of validity reported: The TAT has very weak validity and is not mentioned in the manual also. Most people do not follow any scoring system and analyze intuitively. Hence, it has not been possible to assess validity based on impressions (Lilienfeld, Wood &Garb, 2000). 2- Time elapsing between test administration and administration of the criterion if mentioned: N/A B. Reliability The TAT has very weak reliability and is not mentioned in the manual. Even the popular scoring systems have indicated poor test-retest reliability. 1. Reliability for each recommended use (if multiple uses mentioned, ex. Bender gestalt is used for both fine motor assessment and emotional assessment) N/A 2. Means, standard deviations and correlations between forms: N/A 3. Time elapsing between administration of parallel forms: N/A A. Administration and scoring Administration: The TAT manual provides clear instructions for administration. Examiner and examinee are supposed to sit in a quiet room free of distractions. The suggested seating is side by side. Before starting the test, examiner needs to select 20 cards out of 31 depending on the age, purpose of test, gender etc and arrange them into sequential order. In recent times, it has become a common practice to use only 10-14 cards. These are then kept face down in a pile, to be shown to subjects one by one (Himelstein, n.d). For children and adolescents, the examiner is required to explain that it is a story telling test. Some pictures will be shown based on which a story can be created. The subject needs to look at the pictures and tell what could have happened before the scene, what is happening now, what people in it are thinking and what could happen next. Exact instructions are provided in the manual. The words can be altered to suit age, intelligence or other factors depending on discretion of the examiner (Himelstein, n.d). The bank card is presented at the end. The examiner needs to tell the subject that this is something different and any story can be made up. The examiner must take care that each story should have four elements: current situation, thoughts and feelings of the characters, preceding events and the outcome. Slight prompting can be done if needed to evoke responses, but without leading questions (Himelstein, n.d). Scoring: Murray’s scoring system is based on his theory of personality. In 1938, Murray came out with his theory of personality after using the TAT on 50 male students at Harvard. This theory gave directions for his basis for analysing the TAT responses. He underlined the concepts of needs, presses and thema. Murray defined needs as the motivational forces, presses as the objects in one’s surrounding and thema as an interaction of needs and presses. His analysis and interpretation of responses was thus based on the characteristics of the central hero and his/her needs; motives and forces working in a given situation (Kroon, n.d). Murray’s scoring system looks at all the variables the test claims to measure such as dominance, achievement, power, deprivation, emptiness, restraint, danger, relationships towards parents, aggression and so on. However, this system has been found very time consuming and tedious by many people. Over the years many experts have devised various scoring systems and some of them are also standardized but they too lack norms and need more enquiries (Lilienfeld, Wood &Garb, 2000). 1 . Clarity and completeness of instructions for administration: The manual provides clear instructions for administration, seating arrangement of examiner and examinee, questions to be asked to help examinee construct a story. 2. Clarity and completeness of scoring instructions: Scoring instructions are unclear, complicated and time consuming. E. Scales and norms The TAT manual does not mention any scales and norms. 1. Types of norms provided: Norms have not been provided. 2. Comparability between old and revised norms ( if available): N/A 3. Description of the population used to select norm group: N/A 4. Methods used to select norm group form population: N/A 5. Time of year standardization data were obtained: N/A IN CONCLUSION 1. Evaluate the test and manual with regard to their practical and technical considerations. The TAT comes with its own set of positive points and limitations. Let us first look at the positive points. Administration is easy with illiterates or small children as subjects do not require to read or write. It is an interesting method as it requires one to use imagination and create stories on the spot. With one card after another being presented, it is becomes difficult to fake responses. The stories created by subjects give a very rich data about their thoughts, feelings and experiences. The TAT can be used for many clinical and non clinical purposes. The design of cards and flexibility in selecting them makes them appropriate for different age groups and gender. The picture cards also represent a wide range of realistic and bizarre situations, thus adding to the richness of stories. There are a few limitations too in both the test and its manual. The original scoring system is tedious and time consuming. It is very subjective and the manual does not provide proper scoring guidelines. Many scoring systems have been devised but none seem to be satisfactory. Many analysts do scoring intuitively and there may be a tendency to overanalyze. There are no standardized norms for administration of the test. Practitioners use the number and selection of cards according to their own discretion. Validity and reliability of the TAT is poor and is also not mentioned in the manual. A test is usually not considered ‘good’ if its validity and reliability factors are weak. Nevertheless, the Thematic Apperception Test is a very popular projective technique for understanding the make up of individual and group personalities. The belief in this test has prompted many experts to devise many adaptations to suit specific needs and cultural differences. 2. How adequate are the scales and norms for your own purposes? Scales and norms have not been provided. Interpretation and analysis is best done by using content analysis as stories told by subjects yield a very rich data. A detailed analysis of stories helps to bring out patterns and key themes. The test is very useful in providing qualitative data , specially when used along with other standardized tests. REFERENCES Lilienfeld, S.O., Wood, J.M., & Garb, H.N (2000). The Scientific Status of Projective Techniques. in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Vol. 1, No. 2, pages 27–66. Retrieved May 16, 2006 from www.psychologicalscience.org/newsresearch/publications/journals/pspi1_2.html Kroon, N.C. (n.d).The history of projective testing (emphasizing the thematic apperception test). Retrieved May 17, 2006 from http://www.cohendelara.com/publicaties/history.htm Himelstein. (n.d). Thematic Apperception Test: Administration and Interpretation of the TAT. Retrieved May 17, 2006 from http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/shimels/Courses/Files/TAT%20Interp.pdf Read More