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General Information

Practical Evaluation

Technical Evaluation

Brief Review of Literature

Concluding Remarks

"The TAT is more akin to a highly specialized interview technique than an psychometric test" (Rossini & Moretti, 1997, p. 395).

Thematic Apperception Test

Lisa Muyllaert | Maureen Nelson | Christine Park | Kelsey Scarbrough

Reliability and Validity

History

Potential Bias Concerns

An Overview of Interpretation

Aronow, E., Weiss, K. A., & Reznikoff, M. (2001). A practical guide to the thematic apperception test: The T.A.T. in clinical practice. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner-Routledge.

Card 4: "Someone pissed this guy off and he's gonna defend his manhood and return the blow or get into a fight and she doesn't want him to go. She's begging him- she cares- I think that she calms him and talks sense into him and his rage mellows out and he doesn't go off to fight" (p. 15).

Descriptive theme: A raging man is stopped from fighting with someone who angered him by an imploring, concerned woman, who reasons with him and calms him down.

Interpretive theme: When one's masculinity is threatened, one seeks revenge, but a female figure intervenes and successfully prevents aggressive retaliation.

Diagnostic theme: Reacts with anger to threatened masculinity, but conflicted over expressing aggressive drives. The anger is repressed. Females seen as concerned, comforting, and persuasively rational.

Example: Main Themes Technique

Areas of Interpretation

1- Story Content

A. Hero: needs, drives, motivations, behaviors, crimes and punishments, defenses

B. Object relations: attitudes to relational figures

C. Concepts of the environment

D. Outcome of the story

2- Story Structure

A. Basic tone of story: underlying feelings, assumptions, optimism or pessimism

B. Cohesiveness

C. Language usage

D. Time orientation

E. Omissions of objects

F. Additions of objects

G. Sequence analysis- of the stories the client told in relation to each other

H. Length of time per story

3- Test Behavior Observations

Scoring systems, or checklists, have been developed, but due to lack of free access to a specific checklist, will not be demonstrated in this presentation.

  • Highly interpretational-- should only used in addition to other tests within an assessment.
  • Cultural bias, especially in coding and scoring.
  • Outdated images can influence social narrative of stories.
  • TAT originally created for adults, though manual says it can be used with ages 4 and up.
  • Quest for understanding personality through storytelling
  • Harvard Clinic colleagues Christina D. Morgan, psychoanalyst, and Henry A. Murray, psychologist
  • Measure personality through story
  • Presented their paper in 1935-- described what would become the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
  • Psychoanalytic foundation
  • Through storytelling, unconscious needs thematically revealed
  • Stories are “like dreams; they must be interpreted if one is to arrive at the unconscious trends which determine them” (Morgan & Murray, 1935, p. 293).

Reliability

  • Traditional psychometric measures inappropriate (multiple regression model)
  • Test-retest contaminated by memory and repetition
  • Split-half not appropriate because test is not made up of equivalent items that can be conveniently divided into comparable halves
  • Inter-scorer inaccurate because subjective nature of interpretations
  • Faking responses by "sophisticated subjects" (i.e. clinical psychologists and advanced undergraduate students)

Validity

  • How much does the therapist know about the client?
  • Knowledge about culture and humanity influences responses more than individual internal needs
  • Black and white images (& content of images)-- predominantly somber moods
  • Concurrent validity with Rorschach: no significant relationship
  • Flexibility in administration allows room to best fit client's needs
  • Brings to light unconscious needs and personality traits that client might be reluctant to otherwise disclose
  • Useful in helping to build therapeutic alliance with patients who have schizophrenia

Main Themes Technique

Step 1: Identify "hero" (main character) in a story

Note hero's "needs, drives, view of the world and people, conflicts, anxieties, defenses and integration of the ego" (p. 15).

Step 2: Identify themes on 3 levels and write a summary for each

Benefits of TAT

  • Postulates unconscious needs of client will surface through free association
  • In contrast to other projective tests (e.g. Rorschach Inkblot Test, which uses abstract images), TAT's picture cards are representational
  • Representational cards of TAT often depict pictures of people in ambiguous situations, allowing participant to project onto them

Nature of TAT

  • Projective test
  • Assumed to reveal test taker's fundamental aspects of personality-- dependent on perception and interpretation of material
  • Analyzing responses and narratives assumed to provide insight into client's emotional world, personality, and unconscious needs and desires

Purpose of TAT

"Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic; its inner nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our sensory organs."

-Sigmund Freud: The Interpretation of Dreams

References

Maybe...

Adcock, C. J. (1965). [Review of the test Thematic Apperception Test]. In The sixth mental measurements yearbook. Available from http://www.unl.edu/buros/

Aronow, E., Weiss, K. A., & Reznikoff, M. (2001). A practical guide to the thematic apperception test: The T.A.T. in clinical practice. Philadelphia, PA: Brunner-Routledge.

Alvarado, N. (1994). Empirical validity of the Thematic Apperception Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 63(1), 59-79. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6301_5

Bailey, B., & Green, J. (1977). Black Thematic Apperception Test stimulus material. Journal of Personality Assessment, 41(1), 25-30. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.antioch.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail?vid=4&sid=6b2530ae-2bb5-417a94b0e5d421a68d7%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=mnh&AN=845775

Carlton, L., & MacDonald, R. R. (2003). An investigation of the effects of music on Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) interpretations. Musicae Scientiae, Special Issue, 9-30

Conrad, H. S. (1950). A normative study of the Thematic Apperception Test. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 64(9), i-48.

Cramer, P. (1996). Storytelling, Narrative, and the Thematic Apperception Test. The Guilford Press, New York, NY.

Duzant, R. (2005). Differences of emotional tone and story length of African Americans’ Thematic Apperception Test. (Order No. 3196251, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/305373572?accountid=40581. (305373572).

Ehrenreich, J. H. (1990). Effect of social class of subjects on normative responses to TAT cards. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 46(4), 467-471. doi:10.1002/1097-4679(199007)46:4<467::AID-JCLP2270460415>3.0.CO;2-4

Fox, J. L. & Grant, S. (2006). The Thematic Apperception Test: Toward a standard measure of the big three motives. Journal of Personality Assessment, 87(3), 277-291.

Grudzinska, Z. (2012). "Please, god..." Prayer and its functions in narratives based on projective method of research (Religious Apperception Test). Theoretic background and rationale of the study. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego.Studia Religiologica, 45(2), 137-145.

Hibbard, S., Tang, P. Y., Latko, R., Park, J., Munn, S., Bolz, S., & Somerville, A. (2000). Differential validity of the Defense Mechanism Manual for the TAT between Asian Americans and Whites. Journal of Personality Assessment, 75(3), 351-372. doi:10.1207/S15327752JPA7503_01

Katz, H. E., Russ, S. W., & Overholser, J. C. (1993). Sex differences, sex roles, and projection on the TAT: Matching stimulus to examinee gender. Journal of Personality Assessment, 60(1), 186-191. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6001_15

Lundy, A. (1985). The reliability of the Thematic Apperception Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(2), 141-145. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4902_6

McBride, D. (2013). The Process of Research in Psychology: 2nd Edition. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Murray, H. (1943). Manual for the Thematic Apperception Test. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Narron, M. (2005). Updating the TAT: A photographic revision of the Thematic Apperception Test. (3160243, Alliant International University, San Francisco Bay). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.

Osborn, C. J. (1996). The feasibility of the Thematic Apperception Test for adolescent clients. Measurement & Evaluation in Counseling & Development (American Counseling

Association), 29 (1), 48. Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.antioch.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=6b2530ae-2bb5-417a-94b0-ae5d421a68d7%40sessionmgr4002

Rossini, E. D., & Moretti, R. J. (1997). Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) interpretation: Practice recommendations from a survey of clinical psychology doctoral programs accredited by the American Psychological Association. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28(4), 393-398. Retrieved from http://journals.ohiolink.edu/ejc/pdf.cgi/Rossini_Edward_D.pdf?issn=07357028&issue=v28i0004&article=393_tati

Sartori, R. (2010). Face validity in personality tests: Psychometric instruments and projective techniques in comparison. Quality and Quantity, 44(4), 749-759. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11135-009-9224-0

Worchel, F. T., Aaron, L. L., & Yates, D. F. (1990). Gender bias on the Thematic Apperception Test. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55(3-4), 593-602. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5503&4_1

TAT Test Kit

Basically

Neither the Administration Nor the Scoring/Interpretation Is Standardized

Test Administrator Qualifications

An "air of friendliness (imparted by the secretary and other members of the staff), the aesthetic tone of the office and its furnishings, as well as the sex, age, manner and personality of the examiner are all capable of affecting the freedom, vigor and direction of the subject's imagination" (Murray, 1935, p.5).

  • TAT kit ($112) includes:
  • 31 stimulus cards printed on durable, glossy cardstock
  • Thin, paper-bound manual
  • Analysis blanks

  • Like field study, projective tests are qualitative measures-- lots of information is gathered, then general themes are found.
  • Qualitative tests use “non-numerical participant responses” (McBride, 2013, p.344).
  • The purpose might be mystifying to test-takers, but by asking them to use their imaginations, their subconscious can be revealed.

Margaret Mead,

cultural anthropologist

Face Validity

Administration

  • Administrator allowed to shuffle cards and show them in any order.
  • Administrator can show one card or all cards.
  • Ideal setting: private office, chair or couch for client. Administrator sits out of view behind client (per Murray, 1935) or whatever configuration that client is most comfortable with.
  • Pros- easy to administer, no special qualifications necessary-- simply show the client the cards and ask them to make up a story for each.
  • Cons- not standardized, takes 120 minutes if all cards are used.

  • Social Class
  • Ehrenriech (1990); 70 subjects: 35 working class, and 35 middle-class. Groups responded differently to cards; working class people scored higher on dependency and external locus of control.
  • Gender
  • Katz, Russ, & Overholster (1993); 26 male and 26 female students. Compared results of groups given same set of cards; benefit to using separate cards for male and female test-takers was not supported.
  • Worchel, Aaron, & Yates (1990); 30 male and 30 female students. Used checklist-type scoring system, found the test to have unspecified gender bias.
  • Asian Americans
  • Hubbard, et al. (2000); Asian American study participants tested differently than White American participants when using a specific coding system called the Defense Mechanism Manual.
  • Black Clients
  • Baily & Green (1977); modified TAT with black subjects was "more likely to elicit positive subject ratings of test material."
  • Adolescents
  • Osborn (1996); benefit to using with adolescents because of imagination and story telling-- test-takers less skeptical than of other measures.

A Few Studies Regarding Bias

A New Test: The RAT

  • Religious Apperception Test
  • Religious psychology: study of personal religions; story quality of prayer
  • Projective = subconscious = psyche
  • 9 unique cards
  • Limited in cultural scope?
  • Polish; Roman Catholic
  • Draws from qualitative >> quantitative measures
  • Created own version of measures already used on TAT
  • Vague results + larger sample

1. New populations/disorders

2. Varying the results

3. TAT adaptations

4. Framework for new tests: RAT

  • Pros- black and white, interesting images
  • Cons- the images from 1930’s, all white people, traditional gender roles and possible bias.

About Those Cards

Modern photographic update to TAT cards: Narron (2005)

  • Change only the modernity of pictures, but leave themes
  • "Experience far"
  • Same themes-Updated Pictures
  • Two study groups-- one old version, one modern photos
  • Four specific research areas
  • Mixed results-- not as projective as people think?

Updates and Modifications

Demonstration!

1. Direct card comment

  • Refer to age of card itself

2. Old content responses

  • Refer to age of content within response

3. New content responses

  • Modern content in card

4. Word count

  • Total amount of words a used to tell story

4 Research Areas

Each class member will receive one card. Every other student will be given 5 minutes to tell a story to the person sitting to the left. Then the dyad will switch places (10 min total).

Positive/negative music effects: Carlton and MacDonald (2003)

  • Pilot study-musical mood
  • Used TAT as a tool to study emotion through music
  • Three participant groups (no music, positive music, or negative music); all instrumental
  • Suspected results obtained
  • Effect and prediction
  • Reflective of TAT effectiveness?

Varying the Results

  • Pros- lightweight, portable, not too expensive, not too many parts, cards are attractive
  • Cons- badly designed packaging, box tears and cards fall out

Testing a New Population

Adults w/ Autism Spectrum Disorder: Eurelings-Bontekoe et. al (2011)

  • Due to SCORS-G
  • SCORS-G is one way to interpret TAT (based on categories); object relations interpretation
  • Research begun with children (not with adults)
  • Conclusive scores on relevant dimensions
  • i.e. lower levels of social & emotional insight
  • Needs further research
  • Averages and ranges in manual based on normative data.
  • TAT normed on approximately 3,000 stories by 150 World War II veterans
  • Two groups of college students, “non-hospitalized psychoneurotics,” “hospitalized psychoneurotics,” “hospitalized schizophrenics,” and “miscellaneous neuropsychiatric patients” (Eron, 1950, p. 28).
  • To gauge “normalcy” of a test-taker’s score, compare against scores of male college student veterans.

Normative Data

3 Categories

Needs & Drives

Abasement (Avg. 16, R. 6-27): “submitting to coercion or restraint in order to avoid blame, punishment, or death; to suffer a disagreeable press (insult, injury, defeat) without opposition; to confess, apologize, promise to do better, atone, reform; to resign himself passively to scarcely bearable conditions; masochism” (TAT Manual, 1943, p. 11)

Achievement; Aggression (Emotional/Verbal; Physical, Social; Physical, Asocial); Dominance; Intragression; Nurturance; Passivity; Sex; Succorance; Intranurturance; Acquisition; Affiliation; Autonomy; Blamavoidance; Cognizance; Creation; Deference; Excitance; Exposition; Harmavoidance; “and so forth.”

Inner States & Emotions

Conflict; Emotional Change; Dejection; Anxiety; Exaltation; Distrust; Jealousy

Environmental Forces

Affiliation (Associative, Emotional); Aggression (Emotional and Verbal; Physical, Social; Physical, Asocial; Destruction of Property); Dominance (Coercion; Restraint; Inducement, Seduction); Nurturance; Rejection; Lack, Loss; Physical Danger (Active; Insupport); Physical Injury

Original Manual

  • Three categories
  • Hero's needs or drives, which are classified according to the motives, impulses, wishes, or behaviors of the hero
  • Hero’s inner states or emotions
  • Story’s environmental forces

So...

“Stories from a sane adult averaging less than 140 words per story usually indicate lack of rapport and cooperation, lack of self-involvement. As a rule they are not worth scoring” (TAT Manual, 1943, p. 11).

Average Length Factor Average Length Factor

Under 140 words 1.9 196-215 1.3

140-146 1.8 216-242 1.2

147-155 1.7 243-276 1.1

156-166 1.6 277-329 1.0

167-179 1.5 330-400 0.9

180-195 1.4 Over 400 words 0.8

  • Strength marked by Likert scale ratings
  • 1 = weakest (e.g. flash of irritability)
  • 5 = strongest (e.g. violent anger; constant quarreling)
  • Rating dependent on intensity, frequency, duration, and importance in plot

Length of Story

Ratings

  • Level C test
  • Interpreted by doctorate-level professional
  • Preferably with specific training in interpreting the TAT
  • Original manual: analyst must have " a background in clinical experience, observing, interviewing and testing patients of all sorts; and if he is to get much below the surface, knowledge of psychoanalysis" (Murray, 1935, p. 8).

Interpreter Qualifications

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