Projective Assessment

1
Projective Assessment

• Is it Still Appropriate in 2004?

2
Projective and Expressive Techniques

• Standards
• Projective Hypothesis
• Theoretical Foundation
• Types of Techniques
• Examples
• The Paradox of Projective Techniques
• Evaluation of Projective Techniques
• Film

3
Types of Projective Techniques

• Thematic-
• Blacky, Roberts, Michigan Picture Test, CAST,
• Rorschach
• Drawings-
• HTP, DAP, KFD, etc.
• Sentence and Story Completion-
• Rotter, High School Form, Madeline Thomas,
  Desperate Fables, Guess Why, etc.
• Free Association
• Dream Analysis

4
Projective Hypothesis

• personal interpretations of ambiguous
• stimuli must necessarily reflect the
• unconscious needs, motives, and conflicts
• of the examinee
• (Gregory, 1996, p.511as cited in Merrell, 2003,
  p. 184 )

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The Paradox of Projective Techniques

• Approach has been criticized for over 40 years as
  being an unreliable and invalid approach
  (Anastasi, 1982 and others)
• Recent studies (Wilson Reschly, 1996) indicate
  such techniques among most widely used
  assessment methods.
• the rate of scientific progress in clinical
  psychology might well be measured by the speed
  and thoroughness with which it gets over the
  Rorschach (Jensen, 1965)

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Popularity
7
The Case For and Against the Use of Projective
Techniques

• For
• Long history of use that clinicians cling to.
• A tendency toward illusionary validation.
• Against
• Lack of empirical support for projective
  hypothesis.
• Lack of technical adequacy.

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Projective AssessmentTheoretical Foundation

• Ego Psychology (Murray, Bellak, etc.)
• Attempts to identify the conscious and
  unconscious factors which affect the
  psychological functioning of individuals.
• Apperceptive Distortions
• Apperception is an organisms meaningful
• interpretation of perception. If there is
• disagreement on the nature of the
• apperception, then apperceptive distortions
• must be occurring.

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Forms of Apperceptive Distortions

• Simple Projection-examples
• The lawnmower
• Late for work
• Sensitization-more sensitive perception of
  existing stimuli
• Late for work
• Autistic Perception-compensatory fantasy of wish
  fulfillment
• Hunger
• Externalization-directly relates the perception
  to self
• The violin

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Projective Pictures1
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4 Purple Suit
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Projective Techniques

• Based on the belief that the unconscious mind
  contains the roots of personality.
• Based on a psychoanalytic view of personality
• Basic approach-provide neutral and
  non-threatening stimuli to client and then ask
  him or her to interpret ambiguous pictures, fill
  in the blanks, make associations, tell stories,
  etc.

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Evaluation of Projective Techniques

• Results of research suggest extreme caution in
  interpreting results.
• Such techniques can be useful, but the results
  from their use should be used to confirm other
  data, never used as sole assessment approach.

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Projective Techniques

• Main Feature Ambiguous stimuli.
• Main Goal Assess unconscious processes.
• Projective Hypothesis respondents project
  aspects of their personalities in the process of
  disambiguating unstructured test stimuli.

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Sources

• Bellak, L. (1993). The T.A.T., C.A.T., and S.A.T.
  Boston Allyn Bacon.
• Knoff, H.M. (1986). The assessment of child and
  adolescent personality. New York Guilford.
• Merrell, K. W. (2003). Behavioral, social, and
  emotional assessment of children and adolescents.
  Mahwah, NJ Lawrence Earlbaum.
• Internet
• http//.apa.org/ed/hssociperson.html,
  wysiwyg//23http//allpsych.com/personalitysynopsi
  s/rorschach.html, wysiwyg//20http//allpsych.com/
  personalitysynopsis/
• projective.html