MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY Degree Course (Three Years

MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY

Degree Course (Three Years)

Psychology Honours

B. A. Part– I Honours Paper I : General Psychology

Unit 9

by

Dr. Ranjan KumarPh. D ; M Phil ; PGDGC

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Ram Ratan Singh College, Mokama

Patliputra University, Patna

Presented by

Dr. Ranjan KumarPh. D in Clinical Psychology (RINPAS, Ranchi)

M. Phil. in Medical & Social Psychology (RINPAS, Ranchi)PG Diploma in Guidance & Counselling (RIE,NCERT,BBSR)

Assistant Professor of PsychologyRam Ratan Singh College, Mokama

Patliputra University, Patna

MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

• Personality

• Personality Assessment

What is Personality?

s People differ from

each other in

meaningful ways

s People seem to show some consistency in behavior

Personality is defined as distinctive and relatively

enduring ways of thinking, feeling, and acting

Personality

• “Dynamic organization within the individual of those

psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment”.

– Gordon Allport (1937)

• The process an individual uses to organize his or her experiences, in terms of a changing world of physical and social realities such that the reality fills his own needs and values.

• Consists of different facets- needs, drives, motives, traits, abilities, behavior systems and libido organization, depending on one’s frame.

situations

• Situation 1 :-Suppose that you are new to the organisation,

and not familiar to your colleague. You get a chance to interact with them in this party.

What will you do in this situation?

a) You will take the initiative to talkb) Feel strange and nervous so will not talk with othersc) You will wait for someone else to talk to youd) you will stand and smile to others.

Definition of Personality Trait

Enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself that are exhibited in a wide

range of social and personal contexts

Definitional Features of Personality Disorder

Enduring pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates markedly from the expectations of the individual’s culture and is manifested in at least two of the following areas:


• The pattern is manifested in at least two of the following areas: cognition, affectivity, interpersonal functioning, or impulse control (Criterion A)

• The enduring pattern is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations (Criterion B)

• Leads to significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (Criterion C)


• The pattern is stable and of long duration, and its onset can be traced back to adolescence or early adulthood (Criterion D)

• The pattern is not better accounted for as a manifestation or consequence of another mental disorder (Criterion E)

• The pattern is not due to the direct physiologic effects of a substance or a general medical condition (Criterion F)

Three Clusters of Personality Disorders

• Cluster A (odd eccentric)

– Paranoid

– Schizoid

– Schizotypal


• Cluster B (dramatic-emotional)

– Antisocial

– Borderline

– Histrionic

– Narcissistic


• Cluster C (anxious-fearful)

– Avoidant

– Dependent

– Obsessive-compulsive

Assessment of Personality

• A. Objective (Trait theory)

• B. Projective (Psychoanalytic Theory)

Personality Tests

• Observe and describe the structure and content of personality – the characteristic ways an individual thinks, feels, behaves, and interacts

• Clarifies – Diagnoses– Problematic patterns of behavior– Intra and interpersonal dynamics– Treatment implications

• Can be objective or projective

Measuring Personality & Psychological Functioning

• Objective testing– Specific questions or statements to which the person responds

by using specific, fixed answers or a rating scale

– Scores tabulated and compared to reference groups

• Projective testing– Ambiguous or unstructured stimuli to which client is asked to

respond freely.

– Unconscious or conscious needs, motives, interests, dynamics are projected onto ambiguous stimuli revealing internal dynamics or personality

– More challenging to score and interpret than objective

Objective Tests

• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; MMPI-2)

• Millon Multi-Axial Inventory III (MCMI-III)

• 16 Personality Factors (16PF)

• NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI)

Morey, L., & Hopwood, C., (2008) Objective Personality Evaluation (Chap. 18, 455) in Handbook of Clinical Psychology (eds Michel Hersen and Alan Gross, Wiley.

Projective Personality Tests

The Projective Techniques

• Projective tests allow the examinee to respond to vague stimuli with their own impressions

• Assumption is that the examinee will project his unconscious needs, motives, and conflicts onto the neutral stimulus

• Word association tests, inkblot tests, sentence completion tests, storytelling in response to pictures, etc.

The Projective Techniques (cont.)

• Three features:- Disguised: no face validity

- Global: the whole personality

- Reveals unconscious aspects of personality

- Types:- Inkblot: Rorschach

- Picture interpretation: TAT

- Sentence completion: Rotter Incomplete SB

- Picture construction: DAP

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

• The Rorschach Inkblot Test is the most commonly used projective test

– In a 1971 survey of test usage, it was used in 91% of 251 clinical settings survey

– It is one of the most widely used tests that exists

– It is widely cited in research

History

• The earliest use of inkblots as projective surfaces was J. Kerner's (1857)

– He was the first to claim that some people make idiosyncratic or revealing interpretations

• In 1896, Alfred Binet suggested that inkblots might be used to assess personality (not psychopathology)

History

• Herman Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist, was the first to suggest (1911) the use of inkblot responses as a diagnostic instrument

– In 1921 he published his book on the test, Psychodiagnostik (and soon thereafter died, age 38)

History

• Rorschach's test was not well-received, attracting little notice– David Levy brought it to the United States - thought it was

scientifically unsound.

– His student, Samuel Beck, popularized its use here, writing several papers and books on it starting with Configurational Tendencies in Rorschach Responses (1933)

• Several other early users also published work on he Rorschach– Several offered their own system of administration, scoring, and

interpretation, leading to later problems in standardization

What is the Rorschach?• The stimuli were generated by dropping ink onto a card

and folding it

– They are not, however, random: the ten cards in the current test were hand-selected out of thousands that Rorschach generated

• Ten blots – 5 black/white, 2 red/gray (II & III) and 3 color (VIII – X)

• Thought to tap into the deep layers of personality and bring out what is not conscious to the test taker

• The following are the inkblots

Administering the Rorschach

• The test is usually administered with as little instruction and information as possible

– The tester asks 'What might this be? and gives no clues or restrictions on what is expected as a response

– Anxious subjects often do ask questions, and vague answers are offered

– Some advocate sitting beside the subject to avoid giving clues by facial expression

– If only one response is given, some hint to find more may be offered: "Some people see more than one thing.“


• The cards are shown twice:

– The first time responses are obtained - free association phase

– The second time they are elaborated – inquiry phase

Rorschach (cont.)Exner’s Comprehensive Scoring System

1. Location

- W = whole (intellectual potential)

- D = subdivisions (common sense)

- Dd = details (compulsive tendencies)

- DW (confabulated detail)

2. Content (i.e., general class to where response belongs)

- people, part of a person, clothing, animal, part of an animal, nature, anatomical

Rorschach (cont.)

3. Determinants (i.e., specific property of the blot)

- F = shape/outline (rational approach)

- M = movement (imagination)

- C = color (emotional reactions)

- Y = shades of grey (depression)

4. Form Quality

5. typical vs. unusual response

6. time

Rorschach (cont.)

norms = unrepresentative

inter-rater reliability

test-retest reliability

construct validity

criterion validity

Psychometric Properties of the

Rorschach

• The Rorschach is a popular test, however, it has been plagued by low reliability and validity.

• Obviously, it is difficult to measure any of the usual psychometric properties in the usual way

– Validity and reliability are usually low because of the open-ended multiplicity of possibility that is allowed and by the lack of universally-accepted standardized instructions, administration protocol, and scoring procedure

Interpreting the Rorschach

• Uses norms for five groups: nonpatient, outpatient nonpsychotic, inpatient character problem, inpatient depressive, inpatient schizophrenics one

• Deviation from norms can mean an invalid protocol, or brain damage, or emotional problems, or a low mental age (or just an original person)

Psychometric Properties of the

Rorschach

• Reliability studies that have been done find r-values varying from 0.1 to 0.9

• Parker (1983) analyzed 530 statistics through meta-analysis (9 studies) and found an internal reliability of .83

• W responses has been linked to general intelligence (r = 0.4); Movement responses are said to suggest strong impulses or high motor activity; DW (confabulatory) responses are taken as signs of a disordered state; low response rate is associated with mental retardation, depression, and defensiveness

• Overall, more research is needed to determine the reliability and validity of the Rorschach.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• Construct a story about what you see on the following picture

Describe:

- what led up to the scene

- what is happening

- what the characters in the story might think or feel

- how the story will end

Thematic Apperception Tests• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): 30 grayscale

pictures + one blank for elicitation of stories – each contain a dramatic event or critical situation

• Most subjects see 10-12 cards, over two sessions

• Based on Murray's (1938) theory of 28 social needs (sex, affiliation, dominance, achievement, attitudes etc.)

• People would project into their story their needs

• Attention is paid to the protagonist in each story and his/her environmental stressors

• Many variations on this 'story-telling' test exist

TAT (cont.)

• Administration: not standardized

- Not the same 20 cards

- Not the same order

- Seldom 2 sessions

- Instructions differ

• Scoring is Minimal

• Low Reliability & Validity

TAT – scoring/interpretationScoring• Congruence with picture stimuli

• Conformity with directions

• Conflict

Psychometric properties:

• internal consistency is low;

• high reliability but diminishes with time, 2 months, r = .80; 10 months r = .50;

• Inter-rater reliability vary with studies: range .3 to .9

Examples of Projectives

• Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB)

Complete the following sentences to express your real feelings:

- I like ……..

- My greatest fear ……..

- This PSY 3090.D instructor is ……..

RISB (cont.)

• Designed to screen for emotional maladjustment

• Info about wishes, desires, likes, dislikes, fears, and locus of control

• 40 items: easy to administer (group or ind.)

• Rigorous scoring system: high interrater r

• Scoring ranges from 0 to 6

• Responses are scored as to the degree of conflict expressed, optimism shown, length of responses, omissions

• Psychometrically sound but less used

Draw-a-Person Test

- Originally to assess children’s intelligence

- Now: a screening procedure for emotional disturbance

- Cannot constitute a diagnosis

- The administration:

• Draw a person

• Draw a person of the opposite sex

• Draw yourself

Draw-a-Person Test

• Administrator Asks:

- Can you please draw a person?

- Draw whatever you like in any way you like?

Administrator Then Asks:

- Draw a person of the opposite sex?

Draw-a-Person Test (cont.)• Subjective vs. quantitative scoring system

• Clinician looks for:– Sequence of body parts

– Verbalizations during the drawing process

– Size & placement of figures on the page

– Amount of action depicted

– Systematization in doing the task

– Number of erasures

– Shading

– Gender of picture

– Over attention to certain body parts

Draw-a-Person Test (cont..)

• Among the plausible but empirically untrue relations that have been claimed:

- Large size = Emotional expansiveness or acting out

- Small size = emotional constriction; withdrawal, or timidity

- Overworked lines = tension, aggression

- Distorted or omitted features = Conflicts related to that feature

- Large or elaborate eyes = Paranoia

Other common projective tests

• CAT – Children Apperception Test – (Bellak, 1975)• Word Association Test – Rapaport et al. (1946, 1968) – 60

words: neutral and traumatic – scored: popularity, RT, content, test-retest responses

• Sentence Completion – Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank – 40 sentences – evaluated on 7 point scale by “need for therapy” to “extremely good adjustment”

• House-Tree-Person Test (Buck, 1948) & Draw-A-Person(Machover, 1949): Subject is asked to draw– Scoring is on absolute size, relative size of elements, omissions

"If there is a tendency to over-interpret projective test data without sufficient empirical grounds, then projective drawing tests are among the worst offenders."

Kaplan & Saccuzo, Psychological Testing, 2001, p. 467

Projective tests: Defined

• The psychologist George Kelly offered this

tongue-in-cheek definition in a 1958 article

titled "Man's construction of his alternatives"

(included in the book "The Assessment of

Human Motives", edited by G.Lindzey):

“When the subject is asked to guess what

the examiner is thinking, we call it an

objective test; when the examiner tries to

guess what the subject is thinking, we call it

a projective device.”

Projection

• The term projection was introduced by Freud.

• 1894 - explained as a tactic of attribution.

• 1896- described it as a process of defensively attributing

one’s own feelings or drives to others or the world to avoid

awareness of those feelings or drives.

• 1913- projection was not created for the purpose of defense;

also occurs where there is no conflict. (“Totem and Taboo”).

Projective Technique

• term coined by Lawrence Frank (1939).

• psychological assessment procedures in which respondents

project their need and feelings onto ambiguous stimuli.

• The stimuli are relatively unstructured materials and / or

tasks that a person is asked to describe.

Definition of Projective Technique

• “A projective technique is an instrument that is considered

especially sensitive to covert or unconscious aspects of

behavior, it permits or encourages a wide variety of subject

responses, is highly multidimensional, and it evokes

unusually rich or profuse response data with a minimum of

subject awareness concerning the purpose of the test. Further,

it is very often true that the stimulus materials presented by

the projective test is ambiguous, interpreters depends upon

little holistic analysis the test evokes fantasy responses, and

there are no correct or incorrect response to the test”.

– Lindzey (1961)

Classification of Projective Techniques (Lindzey, 1961)

A. ASSOCIATION-

Rorschach

SIS

Helmotz Inkblot Test

Word Association Test

B. CONSTRUCTION-House-

Tre

TAT

CAT

SAT

C. COMPLETION- Sentence completion

Rosenzweig Picture

Frustration Study

D. EXPRESSIVE-

e-Person Test

Draw a person

Painting

Drawing

Storytelling

• E. CHOICE: It is not projective techniques in the true sense of the term. Step of

towards objectifying the projective techniques.

The szondi test

• Samuel Beck (1944,1945), Bruno Klopher (1954,1956), Zygmunt

Pitrowski (1950,1957), Marguerit Hertz (1942, 1951), and David

Rappaport (1944,1946) had essentially completed their “systems’’ by

developing their own style of interpretation of the ‘Rorschach’.

• Beck adhered closely to Rorschach’s format for coding and scoring.

• Klopher was stressed to phenomenology and the theories of

personality developed by Freud and Jung.

• Pitrowsi, Hertz and Rappaport represented a middle ground

between the two intersect systems.

• Exner (1969) came up with the Comprehensive Analysis of

Rorschach that combined all the 5 systems

Klopher‘phenomenology’

BeckOriginal Rorschach format

Pitrowsi, Hertz and

RappaportExner

Short Sketch of Rorschach Born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1884.

Childhood and youth and in Schaffhausen.

High school friends called him ‘Klex’.

Father was an art teacher.

Confused b/w art and science after school.

Enrolled in medical school at University of Zurich, passed in 1913.

Married Olga Stempelin, moved to Russia.

Returned to Switzerland in 1914.

Pursued MD in Psychiatry under Eugen Bleuler, along with Carl Jung.

experimented with a large number (hundreds) of ink blots, administered to different psychiatric group (300 mental patients and 100 control subjects) as part of MD thesis.

finally hand selected a set of ten for their diagnostic value.

Incorporated ‘response characteristics’ differentiating b/w different diseases into a scoring system.

procedure were further sharpened by supplementary testing of mentally retarded and normal person, as well artists, scholars, and other distinct groups of people.

Published Psychodiagnostik in 1921.

Died in 1922 of Peritonitis.

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

The Rorschach Inkblot Test is the most commonly used projective test

In a 1971 survey of test usage, it was used in 91% of 251 clinical settings survey (in US)

Camara et al. in 2000 supported these findings. According to recent surveys by the American Psychological

Association (APA), 82 % of its members ''occasionally'' and 43 % ''frequently'' use the test

It is widely cited in research, third only to the MMPI and the NEO Personality Inventory (a five-factor personality measure)

It is estimated to be administered to 6 million people per year

“No general discussion of psychological tests is complete without reference the Rorschach, despite its scientific inadequacies.” [Kaplan & Saccuzzo / Psychological Testing]

The Rorschach test is a projective test in which

subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and

then analyzed using psychological interpretation,

complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists

use this test to examine a person's personality

characteristics and emotional functioning. The test

is named after its creator, Swiss psychiatrist

Hermann Rorschach.

The Rorschach

• Six pivotal questions (Weiner):

• Is the Rorschach :

• objective OR subjective assessment technique?

• a measure of perception OR a measure of association?

• personality structure OR personalitydynamics?

• a test OR method?

• a psychometrically sound measuring

Objective Vs. Subjective provides objective assessment of cognitive structuring style.a stimulus to fantasy that provides subjective assessment of thematic imagery.

Both.

Perception vs. Association most responses are likely to be joint product of perceptual and associational processes, and they contribute to their final form.

Both.

Structure vs. Dynamics assessment of personality structure proceeds through structural variables and assessment of personality dynamics through content variables .

Both.

Test Vs. Method “a set of tasks or questions intended to elicit particular types of behavior when presented under standardized situations and to yield scores that will have desirable psychometric properties such as high reliability and high validity” (APA,1974). According to this statement Rorschach established as more than a test.

Test.

Psychometrically sound Doubtful reliability and validity. ??

Variables correlated with intellectual functioning

form level, Movement responses , Whole responses reflects person’s intellectual activity, capacity and creativity.

Yes.

Card number Type Name

I Achromatic Reality card

II Semi chromatic Reality card

III Semi chromatic Interpersonal card

IV Achromatic Authority card

V Semi chromatic Reality card

Card number Type Name

VI Achromatic Phallic card

VII Achromatic Mother card

VIII Chromatic Reality card

IX Chromatic Neurotic card

X Chromatic Frustration tolerance card


• The test is usually administered with as little instruction

and information as possible

– The tester asks 'What might this be?' and gives

no clues or restrictions on what is expected as a

response

– Anxious subjects often do ask questions, and

vague answers are offered

– Some advocate sitting beside the subject to

avoid giving clues by facial expression

– If only one response is given, some hint to find

more may be offered: "Some people see more

than one thing."

– The orientation of the card and subject RT is


• The cards are shown twice

– The first time responses are called ‘performance proper’ ; the second time they are called ‘inquiry’

– The test administrator asks about:

• i.) Location: Where did the subject see each item?

–A location chart is used to mark location

–W = whole; D = Common detail; Dd = Unusual detail; S= Space response

• ii.) Determinant: What determined the response?

– Form (F) [F+ = good form; F = match; F- = poor form]

– Perceived movement? Human (M); Animal (FM); Inanimate (m)

–Color (C, CF, FC); shading (Y); texture (T).


– The test administrator asks about:

• iii.) Content: What was seen?

–Human (H); animal (A); nature (N)?

• The test administrator also scores

popularity/originality: How frequently is the

percept seen?

Location Description

W Where the entire blot is used in the response. All portions must be used.

D Common Detail Response A frequently identified area of the blot.

Dd Common Detail Response A frequently identified area of the blot.

S Common Detail Response A frequently identified area of the blot.

Determinant Description

F+ Good form response

F- Poor form response

C Only color response

CF Color dominated form response

FC Form dominated color response

Y Shading response, e.g x-rays (figure IV)

YF Shading dominated form response , e.g- ‘Mist or fog, this gray spread out’

(figure VI )

“white” association is also Y response

FY From dominated shading response, e.g- a map with island and the white is

the water (figure I)

T Texturally determined association has its origin is touch. It is most common

as something soft in relation to fur association.

V Vista association are – the distance, usually landscapes, some times aerial

views, mountains, valleys and hills .

M (Movement

response)

M in part humans, movement in animal response, expression of emotion,

Abstract emotions, inanimate and natural forces, human purpose .

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

H Percepts of humans. Religious figures such as angel, devil and naming of human form e.g-dance,

coitus, dolls are usually H.

Hd With human details, external part of the body

A Percepts of animal, e.g- mammals, fish ,birds and insects.

Ad With animal details, e.g- headless animal is Ad.

An Anatomy, internal organ (lungs, esophagus, heart) also in all ‘x-ray’ association.

Bt All plant life is here grouped,

Bl When blood has been perceived

Sex All obvious names of sex organs are here included, also secondary body parts, usually outer.

Ab

(abstraction

)

Moods or emotions are the more common abstractions, e.g- depression, fright. Seasons of the year,

because of connotation, e.g-green recalls spring

Al

(alphabet)

Like the letter ‘w’ or the numeral 7’

Ar

(architectur

e)

Such percept as windows, arches.

Art Includes seals and similar emblems and commercial trademarks.

As

(astronomy)

Moon and star are the also sunrise or sunset

Ay

(anthropolo

gy)

It is necessary for the ‘totem pole’

CONTENT DESCRIPTION

Cg

(clothing)

Reflecting personal interest, e.g- nuns habit

Cl (cloud) Several related association are included e.g- strom, mist.

Dh (death) Funeral association are included

Fi (fire) Association is comprised here- fire, smoke, burning candles etc.

Fd (food) Prepared food, as sweets, desserts. All meat is Fd

Ge

(geography)

Comprise all specific places names and general terms for geographic details e.g- peninsula, strait.

Hh

(household)

i.e- furniture, kitchen utensils

Ls

(landscape)

Fountain and certain urban scenes or objects. Also applies to all seascapes e.g-lighthouse scenes,

harbors, ocean floor scenes etc.

Mu (music) Musical instruments, also bells

My

(mythology)

Dragons, gnomes, trolls belong here

Na (nature) Responses like sky and northern lights belong here.

Pr

(personal)

e.g- fan, perfume bottle, bow tie etc..

Rl (religion) Association names a person of religious significance, e.g-Mary, Moses, Buddha etc.

Ru (rural) Characteristic only of the rural scence

Sc (Science) Specimens, living or not, seen in scientific work, tools of science etc..

Tr (travel) All means of travel, by land, sea, or air and all parts of such travel media are here grouped.

Vo

(Vocation)

Some content closely associated with a specific vocation- ‘plasterer’s trowel, wheelbarrow.’

Card no.

7

Direction Response Time

10 secs

Response

1. Two humans Dancing

Location

W

Determinant

F, M

Content

H

2. Human Face Statue D F, Y H

Two Humans Dancing

Head

body

Dress/skirt

Face statue

Scoring the Rorschach

• Some quantitative information is obtained: i.e. percent of W, D, Dd, and S responses

• Deviation from norms can mean an invalid protocol, or brain damage, or emotional problems, or a low mental age (or just an original person)

• These quantitative measures can be validated

– i.e. # of W responses ---general intelligence;

– Movement responses ---Coping skills, fantasy living, prognosis;

– low response rate ---mental retardation, depression, and defensiveness

Scoring the Rorschach

• Alas, many attempts to validate signs are unclear

• Often there is fail to replicate, or the findings contradict expert claims

• Most scoring is qualitative: i.e. analyzing content

– There are no hard and fast rules

– All but the most ardent proponents suggest that

the protocol be analyzed in the context of other

tests results and clinical information.

Contemporary Use: Scoring

Beck scoring system:

The Structural Summary

Location

Location (W, D, Dd)

Use of white space (S)

Determinants

Form (good, poor, bad quality)

Movement (active and passive)

Color

Texture

Shading

Content

Animal

Human

Anatomy

Botany

Mythology

Religious

Architechture

Scoring Systems:

Five scoring systems-

1. Beck : It is widely used for clinical practice.

2. Exner : It is mainly used for research purpose.

3. Klopfer

4. Rappaport

5. Pietrowski

Rorschach indicators of Normalcy (Beck)

Adult population:

Average number of responses: 32

Whole responses : 05

D responses : 22

M responses : 03

Human responses : 04

Affective ratio range : 0.40- 0.60

An responses : 02

F+ percentage : 79

P responses : 07

Rorschach indicators of Schizophrenia

Less number of responses

High IRT

Less number of W responses

Less F+ percentage

Low number of P responses.

Deviant verbalization

Confabulation

Contamination

Projected inference

Perseveration

Poor form conceptions

Poor color responses

Few or no human movement

responses

Rejections

Variability

Rorschach indicators of Affective disorders

Manic disorders:

High number of responses

Short reaction time

C and CF are high

Low F+ %

Wider content category

High affective ratio

Depression

Less number of responses

Increased RT

Less W responses

More D responses

No M responses

Presence of shading

responses

High F+ %

More P responses

More A responses

Narrow content category

Rorschach indicators of Organicity

Ten Piotrowski signs of organic brain disease:

1. Number of responses < 15.

2. Response time >60 seconds.

3. < 2 M.

4. Less F+%.

5. Less than four popular responses.

6. One or more color naming responses.

7. Perseveration

8. Impotence

9. Perplexity

10. Automatic phrasing.

Bell describes them as “among the most valuable for clinical diagnosis, although

their findings have not been entirely accepted by other experimenters”.

Rorschach and Culture

• Marked differences in response patterns noted among

different cultures all over the world.

• Particularly in:

– Texture- typically Zero in European populations.

– Good Form- poor ‘good form’ responses among Europeans

(F20 may be suspected by American standards!)

– Colour- Colour response less in Europeans, Colour-Form more

common than Form-Colour among Europeans.

– Common responses-– French commonly identify ‘Chameleon’ in card VIII, in

Scandinavians, ‘Christmas elves’ common for card II, ‘Musical

Instrument’ for card VI in Japanese, ‘Ganesha’ for card IX in India.

Indian Scenario

• More than 1000 studies on Rorschach in India since 1950s.

• More than 6000 Dissertations & Theses on Psychology in

India.

• More than 200 MD Theses on Rorschach.

• Most ‘Ubiquitous’ place in Clinics, Research and Academics

in Psychiatry and Psychology setting in India.

Rorschach: Validity and Reliability

Poor psychometric reputation

Lack of standardized rules for administration and scoring

Poor inter-rater reliability

Lack of adequate norms

However, Meta-analytic evidence (Meyer-Parker, 2000,01,02) supports the general validity of the Rorschach

Very comprehensive method for assessing basic personality structure and dynamics of the individual including the aspects like intelligence, affect, thought, fantasy, creativity and ego-strength.

Somatic Inkblot Series

• Developed by Dr. Wilfred E. Cassell in 1960.

• A recent extension of the traditional inkblot projective

techniques.

• Developed specifically to understand the manifestation of

problems through somatization, and to hear the suffering

individual's "inner cry."

• There are two parts: SIS I and SIS II.

• SIS-I consists of 20 images.

• SIS-II consists of 62 images.

There are two types of cards:

chromatic and achromatic.

It provides images in three forms:

on cards,

in a booklet

and on videotape.

Can be used to assess the depth and

significance of

somatic symptoms,

conversion reactions,

somatic delusions

and sexual dysfunction.

undetected affective disorders.

Death anxiety in those facing

major surgery, terminal illness.

aggressive impulses.

• Can also be used with therapies such as

physical therapy,

sensory feedback training,

behavioral therapy,

and desensitization for psychophysiological

symptoms associated with pathological anatomy

responses.

Holtzman Inkblot Test

Concieved by Wayne Holtzman and colleagues and

was introduced in 1961.

Projective personality assessment test for persons aged

five years and up.

Consists of 45 inkblots. The test administrator, or

examiner, has a stack of 47 cards with inkblots (45 test

cards and 2 practice cards) face down in front of him

or her.

Purpose

• Used to assess the personality structure of a test subject.

• Sometimes used as a diagnostic tool in assessing

schizophrenia,

depression,

addiction,

and character disorders.

Word Association Test

dates back to Avicenna, in the 11th century, who developed a

system for associating changes in the pulse rate with inner

feelings.

technique developed by Carl Jung to explore psychological

complexes in the personal unconscious.

recognized the existence of groups of thoughts, feelings,

memories, and perceptions, organized around a central

theme, that he termed psychological complexes.

Word Association

In word association, respondents are presented with a list of words, one at a time and asked to respond to each with the first word that comes to mind. The words of interest, called ‘test words’, are interspersed throughout the list which also contains some neutral, or filler words to disguise the purpose of the study. Responses are analyzed by calculating:

(1) the frequency with which any word is given as a response;

(2) the amount of time that elapses before a response is given; and

(3) the number of respondents who do not respond at all to a test word within a reasonable period of time.

Word Association

EXAMPLE

STIMULUS MRS. M MRS. Cwashday everyday ironing fresh and sweet clean pure air soiled scrub don't; husband does clean filth this neighborhood dirt bubbles bath soap and water family squabbles children towels dirty wash

B. Construction Projective Test:

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT):

Method of revealing to the trained interpreter some of the dominant

drives, emotions, motives, sentiments, complexes and conflicts of a

personality.

Developed by the American psychologists Henry A. Murray

and Christiana D. Morgan at Harvard during the 1930s.

Originally designed to measure personality factors for individuals

above the age of 11 years.

30 grayscale pictures + one blank for elicitation of stories

Not all are (though all may be) seen by everyone: some are suggested for men, some for women, some for youth, some for elderly Most subjects see 10-12 cards, over two sessions

Based on Murray's (1938) theory of 28 social needs (sex, affiliation, dominance, achievement etc.) Thema = Interaction between needs and environmental

determinants

• The TAT is popularly known as the picture interpretation

technique because it uses a standard series of provocative

yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject is asked to

tell a story. The subject is asked to tell as dramatic a story as

they can for each picture presented, including the following:

– what has led up to the event shown

– what is happening at the moment

– what the characters are feeling and thinking

– what the outcome of the story was

TAT Scoring Procedures

Bellak & Abram(1997)

1). Main theme

2). Main hero/heroine

3). Main needs and drives of the

hero/heroine

4). Conception of the environment

(world)

5). Figures seen as ….

6). Significant conflicts

7). Nature of anxieties

8). Main defenses against conflicts and

fears

9). Adequacy of superego as manifested

by “punishment” for “crime”

10). Integration of the ego:

Reality testing

Judgment

Sense of reality of the world and of the

self

Regulation and control of drives,

affects, and impulses

Scoring Systems:

Absence of a normative scoring system for responses.

The original scoring system devised in 1943 by Henry Murray.

attempted to account for every variable that it measures. time-consuming and unwieldy.

Other scoring systems focus on one or two specific variables— for example, hostility or depression. more practical for clinical use, they lack

comprehensiveness

More comprehensive system given by Zubin et al., (1965).

Interpretation

• Nomothetic & Idiographic Interpretation

• Nomothetic:

– refer to comparing the subject’s responses to a normatic

comparison sample, in order to determine the degree of

unusualness of the responses

• Idiographic:

– refer to examining the individual subject’s record &

discerning meaning from the particular responses he or she chose

• Both methods should be used in TAT.

Purpose

Individual assessments

Research

Contemporary applications of TAT

• widely used as a tool for research into areas of psychology

such as dreams, fantasies, mate selection and what motivates

people to choose their occupation.

• Used to assess personality disorders, thought disorders,

• in forensic examinations to evaluate crime suspects,

• to screen candidates for high-stress occupations.

• routine psychological evaluations, typically without a formal

scoring system, as a way to explore emotional conflicts and

object relations.

• TAT is widely used in France and Argentina using a

psychodynamic approach.

• The Israeli and also Indian army uses the test for evaluating

potential officers.

• It is also used by the Services Selection Board of India.

The TAT: Validity and reliability

• Standardization of administration and scoring is minimal (Only 3% of psychologists use standard scoring systems)

• loaded words produced more distress in several studies.

• Internal consistency is low

• 2 month test-retest r = .80; 10 month test-retest r = .50

• Inter-rater reliability varies with studies between 0.3 to 0.9

• A meta-analysis by Spangler (1992) found average correlations between TAT and other criteria around 0.20

Indian adaptation of TAT

• Has been done by Uma Choudhary in 1960.

• Consists of 14 cards.

Children’s Apperception Test

appropriate for children aged three to 10 years.

Developed in 1949 by Leopold Bellak and Sonya Sorel

Bellak

Intended to measure the personality traits, attitudes,

and psychodynamic processes evident in pre-pubertal

children.

Originally developed to assess psychosexual conflicts

related to certain stages of a child's development.

E.g. relationship issues, sibling rivalry, and aggression.

• Original CAT featured ten pictures of animals in such

human social contexts as playing games or sleeping in a bed.

• Today, this version is known as the CAT or the CAT-A (for

animal). Animals were chosen for the pictures because it was

believed that young children relate better to animals than

humans.

• Takes 20–30 minutes to administer.

• The second version of the CAT, the CAT-H, was developed in

1965 by Bellak and Bellak.

• The CAT-H includes ten pictures of human beings in the

same situations as the animals in the original CAT.

• appeals especially to children aged seven to 10, who may

prefer pictures of humans to pictures of animals.

Senior Apperception Test

• Developed by Leopold Bellak.

• Geriatric population aged above 50 years of age.

• Indian adaptation has been done by Dr. Uma Choudhury.

• Procedure for administration is similar to TAT.

• Useful instrument to study personality dynamics, behavior

disorders etc.

C. Completion Projective Test: Sentence Completion Test

The SCT is a logical extension of the word association methods.

Many different forms of the sentence completion type tests are available.

The SCT is a semi structured projective technique.

This test provides respondents with beginnings or stems of questions and

respondents complete the sentence in ways that are meaningful to them.

The responses are believed to provide indication of attitudes, beliefs,

motivations, or other mental states. ( Rhode, 1957; Lah, 1989).

Two Types:

1. Client-administered

2. Clinician-administered

Interpretation

The SCTs seem to reveal anxieties and hostilities.

Until the dynamics of unconscious processes are

better understood, predictions can safely be made only

from present behavior and personality, and the SCT is

not a safe guide for prediction (Symonds, 1997).

15 Popular SCTs

1. The Tendler Sentence Completion Test

2. The Sentence Completion Test for the

Office of Strategic Services Assessment

Program

3. The Incomplete Sentences Blank

4. The Forer Structured Sentence

Completion Test

5. Sack’s Sentence Completion Test

6. The Miale—Holsopple Sentence

Completion Test

7. The Sentence Completion Method

8. The Peck Sentence Completion

9. The Aronoff Sentence Completion

10. The Personnel Reaction Blank

11.Loevinger’s Sentence Completion Test

of Ego Development

12. The Incomplete Sentences Task

13. Mayer’s Gravely Disabled Sentence

Completion Task

14. The Sentence Completion Series

15. Sentence Contexts

Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB)

- The Incomplete sentences test

(Julian Rotter, 1950) is

designed as a screening tool for

one construct: over-all

emotional adjustment

- This is a well-standardized

projective that requires subjects

to complete 40 short sentence

stems in a way that “expresses

your real feelings”

Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB)

Example sentence stems:

I like ……..

My greatest fear …….

I am …….

Men …….

Dancing …….

Sports …….

Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank

Three forms: high school, college, adult

40 incomplete sentences/stems, usually only 1-2 words long

Takes 20-25 minutes

The use of directed stems allows one to probe the subject explicitly for locus of control (internal/external), interests, likes, hopes, fears etc.

Each item scored on 7-point scale where higher numbers indicate more severe maladjustment

The scoring system is well defined.

Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank

• There is good inter-rater reliability (about 0.90)

• Cronbach’s alpha = 0.69

• Test-retest reliability close to 0.80 after 1-2 weeks; 0.50 after

months; 0.38 after 3 years

• Validity studies have tended to support the idea that the RISB

measures adjustment

Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study

a projective personality measure of the respondents approach to dealing with hypothesized frustration.

The test was developed by Saul Rosenzweig (1948)

Format

The measure consists of 24 cards

on which are cartoon drawings of obviously frustrating interpersonal situations.

In the pictures two characters are depicted with speech balloons coming out of their mouths.

Separate versions are available for use with children and adolescents

Administration

As the script of the antagonist is filled in their balloon, respondents are asked to imagine they are the other person and what would they say in this situation.

The test take 15-20 minutes to administer.

Scoring

Responses are scored on nine factors, derived from threetypes of aggression (obstacle-dominance, ego-defense, and need-persistence) and

three directions of aggression (extraggression, imaggression, and intraggression) derived from psychoanalytic theory and related to the defensemechanisms.

Validity

face validity good- people’s self report about how they would react is a good predictor of their actual behavior in frustrating situations.

D. Expressive Projective Test- Other Common Projective Tests

House-Tree-Person Test (Buck, 1948) & Draw-A-Person(Machover, 1949): Subject is asked to draw

Scoring is based on many aspects: Absolute & relative size of elements

Sequence of elements

Omissions and detailing/emphasis/erasures (especially of body parts)

Verbalizations while drawing

Size & placement of figures on the page

Amount of action depicted

Systematization in doing the task

Shading

The problem with drawing tests

- Among the plausible but empirically invalid relations that have been claimed:

- Large size = Emotional expansiveness or acting out

- Small size = emotional constriction; withdrawal, or timidity

- Erasures around male buttocks; long eyelashes on males = homoeroticism

- Overworked lines = tension, aggression

- Distorted or omitted features = Conflicts related to that feature

- Large or elaborate eyes = Paranoia

Criticism

"If there is a tendency to over-interpret projective test data

without sufficient empirical grounds, then projective drawing

tests are among the worst offenders”.

-- Kaplan & Saccuzo

Psychological Testing, 1993

PROJECTIVE TESTS: CURRENT STATUS

Despite perennial predictions of forth coming demise of Projective Techniques, they continue to find place in research and clinical assessment.

In academic psychology the climate of opinion about projective tests is still favorable.

The impact of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology is just beginning to be felt in Rorschach psychology and likely to be influential for a long time to come.

Clinicians still regard the vivid and compelling data of subjective experience in favor of the often dry and impersonal result of subjective research.

Conclusion

Projective tests can be used to get satisfactory answers about the ‘why’ of human

behavior and the varied complexities of human mind.

In current scenario the projective test (Rorschach & TAT) has been undoubtedly

widespread in application with very high frequency in the field of mental health,

academics, private institution and practice, in business, industry and armed services

but, there has been debate involving regarding the psychometric adequacy,

reliability, validity, statistical prediction, and more recently, appropriateness with

diverse groups, multicultural, and cross-cultural research.

References

Principles of Rorschach Interpretation, Irving B. Weiner.

Rorscach’s test- Basic Processes, Samuel J. Beck, Anne G. Beck.

Rorscach Inkblot Test: A guide to Modified Scoring System, Dr. Rakesh Kumar.

Normative Data of Rorschach inkblot Test on Indian adults, Ms. Shweta.

PROJECTIVE TESTS: CURRENT STATUS, Chairperson: Dr. DevvartaKumar, 9th September 2003, Venue: Berkeley Hill Conference Hall, CIP, Kanke.

THANK YOU!!!

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MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY Degree Course (Three Years