Projective Personality Techniques

Projective techniques are quite controversial in today’s society. While being a staple in the field of Psychology for many years, projective techniques are a very enthralling subject. Personality tests such as the Rorschach have made their way into movies, cartoons, and the media with some guest appearances. Some people think that these types of projective tests are pointless, while others see them as a window into a person’s soul. When examining the characteristics, uses, and forewarnings, one will be more informed on the projective personality techniques and exactly what projective techniques are doing in the field of Psychology.

As noted by Hogan, projective tests embody two main characteristics. First off, the test items are usually somewhat ambiguous. By saying that the test’s questions are ambiguous, it is meant that it is hard to tell what the test’s items are exactly trying to measure. The second characteristic of personality techniques is that they are in a constructed-response format. These two characteristics relate to the projective hypothesis because “if the stimulus for a response is ambiguous, then the response itself will be determined by the examinee’s personality dynamics” according to Hogan (521). Furthermore, with the constructed-response format, the test taker’s “response[s] will be formulated in terms of the person’s desires, fantasies, inclinations, fears, and motives” (521).

In regards to the uses of projective techniques, there are core two uses. Projective techniques are used for “assessment of individual cases in clinical, counseling, and school psychology.” Besides being used in clinical, counseling, and school psychology, projective techniques are also utilized in research. There are certain indicators that prompt the use of personality tests. For example, if a child or adult has a low reading ability, a projective test is usually preferred to written test. A projective test would not require any reading since most personality tests are verbal. Also, it is harder to “fake good” or “fake bad” with personality tests because of the ambiguity of the stimuli. And thirdly, projective tests may be beneficial for a therapist in judging a client’s initial basis (524).

Furthermore, for example, with an intelligence test, there is a specific set of rules that must be followed by a psychologist when administering a personality test to a patient or client. So, when someone else looks at the results of a non-personality test like an Intelligence test for example, they have a good idea of what was asked on the test, that the entire test was completed, and that the test was scored properly. With a personality test such at the Thematic Apperception Test, not every single card is used and instruction for the test’s administration is very simplistic. So unlike an intelligence test, it would be hard for someone who did not administer the test to exactly know the results and what was done within the test period. The same goes for the Rorschach inkblot test with the numerous numbers of cards and only a few being selected for the patient.

Personally, I am one that believes in projective personality techniques. I think that the free-response format allows a psychologist to truly understand a person. Knowing whether a person views a neutral picture of a situation as evil and making up a story behind it, there is no other test that can create that connection and deep expression of what they are thinking and feeling. When I am done with graduate school and receive my PSY.D or PH.D, I know that these are definitely tools that I am going to utilize in my therapy practices.

So in conclusion, after going through the characteristics, uses, and forewarnings of projective personality techniques, I have come to the conclusion that they are an important asset to any Psychologist for school, clinical, and counseling. While the test questions are ambiguous, I still feel that the personality test will give me a better understanding of my patient than a written test. Especially if I am counseling children, I think that a personality test would be more appropriate to start off and get to know my client better. Even though a test like the Rorschach is not being taught in schools as a valuable tool, I believe that the uses are as important as the Thematic Apperception Test. Ambiguously open-ended tests (like the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception Test) let a client splash their personality all over the pages and let the words flow from their subconscious. I am glad a facility like Roosevelt contains some psychology staff members that still find it pertinent to teach tests such as the Rorschach to future generations of Psychologist.