What is the Thematic Apperception Test?
The test is one of the most widely researched and utilized psychological tests in use today. The Thematic Apperception Test, also known as TAT, involves showing respondents ambiguous pictures of people and asking them to come up with an explanation for what is happening in the scene.
What is the best handbook for thematic apperceptive techniques?
In S. R. Jenkins (Ed.), A handbook of clinical scoring systems for thematic apperceptive techniques: Series in personality and clinical psychology (pp. 209-227). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. ^ Ronan, G. F., Gibbs, M. S., Dreer, L. E., & Lombardo, J. A. (2008). Personal problem-solving system – revised.
Why was Henry’s test created?
The idea for the test emerged after an student of Murray, Cecilia Roberts, enquired to the professor about the possibility of using Henry’s test in a clinical setting to explore the underlying dynamics of her ill son’s personality. How TAT works?
Who wrote the test?
Italian poet Edoardo Sanguineti wrote a collection of poetry called T.A.T (1966–1968) that refers to the Test. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
What is the TAT test?
The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a type of projective test that involves describing ambiguous scenes. Popularly known as the "picture interpretation technique," it was developed by American psychologists Henry A. Murray and Christina D. Morgan at Harvard University in the 1930s. 1 To date, the TAT is one of the most widely researched ...
What is projective test?
How Projective Tests Are Used to Measure Personality.
How to use a tat?
The TAT can be utilized by therapists in a number of different ways. Some of these include: 3 1 To learn more about a person. In this way, the test acts as something of an icebreaker while providing useful information about potential emotional conflicts the client may have. 2 To help people express their feelings. The TAT is often used as a therapeutic tool to allow clients to express feelings in a non-direct way. A client may not yet be able to express a certain feeling directly, but they might be able to identify the emotion when viewed from an outside perspective. 3 To explore themes related to the person's life experiences. Clients dealing with problems such as job loss, divorce, or health issues might interpret the ambiguous scenes and relating to their unique circumstances, allowing deeper exploration over the course of therapy. 4 To assess someone for psychological conditions. The test is sometimes used as a tool to assess personality or thought disorders. 5 To evaluate crime suspects. Clinicians may administer the test to criminals to assess the risk of recidivism or to determine if a person matches the profile of a crime suspect. 6 To screen job candidates. This is sometimes used to determine if people are suited to particular roles, especially positions that require coping with stress and evaluating vague situations such as military leadership and law enforcement positions.
How does the tat work?
The TAT involves showing people a series of picture cards depicting a variety of ambiguous characters (that may include men, women, and/or children), scenes, and situations. They are then asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, including:
Why is the TAT used?
To help people express their feelings. The TAT is often used as a therapeutic tool to allow clients to express feelings in a non-direct way. A client may not yet be able to express a certain feeling directly, but they might be able to identify the emotion when viewed from an outside perspective.
Why do therapists use the tat?
Some of these include: 3 . To learn more about a person. In this way, the test acts as something of an icebreaker while providing useful information about potential emotional conflicts the client may have. To help people express their feelings.
Why do we use the personality test?
The test is sometimes used as a tool to assess personality or thought disorders. To evaluate crime suspects. Clinicians may administer the test to criminals to assess the risk of recidivism or to determine if a person matches the profile of a crime suspect. To screen job candidates.
Who proposed the scoring scheme for TAT?
Murray (1943) originally proposed a scoring scheme in which each TAT story is rated for the presence and strength of a long list of needs that are being experienced by the central figure in the story and presses that are being exerted by the environment.
What are the contributors to the TAT response?
Aronow, Weiss, and Reznikoff (2001) propose three contributors to the TAT response: card stimulus, testing environment, and the patient’s inner world. To date there is limited research on stimulus pull of the TAT ( Murray, 1943 ). It has long been accepted that card content may influence narratives in systematic ways ( Aronow et al., 2001 ). Early research on card pull suggested that cards differ in terms of the nature, consistency, and intensity of pull each exerts (e.g., Eron, 1950; Pine, 1960 ).
What is the TAT test?
Morgan and Murray (1935) introduced the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) based on what they termed the “well-recognized fact” that when presented with ambiguous stimuli people reveal their own personality . The TAT consists of a series of pictures of ambiguous social situations in which the examinee describes the social situation as they see it. The TAT was originally designed to be interpreted in light of psychoanalytic theory, the theory driving its design. There were subsequently a variety of scoring systems from different perspectives, although none has improved on the recurrent problem of inconsistency in use from clinician to clinician.
What is the most widely used story telling technique?
The most widely known and used story telling technique is the TAT. It was developed by Morgan and Murray (1935) in the belief that the content of imagined stories would provide clues to the underlying dynamics of a subject's interpersonal relationships and self-attitudes.
Is the TAT score related to success?
Over the many years of its existence, TAT scores have been related to many different phenomena, sometimes with moderate success. The literature would show that achievement has been extensively studied by way of the TAT (see Keiser & Prather, 1990) as have other needs or motives.
How have the test and pictures changed over time?
The test and pictures have changed over time with certain pictures deleted, modified or added to the series. Each picture has its own story of where it originated from and how it became part of the test.
What is the TAT test?
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective test of personality. Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray created the test in the 1930s at the Harvard Psychological Clinic. The general opinion of how the test originated involves one of Murray’s undergraduate students telling him about how her son, when home with an illness, ...
What is series A test?
For instance, “Series A” was an initial test; while participants took the test, the examiner asked them to look at a set of random pictures and discuss what was happening in the picture, as well as any other thoughts they might have about it.
What is a tat?
The TAT is known for it’s clinical, as well as nonclinical, contributions in personality research and has been varied and used in modified ways. For instance, the TAT was used to study sex, aggression, and attitudes toward labor problems and authority (Aronow et.al., 2001). As far a contributions for the field of projective testing, ...
Who developed thematic apperception test?
Thematic Apperception Test, also known as TAT, was first developed by the American psychologist Henry A. Murray and lay psychoanalyst Christiana D. Morgan in 1930s. The idea for the test emerged after an student of Murray, Cecilia Roberts, enquired to the professor about the possibility of using Henry’s test in a clinical setting to explore ...
What is the logic behind a test?
The logic behind the test working is that subjects tend to interpret or describe ambiguous situations based on their own past experiences and motivations in the form stories . This could either be conscious or subconscious.
Why is the TAT test useful?
The test can thus help in the greater understanding and awareness of an individual. TAT, similar to RT (Rorschach Inkblot Test) being a projective test is peculiarly effective when combined with other forms of analysis, for instance, psychotherapeutic interviews or short psychoanalysis.
How many cards are in a projective test?
The test consists of 31 cards, 30 with pictures and a black card. Subjects are then asked to interpret the pictures by creating a story describing the situation of the person in the cards. The blank card is provided with the goal to ask subjects to create their own scene and story.
What is a tat?
Whom TAT is applied on? 1 TAT is often applied on individuals to assess them one by one in order to deem their worthiness for a certain job. The sectors that require their job prospects to be evaluated with TAT usually demand dealing with people and ability to cope with psychological stress on a day-to-day basis. For example: law enforcement, medical field, military, diplomatic service, and so on. 2 TAT is also applied on people with mental issues, in order to diagnose them for their psychological problems. TAT helps identify the personality of such individuals, thus helping them to receive appropriate treatment. 3 As a part of research, TAT have also been administered on individuals who have had traumatic experiences in the past. 4 Another part of research focused on administering individuals involved in violent crimes, like series of sexual assaults, serial murders and so on. The results indicated that such individuals had different personality from the normal, and was also somewhat identical to other individuals involved in similar crimes.
Who developed the TAT test?
The TAT was developed during the 1930s by the American psychologist Henry A. Murray and la y psychoanalyst Christiana D. Morgan at the Harvard Clinic at Harvard University.
What is the TAT test?
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Wikipedia. Thematic apperception test (TAT) is a projective psychological test. Proponents of the technique assert that subjects' responses, in the narratives they make up about ambiguous pictures of people, reveal their underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world.[1] .
What is the TAT technique?
The TAT is popularly known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a series of provocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject is asked to tell a story. The TAT manual provides the administration instructions used by Murray,[7] although these procedures are commonly altered. The subject is asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, including the following: 1 what has led up to the event shown 2 what is happening at the moment 3 what the characters are feeling and thinking 4 what the outcome of the story was
Why is the TAT technique used?
The TAT is popularly known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a series of provocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject is asked to tell a story. The TAT manual provides the administration instructions used by Murray,[7] although these procedures are commonly altered. The subject is asked to tell as dramatic ...
Why is the validity of the TAT meaningless?
Jenkins [16] has stated that “the phrase ‘validity of the TAT’ is meaningless, because validity is specific not to the pictures, but to the set of scores derived from the population, purpose, and circumstances involved in any given data collection.".
What is Cronbach's alpha?
Further, Cronbach's alpha, a commonly used measure of internal consistency, is dependent on the number of items in scale. For the TAT, most scales use only a small number of cards (with each card treated like an item) so alphas would not be expected to be very high.
What is the purpose of trends and patterns in psychology?
There are trends and patterns, which help identify psychological traits, but there are no distinct responses to indicate different conditions a patient may or may not have. Medical professionals most commonly use it in the early stages of patient treatment.
Overview
History
The TAT was developed by American psychologist Murray and lay psychoanalyst Morgan at the Harvard Clinic at Harvard University during the 1930s. Anecdotally, the idea for the TAT emerged from a question asked by one of Murray's undergraduate students, Cecilia Roberts. She reported that when her son was ill, he spent the day making up stories about images in magazines and she asked Murray if pictures could be employed in a clinical setting to explore the underlying dynami…
Procedure
The TAT is popularly known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a series of provocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject is asked to tell a story. The TAT manual provides the administration instructions used by Murray, although these procedures are commonly altered. The subject is asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, including the following:
Psychometric characteristics
Thematic apperception tests are meant to evoke an involuntary display of one's subconscious. There is no standardization for evaluating one's TAT responses; each evaluation is completely subjective because each response is unique. Validity and reliability are, consequently, the largest question marks of the TAT. There are trends and patterns, which help identify psychological traits, but there are no distinct responses to indicate different conditions a patient may or may not hav…
Scoring systems
When he created the TAT, Murray also developed a scoring system based on his need-press theory of personality. Murray's system involved coding every sentence given for the presence of 28 needs and 20 presses (environmental influences), which were then scored from 1 to 5, based on intensity, frequency, duration, and importance to the plot. However, implementing this scoring system is time-consuming and was not widely used. Rather, examiners have traditionally relied o…
General Interpretation
Interpretation of the responses will vary depending on the examiner and what type of scoring was used. It is common that the standard scoring systems are used more in research settings than clinical settings. Individuals can select certain scoring systems if they have the goal to evaluate a specific variable such as motivation, defense mechanisms, achievement, problem-solving skills, etc. If a clinician selects not to use a scoring system, there are some general guidelines that ca…
Criticisms
Like other projective techniques, the TAT has been criticized on the basis of poor psychometric properties (see above). Criticisms include that the TAT is unscientific because it cannot be proved to be valid (that it actually measures what it claims to measure), or reliable (that it gives consistent results over time). As stories about the cards are a reflection of both the conscious and unconscious motives of the storyteller, it is difficult to disprove the conclusions of the exam…
Contemporary applications
Despite criticisms, the TAT continues to be used as a tool for research into areas of psychology such as dreams, fantasies, mate selection and what motivates people to choose their occupation. Sometimes it is used in a psychiatric or psychological context to assess personality disorders, thought disorders, in forensic examinations to evaluate crime suspects, or to screen candidates for high-stress occupations. It is also commonly used in routine psychological evaluations, typically …