Objective Methods

• Objective methods of personality assessment are typically administered by paper-and-pencil or computer and contain short-answer items for which the assessee’s task is to select one response from those provided

• The term “objective” in relation to personality measures must be considered cautiously, as personality tests rarely contain no one correct answer as well as its reliance on self-report measures

Projective Measures

• Projective Hypothesis: the idea that an individual supplies structure to unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent with the individual’s own unique pattern of conscious and unconscious needs, fears, desires, impulses, conflicts, and ways of perceiving and responding

• Projective techniques are indirect methods of personality assessment

• Inkblots as projective stimuli

  • Rorschach Inkblots

    • Hermann Rorscach

    • There is debate about precisely how to classify the Rorschach inkblots

    • consists of 10 bilaterally symmetrical inkblots on separate cards, half of which are achromatic

    • inkblot cards are initially presented in order from 1-10 and asked to interpret the inkblot with a great deal of freedom

    • after the entire set of inkblots has been administered, an inquiry is conducted and the assessor attempts to determine what features of the inkblot played a role in formulating the test taker’s precept

    • A third component, testing the limits, may also be included to enable the examiner to restructure the situation by asking specific questions concerning personality functioning, as well as clarifying any misunderstanding or anxiety

    • Hypotheses concerning personality functioning are formed on the basis of variables such as response content and time, as well as the location of the response

    • Rorschach protocols are scored according to several categories, including location, determinants, content, popularity, and form

    • patterns of response, recurring themes, and interrelationships among the different categories are all considered in the final description

    • John E. Exner, Jr. developed comprehensive system for the Rorschach test’s administration, scoring, and interpretation

    • Exner’s system brought uniformly to Rorschach use, but despite such improvements the psychometric properties of the tool are still debated

    • Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS)

    • test-retest reliability is of little value to the Rorschach test because of the very nature of the measurement, inter-scorer reliability may be more appropriate

• Pictures as Projective Stimuli

  • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

    • Christina Morgan and Henry Murray, 1935

    • 30 picture cards contain a variety of scenes that present the test taker with “certain classical human situations”

      • the administering clinician selects the cards that are believed to elicit responses pertinent to testing

    • the material used in deriving conclusions include

      • the stories as they were told

      • the clinician’s notes about the way or the manner in which the examinee responded

      • the clinician’s notes about extra-test behavior and verbalizations