Discuss various projective techniques to assess personality.

The projective techniques were developed to assess personality based on the psychoanalytic theory of personality. Some of the projective techniques are:

1. The Rorschach Inkblot Test:

• A German psychiatrist, Herman Rorschach developed this technique.

• This test consists of 10 symmetrical unstructured Inkblots. Five of them are black and white and five are coloured.

• The cards are individually administered.

• The test is divided into two phases:

(a) Performance proper: In this phase, the person is asked what can he make out of the card and in the second phase.

(b) Inquiry: In this phase the person is asked to explain his responses. The interpretation requires training.

2. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT):

• The test was developed by Morgan and Murray in 1935.

• It consists of a series of 30 unstructured picture cards and one blank card. Some cards are for males (M), some for females (F), and some for boys (B) and girls or combination.

• The cards are presented one at a time.

• The person is asked to write a story involving whatever is shown on the

cards including why this is occurred, who are these people, what are they doing end will be the and of this story.

3. Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study (The P-F Study):

• This test was developed by Rosenzweig.

• This test uses frustration and aggression as the main focus.

• It presents a series of cartoons in which one cartoon frustrates another.

• The analysis of response is based on type and direction of aggression. They are obstacle dominance (emphasis on the frustrating object), ego defence (emphasis on protection of the frustrated person) and need persistence (emphasis on the constructive solution of the problem).

• Its Indian adaptation developed by Pareek is also available.

• Sentence Completion Test: In this test a number of stems consisting of a few words are presented. The task is to complete the sentence, e.g. my father.... It is expected that the type of ending used reflects the motivation, conflicts and attitudes of the person.

• Draw-A-Person Test: The examinee in this test is asked to draw a person, and then he/she is asked to draw the figure of another person of opposite sex.

• Finally the examinee is required to make up a story about the person as if he/ she were a character in a novel or a play.

'Machover' has used it for personality assessment using psycho-dynamic approach to analyse the drawings.