Projective Method

Projective Method

❖ These are sometimes called indirect interviewing technique.

❖ In Projective test, the individual is given an unstructured situation to which he responds

❖ In Projective technique the psychologist uses projection of the respondent for inferring about the underlying

motives, Urges or intentions which are such that the respondent either resists to reveal them or unable to figure

out himself.

❖ The underlying mechanism of a projective test is a defense mechanism called projection

❖ During projection, the individual projects his own feelings, needs and emotion without being aware of doing so

. Since the individual is not aware of these revelation he doesn't resort to any defensive reactions. Thus in a

prosecutor test the individual has ample opportunity to project his own personality attributes that are mostly

latent and unconscious in the interpretation of the unstructured situation.

“that when people attempt to understand an ambiguous or vague stimulus, their interpretation
of that stimulus reflects their needs, feelings, experiences, prior conditioning, thought processes,
and so forth.”

L. K. Frank (1939)
Rorschach Inkblot test
Projective Method : Pictorial and Associative

● The Pictorial techniques include all those situations where unstructured situation consists of vague and ambiguous

Pictorial and examine is to respond towards those pictures. His or her response will be in terms of a few words as it's

done on Rorschach test

bilaterally symmetrical form on a white background. After experimenting with thousands of such blots, Rorschach selected 20.

However, the test publisher would only pay for 10. Of the 10 finally selected, five were black and gray; two contained black,

gray, and red; and three contained pastel colors of various shades.

● Rorschach died before he could complete his scoring methods, so the systematization of Rorschach scoring was left to his

followers Samuel Beck, Marguerite Hertz, Bruno Klopfer, Zygmunt Piotrowski, and David Rapaport

● Dispute began to rise regarding how it should be scored , in 1943 the Comprehensive System (CS) came into existence to

provide unanimous form of scoring and administration.

● Currently the modified and improved version of of cs knowThe Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) is used

since it has more empirical support.

● Initially Rorschach inkblot test was developed as a mean of screening schizophrenic individual, but it began reporting in normal

individual as schizophrenic.

● Nowadays Rorschach Prognostic Rating Scale is used as a promising and validated system for predicting who will be successful

in psychotherapy and who will not.

The administration of Rorschach test is divided into 3 stages

➔ Performance Proper stage

➔ Inquiry

➔ Testing of Limit

● During administration examiner sits next to the subject rather than face to-face as in Rapaport’s system ( to

minimize body language communication).

● Later the the examiner presents the cards one at a time, During the test, if only one reply is given, the examiner

prompts for additional response(s), and pulls the card after four responses are provided.
During this phase certain question asked are by the subject such as:

Examinee: "How long should I keep the card?"

Examiner: "As long as you like".

Examinee: “should i turn the card”

Examiner: "It depends upon you." or "As you like."

Examinee: "Should I report more than one thing?"

Examiner: "Most people usually report more than one thing."

Notice that the examiner is nonspecific and largely vague. This lack of clear structure or direction with regard to demands and

expectations is a primary feature of all projective tests. The idea is to provide as much ambiguity as possible so that the subject’s

response reflects only the subject

● Along with that examiner records how long it takes a subject to respond to a card (reaction time) and the position of the card

when the response is made (upside down, sideways).

Inquiry stage

● The enquiry stages conducted after the first stage responses acquired

● Enquiry stage consists of asking the examinee questions about each of his response in the presence of the location sheet.

● The extent to which the questions during the stage of enquiry are formulated are left entirely to the skill of the examiner.

● The question should be framed in a indirect way.

● The testing of the limit is the 3rd and final stage of the rorschach administration.

● Not necessary for every individual

● Usually administered when the response is uncommon in nature.

● Sometimes certain responses doesn't follow rorschach protocol.

● This stage assess the limit to which an examinee can provide an ordered response.
 Scoring system
● Rorschach died before he could cocepulize the the scoring system of the test, therefore it was left to his followers.

● Five American psychologists, namely, S Beck, M Hertz, B Klopfer, Z Piotrowski and D Rapaport tried their best and produced

overlapping but independent approach to the test.

● Scoring refers to the classification of responses in the different categories so that the protect may reveal the personality of the

examinee.

● Beginning in the 1990s, John Exner and his colleagues began to codify and synthesize the scoring approaches into a single

method known as the Rorschach Comprehensive System, it supplanted all previous methods and became the preferred scoring

system because it was more clearly grounded in empirical research.

● Beginning in about 2010, a new system for administration, scoring, and interpretation of the Rorschach emerged as the clear

choice for practitioners, Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) represents an extension and improvement of the

CS.
Scoring

The scoring of Rorschach is done by 4 criteria:

1. Location
2. Determinants
3. Content
4. Popular and original Responses

● Location: part of inkblot which produces a particular response.

● Determinants : Features of inkblot that produced a particular response

● Content: Finding the content of the response

● Popular and Original Response: giving emphasis on repeating and unique response
Location

● To facilitate determining this location, a small picture of each card, known as the location chart, is provided. If necessary, on

rare occasions, an examiner may give a subject a pencil and ask the subject to outline the perception on the location chart.

1. “D” if a commonly described part of the blot was used.

2. “Dd” if an uncommonly described or unusual detail was used.

3. “S” if the white space in the background was used.

4. “W” if the whole inkblot was used to answer the question.

1. Form (F). The shape or outline of the blot determined the response (“because the inkblot looked like one”).

2. Movement (M, FM, m). Movement was seen (“two animals walking up a hill”).

3. Color (C). Color played a role in determining the response (“a brown bear,”“pink clouds”).

4. Shading (T). Texture or shading features played a role in determining the response (“a furry bear because of the shading”).
Content
● Content refers to the name or class of objects used in your responses.

1. Whole Human (H): A whole human figure.

2. Human Detail (Hd): An incomplete human form (e.g., a leg) or a whole form without a body part (e.g., a person without a head).

3. Human Detail (fictional or mythological; Hd): An incomplete fictional or mythological human figure (e.g., wings of an angel).

4. Animal Detail (Ad): An incomplete animal form (e.g., cat’s head, claw of a crab).

5. Sex (Sx): Anything involving sex organs, activity of a sexual nature, or sexual reproduction (e.g., sexual intercourse, breasts).

6. Nature (Na): Anything astronomical or weather-related (e.g., sun, planets, water, rainbow).
Use of Rorschach in psychotherapy

The scoring ranges from 17 to -12 , for each positive response +1 is given and for negative response -1

➔ 17 to 13: The person is almost able to help himself. A very promising case that just needs a little help.

➔ 12 to 7: Not quite so capable as the previous case to work out his problems himself but with some help is likely to do pretty well

➔ 6 to 2 : Better than 50–50 chance; any treatment will be of some help

➔ 1 to -2 : 50–50 chance.

➔ −3 to −6: A difficult case that may be helped somewhat but is generally a poor treatment prospect.

➔ -7 to -12 : A hopeless case

● Lack universally accepted scoring , interpretation and ● Test interpretation is an art, not a science; all test

administration. interpretation involves a subjective component.

● Evaluation of data are subjective ● Ii is stable in nature.

● Result are unstable over time ● Has large empirical base.

● Unscientific and inadequate for all standard. ● Available evidence is biased and poorly controlled and

has therefore failed to provide a fair evaluation.

● Singh, A. K. (2016). Tests, measurements and research methods in behavioral sciences(5th ed.). Patna: Bharati Bhawan Publishers

● Gregory, R.J (2015). Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications (7thed.). England: Pearson Education Limited