Midterm 2 - Projective Personality Tests (Ch. 14 and Mihura et al.) Flashcards
What is the core hypothesis of the projective method? Where does this idea originate?
- responses to ambiguous stimuli permit access to unconscious needs and conflicts
- Freudian origins
What is a key difference btw empirical and projective personality tests?
- projective help identify causes/roots of behaviour, empirical just describe
What are the 3 main assumptions of projective tests?
- responses to ambiguous stimuli are determined by personality characteristics
- projective tests reveal characteristics beneath the surface
- projective tests provide broad coverage of personality characteristics
What are 3 advantages of projective tests?
- purpose of test is disguised
- might cut down on faking
- provides info outside of awareness
What is the Rorschach test? How is it administered?
- 10 inkblot cards (5 B&grey, 2 B&grey&red, 3 colourful)
- first free association phase “what might this be”
- then inquiry phase “help me see it as you did”
(T/F) the Rorschach test always uses a formal scoring process
FALSE, can also use informal process
What are 5 categories used in formal scoring of descriptions of cards in the Rorschach test?
- location
- form
- colour
- texture (shading)
- movement
What are the 7 scales/variables of the Rorschach?
- control & situational stress (coping style, mental ability, types of stresses)
- affective features (emotional style)
- interpersonal perception (representations of others/relationships)
- self-perception (self-view)
- information processing (mental operation complexity)
- cognitive mediation (perception conventionality)
- ideation (thinking quality, organization, style)
What are the 6 Rorschach indices (different from 7 scales)?
- Perceptual Thinking Index (disturbed thinking/perceptions)
- Depression Index
- Coping Deficit Index (interpersonal/emotional deficits)
- Suicide Constellation (suicide risk)
- Hypervigilance Index (interpersonal vigilance)
- Obsessive Style Index (obsessive info processing)
Describe Exner’s Rorschach norm group
- 600 adults
- attempt to match 1970 US census
- 56% women
- equally represented 5 geographic regions
- partial stratification of SES (56% middle, 34% upper)
What do we know about reliability of the Rorschach?
- interrater (Exner): 88-97% (relatively high!)
- internal consistency: not high
- test retest 1mo (Meyer): .50-.77 (much lower vs Exner)
- test retest 1y (Exner): .74-.91
- test retest 3y (Exner): .70-.87
How does the average validity of the Rorschach compare to the MMPI and the WAIS?
- Rorschach: .27-.30
- MMPI: .23-.28
- WAIS: .32-.36
Which Rorschach index has the highest validity? Which scoring category has the highest validity?
- perceptual thinking index
- FORM predicts psychotherapy outcome and differentiates psychotic vs non-psychotic patients
(T/F) almost no-one uses the Rorschach anymore due to poor validity
FALSE, remains a popular test
What are 6 issues with the Rorschach?
- can be scored reliably but clinicians don’t always follow standardized practices
- serious problem w norms
- limits on validity evidence (hard to generate, esp given huge # of variables)
- questionable tool for making diagnoses
- time intensive
- unclear if gives useful information (prob easier ways to tell if someone is psychotic…)
Mihura’s meta-analysis found that Rorschach validity for externally assessed characteristics was (weaker/greater) than for introspectively assessed characteristics
GREATER
What is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?
- created by Murray and Morgan
- cards depict ambiguous situations
- participants tell a story
What are 2 assumptions of the TAT?
- respondents interpret stimuli in accord w personality and life experiences
- respondents identify w “hero” of story
(T/F) there is a standardized way to administer the TAT
FALSE, but most endorsed method involves asking ppl who write a story w beginning, middle, and end
How many cards are typically used for the TAT? Norms are based on how many cards?
6!
(T/F) TAT scores tell us about an individual’s Big 5 traits
FALSE, Big Three Motives
What are the Big 3 Motives?
- nAch: doing well and being successful
- nPow: having impact on others
- nAff: spend time w others
How is the TAT scored?
- can use informal interpretation (themes, patterns, etc)
- can use formal scoring using manual (code stories)
Describe the TAT norm sample
- no good normative sample (no standard admin protocol)
- SO can’t interpret individuals’ scores
What is the reliability of the TAT?
- interrater: .80-.90
- internal consistency: .30-.40 (expected, cards are v diff)
- test retest over several weeks: .30, .61 if allowed to tell same story
What validity evidence do we have for the TAT?
- some evidence suggests that:
- nAch predicts occupational success, income (.22)
- nPow predicts kind of career
- nAff predicts time engaged in social activities
(T/F) there is lots of evidence to suggest that projective tests access information that is otherwise hidden/not accessible
FALSE, evidence it might be more useful to just ask people directly instead of using ambiguous stimuli
When using Exner’s Rorschach Comprehensive System, examinees are required to give at least __ responses per blot and a minimum of ___ responses across set of 10
1, 14
