Thematic Apperception Test

The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a projective psychological test. Historically, it has been among the most widely used, researched, and taught of such tests. Its adherents claim that it taps a subject's unconscious to reveal repressed aspects of personality, motives and needs for achievement, power and intimacy, and problem-solving abilities.

The TAT is popularly known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a standard series of provocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject must tell a story. The subject is asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, including:

• what has led up to the event shown
• what is happening at the moment
• what the characters are feeling and thinking, and
• what the outcome of the story was.

If these elements are omitted, particularly for children or individuals of low cognitive abilities, the evaluator may ask the subject about them directly.

There are 31 picture cards in the standard form of the TAT. Some of the cards show male figures, some female, some both male and female figures, some of ambiguous gender, some adults, some children, and some show no human figures at all. One is completely blank. Although the cards were originally designed to be matched to the subject in terms of age and gender, any card may be used with any subject. Most practitioners choose a set of approximately ten cards, either using cards that they feel are generally useful, or that they believe will encourage the subject's expression of emotional conflicts relevant to their specific history and situation.

About the scoring system of the TAT, The TAT is a projective test in that, like the Rorschach test, its assessment of the subject is based on what he or she projects onto the ambiguous images. Therefore, to complete the assessment each story created by a subject must be carefully analyzed to uncover underlying needs, attitudes, and patterns of reaction. Although most clinical practitioners do not use formal scoring systems, several formal scoring systems have been developed for analyzing TAT stories systematically and consistently. Two common methods that are currently used in research are the:

• Defense Mechanisms Manual DMM. This assesses three defense mechanisms: denial (least mature), projection (intermediate), andidentification (most mature). A person's thoughts/feelings are projected in stories involved.

• Social Cognition and Object Relations SCOR scale. This assesses four different dimensions of object relations: Complexity of Representations of People, Affect-Tone of Relationship Paradigms, Capacity for Emotional Investment in Relationships and Moral Standards, and Understanding of Social Causality.

Finally, about the history of the TAT: TAT was developed by the American psychologists Henry A. Murray and Christiana D. Morgan at Harvard during the 1930s to explore the underlying dynamics of personality, such as internal conflicts, dominant drives, interests, and motives. According to Melville scholar Howard P Vincent, the TAT “came into being when Dr. Henry A. Murray, psychologist and Melvillist , adapted the implicit lesson of Melville’s [Moby Dick] “Doubloon” chapter to a new and larger creative, therapeutic purpose.”

After World War II, the TAT was adopted more broadly by psychoanalysts and clinicians to evaluate emotionally disturbed patients.

Later, in the 1970s, the Human Potential Movement encouraged psychologists to use the TAT to help their clients understand themselves better and stimulate personal growth.

With that, I hope that you've learnt more about the Thematic Apperception Test.