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In psychology, a projective test is a personality test designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden and internal conflicts projected by the person into the test. This is sometimes contrasted with a so-called "objective test" / "self-report test", which adopt a "structured" approach as responses are analyzed according to a presumed universal standard (for example, a multiple choice exam), and are limited to the content of the test. The responses to projective tests are Content analysis for meaning rather than being based on presuppositions about meaning, as is the case with objective tests. Projective tests have their origins in psychoanalysis, which argues that humans have conscious and Unconscious mind attitudes and motivations that are beyond or hidden from conscious awareness.
The new scoring system has stronger psychometric properties than the CS, and, like the CS, allows for a standardized administration of the test which is something that is lacking in a majority of projective measures. Additional psychometric strengths present with the R-PAS include updated normative data. The norms from the CS were updated to also include protocols from 15 other countries, resulting in updated international norms. The CS international norm data set was based on fewer countries, most of which were European only. The new international norms provide a better representation of the Western hemisphere and westernized countries. Concerning differences in administration of the task across both scoring systems, a critical issue with CS administration was addressed in the development of the R-PAS. Following CS administration procedure, it was common to obtain too few or too many responses per card which could result in an invalidated protocol (due to too few responses) or in error. The new administration procedure introduced in the R-PAS requires the clinician to initially tell the examinee that they should provide two or three responses per card, and allows the clinician to prompt for additional responses if too few are given, or to pull cards away if too many are given. Therefore, the new administration procedure addresses the critical issue of number of responses that was prevalent with use of the CS administration procedure. The CS administration procedure prevented clinicians from prompting for more responses or pulling cards when too many responses were provided. An additional psychometric improvement concerns the presentation of obtained scores. With the R-PAS system, it is now possible to change scores to percentiles and convert percentiles to standard scores which can be presented visually and allow for easy comparison to the normative data. With the CS, this was not possible and it was more difficult to compare results to normative comparison groups. Lastly, the R-PAS scores have been shown to possess similar and sometimes stronger inter-rater reliability than was seen in scores from the CS. This means that when different clinicians score the same protocol, they are quite likely to derive the same interpretations and scores.
Graphology has been controversial for more than a century. Although supporters point to the anecdotal evidence of positive testimonials as a reason to use it for personality evaluation, most empirical studies fail to show the validity claimed by its supporters.
The Teste Palográfico (Palographic Test) is a personality test used frequently in Brazil."O TESTE PALOGRÁFICO DO PROF. ESCALA" (THE) - "FGV" Digital Library - Brazil"Escritura y Personalidad – do prof. A. Vels – Luis Miracle – Editor." ("Escritura y Personalidad. Las Bases Científicas De La Grafología" | "Hardcover – January 1, 1961 by Augusto Vels (Author)
In the case of clinical use, they rely heavily on clinical judgment, lack statistical reliability and statistical validity and many have no standardized criteria to which results may be compared, however this is not always the case. These tests are used frequently, though the scientific evidence is sometimes debated. There have been many empirical studies based on projective tests (including the use of standardized norms and samples), particularly more established tests. The criticism of lack of scientific evidence to support them and their continued popularity has been referred to as the "projective paradox".
Responding to the statistical criticism of his projective test, Leopold Szondi said that his test actually discovers "fate and existential possibilities hidden in the inherited familial unconscious and the personal unconscious, even those hidden because never lived through or because have been rejected. Is any statistical method able to span, understand and integrate mathematically all these possibilities? I deny this categorically."Szondi (1960) Das zweite Buch: Lehrbuch der Experimentellen Triebdiagnostik. Huber, Bern und Stuttgart, 2nd edition. Ch.27, From the Spanish translation, B)II Las condiciones estadisticas, p.396
Other research, however, has established that projective tests measure things that responsive tests do not, though it is theoretically possible to combine the two, e.g., Spangler, 1992.Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 172, No.1, 140–154. Decades of works by advocates, e.g., David C. McClelland, David Winter, Abigail Stewart, and, more recently, Oliver Schultheiss, have shown clear validity for these tools for certain personality traits, most especially implicit motivation (as contrasted with self-attributed or "explicit" motivation, which are conscious states),McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger 1989 and that criticisms of projective tools based on techniques used for responsive tools is simply an inappropriate method of measurement. Moreover, Soley and Smith report that when used with larger Ns in research, as opposed to the clinical assessment of an individual, projective tests can exhibit high validity and reliability.
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Terminology
In 2006 the terms "objective test" and "projective test" came under criticism in the Journal of Personality Assessment. The more descriptive "rating scale or self-report measures" and "free response measures" are suggested, rather than the terms "objective tests" and "projective tests," respectively.Meyer, Gregory J. and Kurtz, John E.(2006) 'Advancing Personality Assessment Terminology: Time to Retire "Objective" and "Projective" As Personality Test Descriptors', Journal of Personality Assessment, 87: 3, 223—225 Additionally, there are inherent biases implied in the terminology itself. For example, when individuals use the term "objective" to describe a test, it is assumed that the test possess accuracy and precision. Conversely, when the term "projective" is used to describe a test, it is assumed that these measures are less accurate. Neither of these assumptions are fully accurate, and have led researchers to develop alternative terminology to describe various projective measures. For example, it has been proposed that the Rorschach be labeled as a "behavioral task" due to its ability to provide an in vivo or real life sample of human behavior. It is easy to forget that both objective and projective tests are capable of producing objective data, and both require some form of subjective interpretation from the examiner. Objective testing, such as self-report measures, like the MMPI-2, require objective responses from the examinee and subjective interpretations from the examiner. Projective testing, such as the Rorschach, requires subjective responses from the examinee, and can in theory involve objective (actuarial) interpretation.
Uses in marketing
Projective techniques, including TATs, are used in qualitative marketing research, for example to help identify potential associations between brand images and the emotions they may provoke. In advertising, projective tests are used to evaluate responses to advertisements. The tests have also been used in management to assess achievement motivation and other drives, in sociology to assess the adoption of innovations, and in anthropology to study cultural meaning. The application of responses is different in these disciplines than in psychology, because the responses of multiple respondents are grouped together for analysis by the organisation commissioning the research, rather than interpreting the meaning of the responses given by a single subject.
Uses in business
Projective techniques are used extensively in people assessment; besides variants of the TAT, which are used to identify implicit motive patterns, the Behavioral Event Interview pioneered by American psychologist David McClelland and many of its related approaches (such as the Critical Incident Interview, the Behavioral Interview, and so on) is fundamentally a projective tool in that it invites someone to tell a specific story about recent actions they took, but does not ask leading questions or questions with yes or no answers.Camp, Vielhaber, Simonetti, 2001
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