Projective test

Projective tests (also: Personality development process or interpretation of tests ) are a group of psychological research methods, mostly based on auslegungsfähigem imagery (eg standardized inkblots in the Rorschach test with the question: " What could that be ?") Projections of the subjects retrieve the allow to draw conclusions about his personality. The idea is that these projections are influenced by attitudes, motives and innermost desires of the subject, and therefore allow a diagnostic statement. This form of interpretation is called interpretation.

Known projective method

In addition to the Rorschach test, there are other well-known and relatively frequently used projective test methods, eg Thematic Apperception Test (TAT ), there are pictures of ambiguous situations, the subject's task is to tell what is happening in his opinion. Here are the Children's Apperception Test (CAT ), a version for children.

The Wartegg sign test is another frequently used projective method, in which after the test to an image is to be drawn, as is the tree test.

Especially for those working with children family is suitable in animals ( FIT). The child is asked all family members to paint than animals. Another variant is the test Enchanted family. When Sceno test the child is to build a scene with dolls, figurines and components. When Rosenzweig PF ( Picture- Frustration Test PFT ), which is also available for adults, is to reinvent the child to images in which conflict situations is presented, appropriate responses to the speech of the people involved there.

Benefits and criticism

The advantage of projective tests is, inter alia, that there is no right or wrong answers, the subject is thus relieved of the pressure of the " social desirability ". Especially in the testing of children means that they can tell the user something without having to have a guilty conscience.

At the same time this is also their biggest disadvantage. If it is not clearly defined what is considered right or wrong, the quality of the evaluation and thus the quality of the diagnosis depends solely on the evaluator from ( it is also called low- scoring objectivity ). The other important quality criteria of a psychological test ( reliability, validity ) fall for projective method of far worse than for objective tests. In the field of professional motivation (performance, power and binding motif ), there are now already psychometrically clearly improved procedures, such as the Multi- Motive Grid ( MMG) and the operant motive test ( OMT ) (both in the coffin & Wottawa 2004).

It has seen quite authorization in the analysis of classical projective tests more of an art than a scientific method. Still find projective test method still frequent use. In the U.S., the youngest-ever edition of the Rorschach test is published in 1993. The lack or limited ability to standardize projective method, but applies in principle for the most common psychological survey documents, biographical history.

There are therefore good grounds for believing that the violations of test quality criteria ( objectivity, reliability, validity ) need not always be understood as a sign of the uselessness of a test. This is an example for the Thematic Apperception nachlesbar.

The criticisms of projective tests to be qualified by the multidimensional character test, which separates the structural and thematic projection as part of the evaluation.