Picture This!

1
Picture This!

• Murray, H. A. (1938). Exploration in Personality
  (pp.531-545). New York Oxford University Press.
• Presented by Shatera P. Taylor
• April 28th, 2004

2
Several Years Later.

• After the development of Rorschachs test, Henry
  A. Murray and his assistant Christina D. Morgan,
  developed a very different form of a projective
  test called the Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT),
  which focused entirely on the content of the
  subjects interpretation. Rather than formless
  shapes like Rorschachs Inkblot test.
• The client or subject is asked to make up a story
  about the drawing.
• The stories are then analyzed by therapist or
  researcher to reveal hidden unconscious conflicts
  (appreciation means conscious perception).

3
Are you convinced.

• I wonder if you notice me chewing gum the whole
  time during my first presentation.
• I bet you did Dr. Reeves and minus some points
  for poorly performance. Ha ha, I got you.
• Classmates you cant get away neither because you
  probably were thinking What was I thinking for
  giving presentation with gum in my mouth?
• This can be one example of what Henry A. Murray
  was getting across.

4
Theory Behind TAT.

• The TAT is when you observe human behavior,
  either in a picture or in real life, you will
  interpret that behavior according to the clues
  that are available in the situation.
• Does my real life presentation ring a bell?
• When the causes for the behavior are clear, your
  interpretation will not only be correct, but it
  will be in a substantial agreement with other
  observers.
• However, if the situation is vague and it is
  difficult to find reasons for the behavior, your
  interpretation will more likely reflect something
  about yourself or about your own fears, desires,
  conflicts and so on.

5
Theoretical Propositions

• At a basic level, the theory underlying the TATlt
  like that of the Rorschach test, is that peoples
  behavior is driven by unconscious forces.
• Unconscious conflicts must be exposed for
  accurate diagnosis and successful treatment of
  psychological problems to take place.
• This was the purpose of Rorschachs Inkblot test,
  discussed in the previous reading, and it was
  also the goal of Murrays TAT.

6
What is Morgan Murray purpose of this procedure?

• The purpose is to stimulate literary creativity
  and thereby evoke fantasies that reveal covert
  and unconscious complexes.
• The way they conceived of this process was that a
  person would be shown ambiguous drawings of human
  behavior.
• In trying to explain the situation, the subject
  would become less self-conscious and less
  concerned about being observed by the therapist.
  This would in turn, cause the person to become
  less defensive and reveal inner wishes, fears and
  past experiences that might have been repressed.

7
M MMurray Method.

• Subjects were asked to guess the events leading
  up to the scene depicted in the drawing and what
  they thought the outcome of the scene would be.
• After testing the method, it was determined that
  a great deal more about the psychology of
  subjects could be obtained if they were simply
  asked to make up a story about the picture,
  rather than asked to guess the facts surrounding
  it.
• The pictures themselves were developed to
  stimulate fantasies in the subjects about
  conflicts and important events in their own
  experiences. It was decided that each picture
  should involve at least one person with whom the
  subject could easily identify.

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Exact Instructions.

• This is a test of your creative imagination. I
  shall show you a picture and I want you to make
  up a plot or a story for which it might be used
  as an illustration. What is the relation of the
  individuals in the picture? What has happened to
  them? What are their present thoughts and
  feelings? What will be the outcome? Do your very
  best. Since I am asking you indulge your
  literary imagination, you may make your story as
  ling and as detailed as you wish.

9
TAT Picture.
10
I Love this one!
11
Participants.

• Murray also conducted another test with the
  participants being men. The men were between the
  ages of 20 and 30.
• Each participant was seated in a comfortable
  chair facing away from the experimenter.
• These are the exact instructions given to each
  subject.

12
M MMurray Method

• The experimenter handed the subject each picture
  in succession and took notes on what the subject
  said for each one. Each subject was given an
  hour. Due to the time limitations, most subjects
  only completed stories for about 15 of the 20
  drawings.
• Few days later, participants returned and were
  interviewed about their stories.
• In order to disguise the true purpose of the
  study, participants were told that the purpose of
  the research was to compare their creative
  experiences with those of famous writers
• Participants were reminded of their responses to
  the pictures and were asked to explain what their
  sources for the stories were.
• There were given free-association test, were they
  say the first thing that come to mind in response
  to words spoken by the experimenter. This was
  designed to determine to what extent the drawings
  reflected their own personal experiences,
  conflicts, desires, and so on.

13
Results and Discussions

• Murray and Morgan reported two main findings form
  this early study of the TAT. The first was the
  discovery that the stories the subjects made up
  for the pictures came form four sources
• (1) books and movies, (2) real-life events
  involving a friend or a relative, (3) experiences
  in the subjects own life and (4) the subjects
  conscious or unconscious fantasies.
• The second and more important finding was that
  the subjects clearly projected their own
  personal, emotional, and psychological existence
  into their stories.
• Murray reports that, without exception, every
  person who participated in the study injected
  aspects of their personalities into their stories.

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Criticism toward TAT

• In a study by Eron (1950), the TAT was
  administered to two groups of male veterans.
  Some were students in college and others were
  patients in a psychiatric hospital. When the
  results of the TAT were analyzed, there were no
  significant differences found between the two
  groups or among psychiatric patients with
  different illnesses.
• Critics argue that, to the extent that the
  stories are different, the TAT has only tapped
  into your temporary state and not your real
  underlying self.

15
Recent Applications

• National Institute of Fashion Technology
• NIFT entrance test is of 3 types - General
  Ability Test (GAT), Creative Ability Test (CAT),
  and Managerial Ability Test (MAT). On
  successfully passing the entrance tests, short
  listed candidates will be called for a situation
  test, group discussion, thematic appreciation
  test (TAT) and interview respectively, at the
  NIFT Centre of your choice. The written
  examination is planned to test the knowledge,
  skill, ability and aptitude of the candidates.

16
(Cont.)

• McClelland's experiment -- the Thematic
  Apperception Test (TAT) -- consisted of showing
  individuals a series of pictures and asking them
  to give brief descriptions of what was happening
  in the pictures. The responses were analyzed in
  terms of the presence or absence of certain
  themes. The themes McClelland and his associates
  were looking for revolved around the following
  motivators achievement, affiliation and power. 

17
Last One.

• In the 30s, researcher Henry Moore developed a
  test for personality research TAT (Thematic
  Apperception Test). With the help of that test it
  is possible to explore ones personality,
  especially thoughts and dreams, as well as needs
  and emotions, conflicts and ability to deal with
  problems.With the aid of the TAT test,
  researcher McClelland found that the difference
  between people in performing different tasks
  originates in the differences in peoples sense
  of achievement. It is therefore clear that the
  need to achieve and to be accepted in the new
  society may create a conflict in a person who has
  left the country of his birth for another
  country. This conflict may express itself in
  putting extreme efforts into trying to merge
  within the new environment, as a part of the
  achievement.

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In Conclusion

• The most remarkable aspects of the projective
  tests such as the TAT and the Rorschach inkblot
  test is that in spite of a massive body of
  evidence condemning them as invalid, unreliable,
  and possibly on faulty assumptions, they are
  among the most frequently used psychological test
  till this day.

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Thank You