Projective Tests in Psychological Assessment — The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Shortly after the turn of the century, Binet and Simon used children’s verbal responses to pictures as tests of their cognitive abilities (Rabin, 1968). This approach to studying psychological functioning was formalized by Morgan and Murray (1935) in their publication of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT consists of a set of 20 pictures, which generally have human figures of recognizable age and gender (although different pictures are used for males and females). A subset of pictures is selected on the basis of the nature of the client’s problems, since different pictures may tap into different psychological themes. The examinee is shown a picture and asked to tell a story about it, including four components: (1) what is going on in the picture; (2) what led up to the picture; (3) what is going to happen next; and (4) what are the people in the picture thinking and feeling. The psychologist records the stories verbatim for later analysis.
Figure 1 — Example Images in the TAT
The TAT is based on Murray’s (1938) theory of personality. According to Murray, there are many psychological needs that…
