projective test

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projective test

any of various tests in which an individual interprets ambiguous stimulus situations, e.g., a series of inkblots (Rorschach t.), according to his own unconscious dispositions, thus yielding information about his personality structure, its underlying dynamics, and possible psychopathology.

pro·jec·tive test

a loosely structured psychological test containing many ambiguous stimuli that require the subject to reveal feelings, personality, or psychopathology in response to them; for example, Rorschach test, thematic apperception test.

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

projective test

A psychological test in which a subject's responses to ambiguous or unstructured standard stimuli, such as a series of cartoons, abstract patterns, or incomplete sentences, are analyzed in order to determine underlying personality traits, feelings, or attitudes.

projective test

Projection test Psychology A psychologic tests in which a person is presented with unstructured external stimuli–eg, Rorschach inkblots, thematic apperception test, that are ambiguous and subject to subjective interpretation; analysis of responses to the situations or images in a PT provides–in theory, information on unconscious desires, personality traits, interpersonal dynamics. See Psychological testing, Rorschach test.

pro·jec·tive test

(prŏ-jektiv test)

Loosely structured psychological assessment containing ambiguous stimuli that require the patient to reveal feelings, personality, or psychopathology in response.

Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

Projective test

A type of psychological test that assesses a person's thinking patterns, observational ability, feelings, and attitudes on the basis of responses to ambiguous test materials. It is not intended to diagnose psychiatric disorders.

Mentioned in: Thematic Apperception Test

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References in periodicals archive ?

Work ethic, a trait highly desired by service outlet hiring managers, is measured in Project Transition with a projective test. This instrument is based on the tests and scoring schemata of David McClelland's projective tests of Achievement Motive (1953).

The Projective Test of Work Ethic consists of six pictures of people in a variety of ambiguous situations.

Pre-hire assessment of the new work force: finding wheat (and work ethic) among the chaff

Thus, based on the current professional sentiment toward projective techniques, I offer the following predictions: a) academic/internship coverage of projective assessment will become non-existent in clinical psychology training in the USA and selectively emphasized in school psychology programs; b) projective tests will continue to be part of the assessment armamentarium in a small minority of mental health settings in the USA, and c) attitudes toward and use of projective assessment will remain in high regard overseas, at select universities and in professional practice across many nations around the world--this is based on reviews of survey studies (Piotrowski, 2015) and unpublished reports from countries like Japan and Peru.

On the decline of projective techniques in professional psychology training

Considering what was presented, it is possible to understand that there is a convergence in literature pertaining to the assertion that individual emotional aspects can influence the perception or interpretation of the world, and such phenomenon can be detected through performance on projective tests. However, as perception is a psychological activity that happens not only in those tests, we hypothesize that performance on other instruments would also be influenced by personality traits, and such influence can be measured.

We identified a gap in the research regarding the influence of personality characteristics on performance in instruments beyond projective tests. The present study aimed to analyse the distortions of perception on a cognitive ability test through correlation with personality instruments as well as other cognitive abilities.

Projective aspects on cognitive performance: distortions in emotional perception correlate with personality

Compared with projective tests, objective tests are more independent of contemporary psychological theory; are relatively brief; are frequently self-administered, require less professional training to administer, score, and interpret; have reproducible and generally acceptable norms for psychiatric and forensic populations; and are more acceptable to the court system.

Psychometrics: a valuable tool

A man who had long been entrusted with the care of his siblings, could only picture himself in his projective tests as "a baby smoking [sucking on] a cigarette." (16)

They boasted that they were independent, had, in fact, "become independent quite early," even as images of dependency longings dominated their childhood memories and their projective tests. Frequently, however, their defense could be seen to collapse, and their behavior to become increasingly regressed.

The childhood we have lost: when siblings were caregivers, 1900-1970

In contrast to objective tests, projective tests are designed to be ambiguous.

Anatomy of a child custody evaluation

* Projective tests: these tests require candidates to respond to ambiguous stimuli, for example, ink-blots.

Training and development are not enough: testing must also meet the challenges of the twenty-first century

Interviews and further projective tests uncovered no evidence of depression, an unusual number of fears, powerful hostilities, repressed sexual wishes or childhood trauma.

The fragile, creative side of nightmares

Projective tests have their origins in psychoanalytic psychology, which assumes that we have attitudes and motivations that are beyond or hidden from conscious awareness.

"A picture is worth a thousand words:" perceptual-personality profiling via a free-response imagery task