Each one of us has his own way of seeing reality, of interpreting it and of acting and being in the world. Each of us has our own personality. In part inherited and largely learned, the personality of an individual allows knowing and even predicting to some extent the way of interacting and reacting to situations of an individual. And this can be of great relevance when exploring the reasons why different subjects react differently to the same situation or why someone continually manifests behaviors that cause discomfort or that are not adaptive. That’s why different mechanisms and tests have been developed to try to assess personality. In this article we will provide you the information about the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
One of the numerous existing tests in this sense, psychodynamically oriented and framed in projective tests, is the Thematic Apperception Test or TAT .
Thematic Apperception Test or TAT
Created by Murray in 1935, the TAT aims to be a system for evaluating the needs, expectations and unconscious fears that regulate our behavior and that contribute to forming our personality from the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli (considering the author that in this process he can observe the presence of personality traits).
It is a projective test or test, the TAT being known among them as the clearest and best known exponent of the thematic projective test (in which basically a story must be narrated from the presentation of one or more plates) . As a projective test of psychodynamic origin, it aims to analyze the subject’s unconscious elements that shape and largely shape his personality.
This evaluation has the advantage of being masked, which implies that the subject does not know what is being evaluated or what response can be expected from him and it is more difficult to falsify his responses (reducing the probability of issuing responses based on social convenience). however, it does not allow a quantitative analysis, but only a qualitative one , with different professionals being able to obtain different conclusions from its application and without a single isolated stimulus, but its interpretation requires an analysis of the whole.
This projective test consists of a total of 31 black and white sheets, of which all but one represent different structured but ambiguous scenes linked to different themes. Among them, eleven are universal, while the rest are divided according to the type of population under study (according to sex and age), so that each subject can visualize a maximum of one score. However, it is not necessary to pass everything, but the clinician will assess whether it is valuable to pass only the most relevant one, depending on the patient in question.
The subject must briefly observe each sheet to create a story based on it and the elements that make up the scene, first considering what he sees in the image or scene and then creating a brief narration about what is happening. in it, what happened before and what will happen next. It will be the interpretation of these stories that will allow us to have an idea of the psychic processes of the analyzed subject.
Interpretation of Thematic Apperception Test
TAT results do not have a single possible interpretation , as it is not a standardized test that reflects specific scores. Its evaluation requires high doses of intuition and clinical judgment, with qualitative information being extracted. It does not allow establishing a diagnosis, but observes the way the patient sees things and how they are structured.
Although there are different systems for classifying and interpreting the results, these largely depend on the objectives of the patient’s personality analysis. For example, the Defense Mechanisms Manual proposes to evaluate the existence of denial, projection and identification as defense mechanisms against psychic conflicts, which would be projected in the stories. Regardless of the method of interpretation, in almost all cases, two main factors are taken into account in a main way: on the one hand, the content of the narrative and, on the other, the way in which the story is structured or formed .
Contents
When evaluating the content of the story, the test creator felt that six main aspects needed to be taken into account.
The hero or protagonist of the story is one such element. In images with more than one character, it is the subject with which the patient identifies and on which he centers the story. It is usually the one that bears the greatest resemblance to the patient himself. It should be borne in mind that the plates themselves do not clearly mark the existence of a main individual, with the choice of subject. Likewise, it is observed whether the patient chooses a single protagonist or changes throughout the speech or whether he chooses a group, animal or object as such.
The existence of different qualities in this protagonist and the role he has in the narration must also be evaluated (is he good / bad, active / passive, strong / weak …). The one with whom he identifies and as such a character informs us of the analyzed patient’s self-concept.
Another point to highlight, linked to the previous one, is the hero’s motivation and needs . How he feels or what he wants or motivates him internally to act like him. Protecting loved ones, hate or love, or any other event that makes you feel is part of this aspect. It is also associated with the goals and targets themselves.
The third key point is the pressures to which he is subject, or what happens to the subject that can mark his way of acting. Here it is possible to assess possible concerns or stressful or traumatic situations that are affecting the patient’s life.
The environment is the fourth of the main aspects to be valued. The patient must not only interpret the hero and what happens, but evaluate the situation he is in. The environment and the relationship with the other characters, or what these characters are like or the roles they play (family, couple, friends, enemies, threats, mere witnesses…), are great examples. You can report how you relate to the environment and your perception by the patient .
The fifth of the elements to be valued is the development of the story itself. How events happen, how they begin and how they culminate. By the way, this may be related to the patient’s real expectations regarding his own effectiveness and mood.
The last, but not least, point of analysis is the theme of the story, which tends to be linked to the patient’s concerns and concerns . For example, someone depressed and/or suicidal will tend to reproduce elements linked to death, or someone obsessed with cleanliness and germs with disease.
History Form
In addition to what the patient says, how he says it and the degree of involvement shown in the activity is relevant. Whether the patient cooperates or not, whether he correctly perceives the images and understands what he must do or whether he has sufficient capacity for visualization and elaboration, are striking aspects that may indicate the presence of resistance or difficulties associated with a specific problem (as well as evaluating whether testing is indicated or not).
Already within the story itself, it is necessary to take into account if there is coherence, linearity, contradictions , if fantasy or realism is used or not, if it uses too many or few adjectives or if it provides details.
