Projective Tests

A projective test is a type of personality assessment that examines an individual’s responses to ambiguous stimuli. Associated with psychodynamic and psychoanalytic theories, projective tests are believed to reveal a person’s unconscious thoughts or emotions as related to the test stimuli; these responses are in turn thought to be connected to the individual’s personality and psychological makeup. Projective tests are analyzed for meaning based entirely on the open-ended responses given by individuals, as opposed to other types of psychological tests, including self-report assessments, whose response options are shaped by and compared to a more limited and universal standard of meaning. Most commonly administered in clinical settings, projective tests are also used in schools to determine levels of behavioral and socioemotional functioning in student populations. This ...