Projective Tests

A technique devised by psychoanalysts to delve into the unconscious without the use of psychotherapy. A projective test asks subjects to respond to an ambiguous stimulus, for example, an incomplete sentence, an inkblot, or a fuzzy picture. The underlying assumption of projective testing is that if a stimulus has no inherent meaning and can take on a multitude of interpretations, then whatever interpretation the subject puts on the stimulus is a projection of his or her own needs, wants, hopes, fears, and conflicts. Advocates claim that this ambiguity of the stimulus allows the subject to vent his or her inner thoughts. The most commonly known projective test is the Rorschach Inkblot Test, in which the subject is shown a series of irregular but symmetrical inkblots and asked to explain what they are. Projective tests have lost popularity among those who consider them to be unreliable. Additionally, the idea of repression that underlies these tests has been labeled as false by many psychologists with cognitive-behavioral orientations. Others have criticized the nature of the tests themselves, in that they depend heavily on the judgment of the examiner. At the same time, these are viewed as a nonthreatening manner in which to make the subject comfortable and then to introduce testing to the subject. For more information, see Hiller, Rosenthal, Bronstein, Berry, and Brunell-Neuleib (1999).