Projective Hand Test

The Hand Test is a projective test consisting of a set of 10 cards approximately 3 inches by 5 inches in size. The first nine cards portray a hand in an ambiguous position, and the tenth card is blank. The cards are presented one at a time with the question, “What might this hand be doing?” The tenth card is blank and is given to the subject with the instructions: “This card is blank. I would like you to imagine a hand, and tell me what it might be doing?” Subjects are not limited in the number of responses they give to any individual cards or the entire set; however, subjects are encouraged with the instruction “anything else?” if they give only one response to the first card. The Hand Test elicits responses that reflect behavioral tendencies. Specifically, the Hand Test measures reactions that are close to the surface of personality, and reactions that are likely to be expressed in overt behavior. The administration time is typically brief (approximately 10 minutes) and the Hand Test is meant to supplement other material in a test battery. The Hand Test can be used with anyone old enough to verbalize a response (age 5+ years).

To score the Hand Test, the clinician simply classifies the responses according to clear-cut quantitative scores (such as Aggression, Exhibition, Communication, Dependence, Acquisition, Tension, and Withdrawal), which reflect the person's behavioral action tendencies in terms of how they interact with others and the environment. The qualitative scores generally reflect feelings and motivations underlying the expressed action tendencies. The Hand Test also consists of six summary scales, such as an index of overall pathology and an acting-out ratio, which is used to predict aggressive behavior.

Since its development in 1962, the Hand Test has been administered to more than a million people. The Hand Test manual was revised in 1983 and provides means, cutoff scores, and typical score ranges for normal adults and a number of diagnostic/clinical groups such as schizophrenia, mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, anxiety disorders, affective disorders, somatoform disorders, older adults, and personality disorders. A manual supplement provides norms for 5- to 18-year-olds and offers guidelines for interpreting child and adolescent responses and for integrating the Hand Test into a standard psychoeducational evaluation. Extensive research (more than 40 years' worth) and independent reviews comment favorably on the Hand Test's reliability and validity.