Psychodiagnostic Practicum Report

Master of Science
(Clinical Psychology)

by
Saumya Narain
20224238

Under the guidance of

Dr. Mohd. Afsar
Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology
CHRIST (Deemed to be University) Delhi NCR
April 2022
 Certificate

This is to certify that the practicum report submitted by Saumya Narain (20224238) is a

record of original lab work, completed for the course Psychodiagnostic Lab- II MPS451N, by her

during the academic year 2021-2022 under my supervision in partial fulfilment for the award of

the degree of Master of Science (Clinical Psychology).

Place: Delhi NCR

Date:

_______________________________ _______________________________
Signature of External Examiner Supervisor
Dr. Mohd. Afsar
Assistant Professor
CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
Delhi-NCR

_______________________________
Signature of Head
Dr. Surekha C.
Department of Psychology
CHRIST (Deemed to be University)
Delhi NCR
 Declaration

I, Saumya Narain, hereby declare that the practicum report is a record of original lab

work, for the course Psychodiagnostic Lab- II MPS451N, undertaken by me for the award of the

degree of Master of Science (Clinical Psychology). I have conducted the tests and assessments

under the supervision of Dr. Mohd. Afsar, Department of Psychology, CHRIST (Deemed to be

University), Delhi NCR. I also declare that all the tests and assessments are ethically conducted.

Place: Delhi NCR

Date: April 2022

Saumya Narain

20224238

Department of Psychology

CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

Delhi NCR
 Table of Contents

Name of the Test Administered/ Demo

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale Administered

(HAM-D)

Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale Demo

(Y-BOCS)

Positive and Negative Affect Scale Administered

(PANAS-GEN)

Sentence Completion Test (SCT) Administered

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Children’s Apperception Test (CAT) Administered

Multidimensional Assessment of Demo

Personality System (MAPS)
Rorschach Inkblot Test (RIBT) Demo

Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) Demo

Diagnostic Test of Learning Disability Demo
(DTLD)
 1

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

January 3, 2021
 2

Purpose

The present investigation aims to assess the nature, severity, and frequency of

depressive symptoms of a subject using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D).

Introduction

Mood disorders, also called Affective Disorders, are a cluster of psychiatric

conditions characterized predominantly by pervasive and prolonged disturbances in mood

(American Psychological Association, n.d.). Classified into two categories namely Bipolar

Disorder and its subtypes (Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Cyclothymia), and Unipolar Disorders

(Depressive disorders including Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia), it is appalling to

learn that mood disorders account for around 6% of all disability-adjusted-life-years lost

worldwide (Burrone et al., 2020). Depression, one of the most commonly diagnosed mood

disorders, has been conceptualized as a negative affective state characterized by three

cardinal symptoms namely persistent depressed and sad mood, anhedonia, and lack of energy

or fatigue. A recent study revealed that an alarming one-third of patients seeking help from

medical professionals in primary healthcare settings in India may already exhibit depressive

symptoms (Arvind et al., 2019). Regarded as one of the leading causes of disability globally

(World Health Organization, n.d.), depression is often accompanied by various cognitive,

somatic, emotional and social symptoms that may severely interfere with the daily

functioning of an individual. Not every patient who has been clinically diagnosed with

depression will exhibit or experience each and every symptom as the clinical presentation of

each case will be unique and different (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d).

Symptoms

Common symptoms of depression include persistent depressed and sad mood,

decreased energy, tiredness and fatigue, disturbed eating and sleeping patterns, loss of
 3

interest in previously enjoyable activities (anhedonia), feelings of helplessness,

worthlessness, hopelessness; social withdrawal, difficulty in concentration and decision-

making, increased rumination, reduced sexual drive, and even suicidal thoughts or ideation

(National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). Each symptom may vary in terms of its intensity.

Diagnostic Criteria of Major Depressive Disorder as per DSM-5

According to the Fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (DSM-5), Depressive Disorders include Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia,

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, Other specified or unspecified depressive disorder,

Depressive disorder due to another medical condition, and Substance induced depressive

disorder.

With respect to the classification, the diagnostic criterion for Major Depressive

Disorder is as follows-

A. Five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present during the same 2-

week period and represent a change from previous functioning: at least one of the symptoms

is either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

Note: Do not include symptoms that are clearly attributable to another medical condition.

1. Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report

(e.g., feels sad, empty, hopeless) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). (Note:

In children and adolescents, can be irritable mood.)

2. Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day,

nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation).

 4

3. Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of

body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day. (Note: In

children, consider failure to make expected weight gain.)

4. Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day.

5. Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day (observable by others, not merely

subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down).

6. Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day.

7. Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt (which may be delusional)

nearly every day (not merely self-reproach or guilt about being sick).

8. Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day (either by

subjective account or as observed by others).

9. Recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a

specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide.

B. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational,

or other important areas of functioning.

C. The episode is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or to another

medical condition.

D. The occurrence of the major depressive episode is not better explained by schizoaffective

disorder, schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, delusional disorder, or

other specified and unspecified schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders.

E. There has never been a manic episode or a hypomanic episode.

 5

Etiology of Depression

Depression can result from a complex interaction of biological, and psychosocial

factors. Genetic factors, neurological, hormonal (decrease in levels of serotonin), and

immunological factors play a central role in the development of depressive disorders, which

can further be aggravated by the presence of stressors (National Research Council and

Institute of Medicine, n.d.). Traumatic and stressful life events such as death of a loved one,

sexual abuse, child abuse, abusive relationships, loss of job etc. can also be potential causes

of depression which are included in psychological factors.

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) is one of the most

renowned clinician-administered scale for assessing the severity of depressive symptoms

among patients. The credit to publishing this widely used assessment goes to the psychiatrist,

Max Hamilton, who published the scale in 1960 with the aim to examine the severity of

depression among hospital inpatients who had previously been diagnosed with depression

(Williams, 2001). The original version of HAM-D was designed in a manner such that it

consisted of 21 items and was required to be completed by the clinician after conducting an

unstructured clinical interview with the patient (Carrozzino et al., 2020). However, Hamilton

himself recommended to take into consideration only the first 17 items while scoring as the

last four symptoms are not generally considered typical features of depression (Carrozzino et

al., 2020).

Considered as the ‘gold standard’ for assessing the severity and frequency of

depressive symptoms, HAM-D has satisfactory psychometric properties. With an intra-class

correlation coefficient of 0.92, it has been demonstrated that HAM-D has an excellent inter-

rater reliability (Trajkovic et al., 2011). In fact, HAM-D has exhibited excellent internal
 6

consistency and test-retest reliability with the coefficient ranging between 0.65-0.98, which

provides strong evidence to support the stance of HAM-D being a good and reliable

assessment of depressive symptoms (Trajkovic et al., 2011). Other studies have further

demonstrated adequate convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity (Bagby et al., 2004).

However, this popular assessment has its own fair share of shortcomings. Bagby et al.

(2004) conducted an extensive study to examine the psychometric properties of HAM-D.

While they did find HAM-D to be an overall sound psychometric scale, certain significant

psychometric weaknesses came to light. In addition to difficulties in the scoring pattern,

problems were also found in the scaling of certain items, clarity of its clinical meaning and

picture and its failure to take into account the atypical symptoms of depression (Bagby et al.,

2004; Hamilton, 1960).

To improve upon and rectify its shortcomings, 11 versions of the scale were

developed over time and the scale had undergone multiple revisions in the years 1966, 1967,

1969, and 1980 (Renemane & Vrubleska, 2021). This also sparked interest in the research

community and encouraged researchers to explore and improve upon the psychometric

properties of the scale and come up with a standardized process of administering the scale

(Williams, 2001). Majorly used in clinical practice and research, HAM-D has been used in

various pertinent studies focused on assessing depression and its various treatment and

therapeutic interventions (Fiske et al., 2020).

Scoring of HAM-D

The standard and most commonly used version of the Hamilton Depression Rating

Scale (HRSD) has been designed to be administered by a trained clinician or professional

following the conclusion of a structured interview guide. Consisting of 17 items, the scoring

framework requires the clinician to rate each item either on a 3- or 5-point scale, heavily
 7

relying on the clinician’s judgement and all the scores are tallied to yield the total score

(Edelstein et al., 2004). With a total possible score of 23, total scores ranging between 0-7

indicate normal range (in clinical remission), 8-16 indicating mild depression, 17-23

indicating moderate depression, and any score above 24 is considered to be indicative of

severe depression (Sherp, 2015).

Methodology

Materials Required

Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), HDRS Structured Interview Guide,

Pen/Pencil.

Particulars of the Subject

Name: S

Age: 55 years

Sex: Female

Educational Qualification: Master’s

Marital Status: Married

Occupation: Educator

Socio-Economic Status: High SES

Preliminary Set-Up

For the smooth administration of the present assessment of the Hamilton Depression

Rating Scale, it was ensured that the participant was well rested and was seated comfortably.

A rapport was successfully established with the participant, and it was ensured that the

environment for conducting the assessment was quiet. Efforts were made to minimize
 8

external disturbances and noises and it was ensured that the room was well-lit. The materials

required for the administration of HAM-D were procured from the laboratory prior to the

administration and were kept ready to facilitate its smooth conduction.

Procedure

The present investigation aimed to assess the severity of, and change (if any) in the

depressive symptoms of a subject using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D).

Each investigator conducted the assessment on one subject. The subject was seated

comfortably, and after establishing a rapport, was given the required instructions prior to the

administration. For carrying out the present assessment, a structured interview was conducted

with the participant which was based on the pattern and framework of the structured

interview guide given by Janet Williams (1988). Questions were asked to enquire about the

nature, intensity and frequency of each of the 17 aspects and symptoms of Depression given

in HAM-D. For instance, to enquire about the subject’s depressed mood, questions such as

“How has your mood been for the past one week?”, “Have you been feeling down lately?”,

“Have you been crying at all?”, “How long have you been feeling this way”, etc. were asked

to probe further. Subsequently, follow-up questions were asked to elicit the relevant

information and to clarify or explore the symptoms further. During the process of the

interview and in accordance with the emerging information, the investigator used her

discretion and judgement to assign a score from among the given score range to each of the

17 broad categories of depressive symptoms. After the relevant information was elicited in

one sitting and the scoring was done by the investigator, the total score was calculated, and

the results were subsequently interpreted and discussed on the basis of the pre-defined cut-off

scores.

Instructions
 9

The following instructions pertaining to the administration of HAM-D were given to

the subject –

“You will be asked a series of questions that aim to assess your mood and the various

concerns and symptoms that you may have experienced lately. You are required to respond to

these questions as honestly and truthfully as possible.”

Precautions

The following precautions should be taken during the investigation to facilitate its

smooth conduction-

• All external disturbances should be minimized to ensure that the subject’s attention

and concentration is sustained and maintained throughout the administration.

• The assessment should be conducted in a single sitting.

• The investigator should ensure that the subject feels comfortable and at ease.

• Efforts should be made to ensure that the interview be conducted in a manner such

that the subject does not experience any distress or does not get overwhelmed during

the interview process.

Results

Table 1 shows the total score and the corresponding interpretation for the obtained

total score of the subject.

Table 1

Total Score and Corresponding Interpretation

Total Score Interpretation

6 Normal Range
 10

As evident from Table 1, the total score of the subject came out to be 6, which is

indicative of a normal range.

Discussion

The total score of the subject came out to be 6 and on the basis of the cut-off scores

given for the most recent revision of HAM-D, it can be concluded that the subject lies within

the normal range. This may indicate that the subject does not experience any depressive

symptoms, and if she does, they are experienced in a manner such that these difficulties do

not interfere with her daily functioning and are natural or apt in response to the situation at

hand. It can also be contended that the subject is perhaps able to cope effectively with the

stressors around her that may potentially lead to the development of depressive disorders.

Although the subject may not require any treatment per se, it is still recommended that the

subject continue to lead a healthy lifestyle and seek professional help in cases when she feels

overwhelmed or when the depressive symptoms are interfering significantly with her daily,

social, and occupational functioning.

In case this score may have been an indication of change from a previous set of scores

obtained in clinical settings, it can also be interpreted as the subject being in clinical

remission i.e., it may be possible that there has been a significant reduction in the intensity or

frequency of symptoms experienced by the subject.

 11

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Mood Disorder. In APA Dictionary of

Psychology. Retrieved December 29, 2021, from https://dictionary.apa.org/mood-

disorder

Arvind, B. A., Gururaj, G., Loganathan, S., Amudhan, S., Varghese, M., Benegal, V., Rao, G.

N., Kokane, A. M., Chavan, B. S, Dalal, P. K., Ram, D., Pathak, K., Singh, R. K. L.,

Singh, L. K., Sharma, P., Saha, P. K., C, R., Mehta, R. Y., Shibukumar, T.M., &

NMHS collaborators group (2019). Prevalence and socioeconomic impact of

depressive disorders in India: Multisite population-based cross-sectional study. BMJ

open, 9(6), e027250. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027250

Bagby, R. M., Ryder, A. G., Deborah, R. S., Marshall, M. B. (2004). The Hamilton

Depression Rating Scale: Has the Gold Standard Become a Lead Weight? The

American Journal of Psychiatry, 161(12), 2163-2177.

https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.12.2163

Burrone, M. S., Alvarado, R., Colantonio, L. D., Enders, J. E., Zuñiga, R. A. A., Valencia, E.,

Susser, E., & Fernández, R. A. (2020). Prevalence of Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Among Adults Seeking Care in Primary Healthcare Centers in Cordoba, Argentina.

Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 232. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00232

Carrozzino, D., Patierno, C., Fava G. A., & Guidi, J. (2020). The Hamilton Rating Scales for

Depression: A Critical Review of Clinimetric Properties of Different Versions.

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 89(3), 133-150.

https://doi.org/10.1159/000506879
 12

Edelstein, B. A., Neiger, A. S., Scheck, S. A. (2004). Depression in Late Life. Encyclopedia

of Applied Psychology, 593-599. https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-12-657410-3/00716-9

Fiske, A., Ebert, A. R., Fenstermacher, E. A., & Owsiany, M. T. (2020). Mood Disorders in

Later Life. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818697-8.00043-1

Hamilton M. (1960). A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and

Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.

National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Depression.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression#part_2255

National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (2009). The Etiology of Depression.

National Academies Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215119/

Renemane, L., & Vrublevska, J. (2021). Hamilton depression rating scale: Uses and

applications. The Neuroscience of Depression: Features, Diagnosis, and Treatment,

175-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817933-8.00019-0

Sherp, R. (2015). The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Occupational Medicine, 65(4),

340. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqv043

Trajković, G., Starčević, V., Latas, M., Leštarević, M., Ille, T., Bukumirić, Z., & Marinković,

J. (2011). Reliability of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression: a meta-analysis

over a period of 49 years. Psychiatry research, 189(1), 1–9.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2010.12.007

Williams, J. B. W. (2001). Standardizing the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale: past,

present, and future. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 251,

6-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03035120
 13

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Depression. https://www.who.int/health-topics/depression

N m
3 SUICIDE
0 Absent. I1 ANXIETY SOMATIC (physiological concomitants of
Feels life is not worth living. anxiety) such as:
gastro-intestinal - dry mouth, wind, indigestion, diarrhea,
Wishes helshe were dead or any
thoughts of possible
death t self. cramps, belching
cardio-vascular - palpitations, headaches
ldeas or gestures of suicide.
4
Attempts at suicide (any serious attempt rate 4). respirator-hyperventilation, sighing
urinary frequency
INSOMNIA: EARLY IN THE NIGHT Sweating
0 No 0 Absent.
difficulty falling asleep. Mild.
I Complains of occasional difficulty falling asleep, i.e.
more than % hour.
2 Moderate.
3 Severe.
2 Complains of nightly dificulty falling asleep. 4 Incapacitating
5 INSOMNIA: MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT 2
0 No difficulty. SOMATICNone.
O
SYMPTOMS GASTRO-INTESTINAL
LPatient complains of being restless and disturbed L o s s of appetite but eating without staff
during the night.
2 encouragement. Heavy feelings in abdomen.
Waking during the night any getting -

out of bed rates 2 Difficulty eating without stafí urging. Requests or

2 (except for purposes of
voiding). requires laxatives or medication for bowels or
medication for gastro-intestinal symptoms.
INSOMNIA: EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING
0 No difficulty.
13 GENERAL SOMATIC SYMPTOMS
ILWaking in early hours of the morning but goes back
to sleep.
0 None.
LA Heaviness in limbs, back or head. Backaches
2 Unable to fall asleep again if he/she gets out of bed. headaches, muscle aches. Loss of energy and
7 wORK AND ACTIVITIES fatigability.
2 Any clear-cut symptom rates 2.
0 I N o difficulty.
Thoughts and feelings of incapacity, fatigue or 14 GENITAL SYMPTOMS
weakness related to activities, work or hobbies. (symptoms such as loss of libido,
2 Loss of interest in activity, hobbies or work- either
menstrual disturbances)
0 Absent.
directly reported by the patient or indirect in U Mild.
listlessness, indecision and vacillation (feels he/she has
Severe.
to push self to work or activities).
3 Decrease in actual time spent in activities or decrease 15 HYPOCHONDRIASIS
in productivity. Rate 3 if the patient does not spend at
least three hours a day in activities (job or hobbies)
Not present.
excluding routine chores. LISelf-absorption (bodily).
Preoccupation wich health.
4 Stopped working because of present illness. Rate 4 if 3 Frequent complaints, requests for help, et.
patient engages in no activities except routine chores, 4 Hypochondriacal delusions.
or if patient fails to perform routine chores unassisted.
16 LOSS OF WEIGHT (RATE EITHER a OR
8 RETARDATION (slowness of thought and
b)
speech, impaired a) According to the b) According to weekly
ability to concentrate, decreased motor activicy)
patient: measurements:
Normal speech and thought. ANo weightloss. 0L Less than I Ib weight loss in
LSlight retardation during the interview. week.
2 Obvious retardation during the interview.
LProbable weight Greater than IIb weight loss
Interview dificult loss associated with in week.
4LComplete stupor. present illness.
2 Definite (according 2 Greater than 2 lb
weight loss
9 AGITATION to patient) weight week.
0 None. loss.
IAFidgetiness. 3 N o t assessed. 3 Not assessed.
2 Playing wich hands, hair, etc.
Moving about, can't sit still. 17 INSIGHT
4 I Hand wringing, nail biting. hair-pulling. biting of lips. Acknowledges being depressed and ill.
Acknowledges illness but attributes cause to bad food,.
10 ANXIETY PSYCHIc climate, overwork, virus, need for rest, etc.
0 N o difficulty. 2 LIDenies being ill at all.
ISubjective tension and irritability.
2 LA Worrying about minor matters. Total score
3 Apprehensive attitude apparent in
face or speech.
4 Fears expressed without questioning.
This scale is in the public domain.

29
 1

Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

January 22, 2021

 2

Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)

Introduction to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessions are regarded as recurrent, persistent, intrusive and unwanted thoughts,

ideas, impulses, or images that cause significant distress, discomfort and anxiety (American
Psychological Association, n.d.). It is commonly observed that people experiencing these
distressing obsessions acknowledge the fact that these obsessions are unreasonable and
excessive to an extent that even logical and rational reasoning cannot settle these
(Faramazyan et al., 2007). In this context, it can be argued that obsessions are often ego-
dystonic as these lie outside one’s control and are experienced as something that is alien and
inconsistent with one’s self (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Some of the
common patterns of obsessions include obsessions of contamination, symmetry, pathological
doubt, inappropriate sexual imagery, etc. (Faramazyan et al., 2007). There is a thin line when
it comes to differentiating excessive worries about everyday events from obsessions and it
can be understood keeping in mind how obsessions are not grounded in and concerned with
real-life problems (American Psychological, n.d.). Experiencing obsessions is usually
supplemented by efforts on part of the individual to actively suppress the thoughts or
impulses, or even by making use of neutralizing behaviours (American Psychological
Association, n.d.) These neutralizing behaviours/ rituals can be also termed as compulsions,
which are complex behaviours or mental acts that an individual engages in, in response to the
experienced obsessions, to reduce or lessen the resultant anxiety, discomfort, and distress
(American Psychological Association, n.d.). Compulsions may also be performed in an
attempt to prevent the occurrence of any dreaded event or situation. Often disproportionate or
irrelevant to the feared situation that they are used to neutralize, some of the most commonly
seen compulsions include hand washing, repetitive cleaning behaviours, counting, checking,
and praying (American Psychological Association, n.d.; Stevens, 2011). Through these
compulsive behaviours, an individual typically experiences temporary or potentially brief
relief. However, due to the fleeting nature of the obtained relief, obsessions often re-occur,
which can lead to the formation of a debilitating, repetitive pattern characteristic of obsessive
- compulsive disorder (Kapalka, 2010). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a
potentially disabling psychiatric disorder characterized by obsessions that often compel or
drive an individual to perform compulsions, which are immensely time-consuming (more
than 1 hour per day), interfere with the routine functioning of an individual and cause
 3

significant anguish and distress (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Ranked among the
top ten most disabling illnesses globally by the World Health Organization (WHO), the
estimated lifetime prevalence of OCD is 2% for the general population worldwide and 0.6%
for the Indian population (Rajashekharaiah & Verma, 2016). More often than usual,
individuals with OCD have insight into their illness and possess the knowledge that the
obsessions and compulsions experienced by them, are in fact, excessive, absurd, and
irrational (Sadock et al., 2015).

Assessment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The assessments that identify and measure the presence and severity of OCD
symptoms are a part of the crucial step that follows the step of diagnosing OCD in
accordance with either ICD-10 or DSM-5. These assessments can be classified into two
categories, namely Self-report measures and Clinician rated measures.

Self-report measures require the clients to report and rate the severity of their OCD
symptoms on their own. The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale – Self Report (Y-
BOCS-SR), Obsessive Compulsive Inventory- Revised (OCI-R), Florida Obsessive
Compulsive Inventory, Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, The Leyton Obsessional
Inventory (LOI), Maudsley Obsessive- Compulsive Inventory (MOCI), and Padua Inventory
are among the most commonly known self-report measures of OCD symptom severity (Rapp
et al., 2016). Although self-report measures did prove to be useful, but these were replete
with their own share of limitations, which simultaneously paved the way for the development
of clinician-rated measures.

The development of clinician rated measures of OCD symptom severity was

particularly beneficial as it helped both the researchers and clinicians to improve upon and
rectify the shortcomings of the self-report measures by enabling the clinicians to make use of
their clinical expertise and judgement in rating the symptom severity. Yale- Brown Obsessive
Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Yale- Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, Second Edition (Y-
BOCS-II), Dimensional Yale- Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (DY-BOCS), National
Institute of Mental Health-Global Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (NIMH-GOCS), and
Children’s Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) are among the renowned
and commonly used clinician-rated measures of OCD symptom severity (Rapp et al., 2016).

Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)

Developed by Dr. Wayne K. Goodman and his colleagues in 1989, the Yale Brown
 4

Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is considered as the gold standard in the

measurement and assessment of OCD symptom severity and treatment response (Anholt et
al., 2020). A popular and widely used clinician rating scale, Y-BOCS can be contended as a
semi-structured interview that serves the sole purpose of assessing and subsequently rating
the OCD symptom severity, rather than establishing or formulating a diagnosis (Stanford
Medicine, n.d.). In essence, Y-BOCS cannot be viewed as a diagnostic or screening tool.

History and Development

The Yale OCD Research Clinic fostered the development of the Y-BOCS through
ground-breaking advances and research carried out to expand and enrich the available
knowledge and literature about OCD phenomenology in the year 1989 (Yale School of
Medicine, n.d.). Originally, the Y-BOCS was designed to be used as an outcome measure in
clinical drug trials for OCD patients, i.e., patients having been diagnosed previously in
accordance with the diagnostic criteria prescribed as per DSM-III-R (Goodman et al., 1992).

There are various factors that cultivated an increased understanding among the
research community to address the limitations of the OCD rating scales that existed prior to
the development of Y-BOCS. Owing to the inadequate and insufficient availability of
reliability and validity data and research conducted on the measures available back then
(Goodman et al., 1989), the researchers believed that there was a felt need to construct a
rating scale with more sound and strong psychometric properties that could be backed up by
rigorous research and literature (Morgiève, 2018). Further, the available rating scales were
deemed limited in scope and were criticised on grounds of being unsuitable in terms of its
application in clinical drug-treatment studies (Goodman et al., 1989). It was also observed
that a few of the measures, such as the Leyton Obsessional Inventory and the Maudsley
Obsessional Compulsive Inventory, were not only inefficient in terms of its time-consuming
administration, but these also heavily relied on self-ratings, due to which biases and social
desirability were bound to arise in assessing the OCD symptom severity and often produce
inaccurate results (Goodman et al., 1989). These rating scales were also considered to be
slightly ineffective as these played a major role in confounding the measurement of the trait
with state variables and were designed to examine and assess only a limited type of
obsessions and compulsions (Goodman et al., 1989). In fact, certain rating scales that were
available prior to the development of Y-BOCS failed to cater to the range of symptoms
characteristic of OCD, and instead focused on rating symptoms not specific to OCD. For
 5

instance, the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale consisted of symptoms that

were more typically seen in depression rather than those of OCD (Goodman et al., 1989).
Keeping all these factors in mind, Goodman et al. (1989) developed Y-BOCS in an attempt to
ameliorate and improve upon the problems posed by the aforementioned OCD rating scales.
This was done in a thorough and precise manner to ensure that Y-BOCS was not subject to
influence by the type of obsessions and compulsions experienced by the individual, a feature
that only a few of the then rating scales shared (Goodman et al., 1989).

Versions and Revisions

Several versions of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) have

been developed and Y-BOCS has undergone a significant revision in order to rectify the
limitations of this gold standard of assessment of OCD symptom severity.

The revised version of Y-BOCS was recently published in 2000 and is currently in
use, which is referred to as the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale - Second Edition
(Y-BOCS-II). Although it continues to retain the Symptom Checklist and Severity Scale, the
benchmarks for which are consistent with that of the Y-BOCS (Rapp et al, 2016), Y-BOCS-II
has been subjected to a number of changes that have helped in successfully overcoming the
limitations of Y-BOCS. The item corresponding to “resistance against obsessions” which was
found to be psychometrically problematic, has been eliminated and subsequently replaced by
an item corresponding to “obsession-free interval” (Goodman et al., 2011). Some of the other
significant modifications involve inclusion of and added emphasis on avoidance behaviours,
the formulation of a 6-point (0-5) scoring response instead of a 5-point (0-4) scale, refined
wordings and format of the rating scale, as well as improvements in the content of the
Symptom Checklist (Goodman et al., 2011). With excellent psychometric properties, Y-
BOCS-II has indeed proved to be a reliable rating scale for assessing OCD symptom severity.

With respect to the versions, the structure of Y-BOCS has been adapted and used as a
basis for formulating its different versions. Children’s Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive
Scale (CY-BOCS) has been modelled after the structure, format, scoring and interpretation of
Y-BOCS and is primarily used for assessing the severity of OCD symptomatology and
treatment response in the pediatric population (Rapp et al., 2016). The Symptom Checklist of
CY-BOCS has been altered and modified for assessing developmental appropriateness. This
clinician administered semi-structured interview scale has demonstrated sound psychometric
properties (Rapp et al., 2016).
 6

In order to assess and cater to the dimension-specific OCD symptom severity, Rosario
Campos, along with his associates revised the Y-BOCS and subsequently developed what is
called the Dimensional Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (DY-BOCS). The
Symptom Checklist of DY-BOCS consists of 88 items, the presence and severity of which
are assessed across the following 6 domains - (1) aggression/ harm, (2) scrupulosity, (3)
symmetry/just right perception/ordering, (4) contamination, (5) hoarding, and (6)
miscellaneous (Goodman et al., 2011).

Description of Y-BOCS

The golden standard for quantifying the severity of OCD symptoms and treatment
response (Anholt et al., 2020), the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is a
10-item clinician-rated scale popularly used by clinicians and researchers across the globe.
Primarily designed for the adult population, the Y-BOCS assesses the presence and severity
of OCD symptoms over a period of one week and makes no attempt to arrive at a diagnosis
(Storch et al., 2015). It was developed specifically as a clinician-rated instrument as research
assessing the reliability of only self-report ratings during the acute stages of different
disorders revealed poor correlation with evaluations that were more objective in nature
(Goodman et al., 1989). Owing to its excellent psychometric properties, good treatment
sensitivity and adaptability to drug-treatment studies, Y-BOCS has successfully managed to
carve a niche and establish its superiority over the existing measures of OCD symptom
severity (Rapp et al., 2016). Y-BOCS also has an edge over the other measures as it possesses
the ability to focus on, and rate, the form and not solely the content of OCD symptoms
(Castro-Rodrigues et al., 2018). The Y-BOCS consists of two constituent parts – i) Yale–
Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale–Symptoms Checklist (Y-BOCS-SC); and ii) Yale–
Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale–Severity Scale (Y-BOCS-SS).

The Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale–Symptoms Checklist (Y-BOCS-SC)

comprises broadly of 54 common types of obsessions and compulsions which are further
divided into 15 categories (Goodman et al., 1989). These 15 categories are derived and
classified on the basis of the thematic content (e.g., aggression or contamination) or the
behavioural expression (e.g., washing or cleaning) of OCD symptoms (Goodman et al.,
1989). The Symptom Checklist should be completed by the clinician first by collaboratively
working with the client to identify the target symptoms for treatment and review the same
with the client to help him/her gain insight into the intricacies and prominent thoughts and
 7

behaviours that are characteristic of their condition (Stanford Medicine, n.d.). Y-BOCS-SC
follows a dichotomous rating format (Current or Past) that requires one to represent the
presence or absence of a specific symptom in terms of the time when that particular symptom
was/ is currently being experienced (Sulkowski et al., 2010).

The administration of Y-BOCS-SC is followed by assigning ratings to each symptom

separately on the basis of the previously identified target symptoms and information
obtained. This is carried out using the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale–Severity
Scale (Y-BOCS-SS) which comprises of 10 items – five measuring obsessions (Items 1-5)
and the remaining five measuring compulsions (Items 6-10). In other words, the Severity
Scale measures the severity of the cardinal symptoms of OCD with regard to five dimensions
namely – i) Time (to what extent they occupy the client’s time), ii) Interference (the degree to
which the symptoms interfere with the client’s routine functioning), iii) Distress (the degree
of subjective distress experienced by the client due to the symptoms), Resistance (the amount
of effort expended by the client to oppose or resist the symptoms), and Control (how much
control the client has over the symptoms) (Goodman et al., 1989; Goodman et al., 1992).
Each item is scored on a scale ranging from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (extreme/ severe
symptoms).

Scoring and Interpretation

The Symptom Severity scale of Y-BOCS consists of 10 core items – Items 1-5
measuring obsessions and Items 6-10 measuring compulsions. Each item is rated on a four-
point scale ranging from 0 (no symptoms) to 4 (extreme/ severe symptoms), with the total
scores ranging from 0 - 40 (Goodman et al., 1992). Separate indices or subtotals are obtained
for the severity of obsessions (sum of items 1-5) and the severity of compulsions (sum of
items 6-10), which ultimately yield the total OCD severity score. For each composite or
subtotal (obsessions and compulsions), the scores range between 0 – 20 (Goodman et al.,
1989; Rapp et al., 2016). In Y-BOCS, higher scores correspond to greater severity of
symptoms (Goodman et al., 1992).

The total index of overall severity can be interpreted using the following range of cut-
off scores – 0 – 7 (Subclinical Symptoms), 8 – 15 (Mild Symptoms), 16 – 23 (Moderate
Symptoms), 24 – 31 (Severe Symptoms), and 32 – 40 (Extreme Symptoms).

Items 11-16 of the Symptom Severity Scale that assess the domains of insight,
avoidance, indecisiveness, pathological responsibility, pathological slowness, and
 8

pathological doubting, are used mainly by the clinicians for investigation and exploration
purposes. These items are not scored and not considered while calculating the total severity
score owing to the dearth of research evidence to indicate their existence as the core features
of OCD (Goodman et al., 1989).

Administration

Goodman et al. (1992) put forth detailed and comprehensive guidelines for carrying
out the administration of Y-BOCS, which include the following steps -

The first and foremost step of administering Y-BOCS involves psycho-educating the
client about what essentially obsessions and compulsions are by providing them with easy-to-
understand and simplified definitions of the same and supplementing them with illustrious,
common examples. This should be done in the first rating session and need not necessarily be
followed through subsequent rating sessions. This step is followed by the clinician or the
rater assisting the client in listing out the obsessions and compulsions currently being
experienced by them, which will further help in identifying and generating a list of target
symptoms that need to be addressed and treated during the treatment phase. The third step
entails describing specifically and thoroughly the OCD symptoms on the Target Symptom
List. This step is done primarily to obtain and generate a shorthand of the client’s symptom
profile that can be reviewed anytime conveniently by the clinician. It is also recommended
for the rater or the clinician during this stage to clearly indicate the symptoms that warrant
special attention and focus. Further, it is also crucial for the rater to determine whether the
reported symptoms are in fact, bona fide or typical symptoms of OCD, and not of any other
disorder. The next step involves identifying and describing the patterns of avoidance
behaviours in the Target Symptom Checklist to be at pace with the changes in the said
patterns. Finally, the last step requires the clinician to examine the items in the specified
order by asking the given questions and rating the average occurrence of each and every
symptom experienced during the past one week and compute the total index of overall
severity, including the information supplied by other informants, if necessary.

Psychometric Properties of Y-BOCS

Studies have found that Y-BOCS has excellent inter-rater reliability, with intraclass
correlation coefficients ranging from .92-.99 and moderately satisfactory test-retest
reliability, with 𝑟𝑠 = .81– .97 (Sulkowski, 2008). Certain studies also indicated that Y-BOCS
has a strong internal consistency coefficient i.e., α = 0.91 (Storch et al., 2010). Sulkowski et
 9

al. (2008) contended that Y-BOCS possesses good treatment sensitivity and has good indices
of criterion-related validity, convergent and discriminant validity. Therefore, it can be
concluded that Y-BOCS has sound psychometric properties.

Application of Y-BOCS

Y-BOCS is largely used and applied both in clinical and research settings. The use of
Y-BOCS has contributed immensely towards enriching the understanding of treatment
sensitivity to medication and in providing evidence for the effectiveness and efficacy of
psychotherapeutic interventions (Rapp et al., 2016). Through intensive research, it has also
been found that Y-BOCS is considered to be one of the most well-suited measures of OCD
symptomatology in drug treatment studies i.e., as an outcome measure in clinical drug trials
(Goodman et al., 1989).

Limitations of Y-BOCS

Although Y-BOCS has stood the test of time and continues to be widely used for
measuring OCD symptomatology, it can be argued that this clinician-administered rating
scale has its fair share of limitations. To begin with, Y-BOCS has received increased
criticism with respect to the items corresponding to resistance (items 4 and 9) being deemed
as having questionable and highly problematic psychometric properties (Castro-Rodrigues et
al., 2018). Concerns about the poor conceptual fit of the resistance items in Y-BOCS
motivated other researchers to conduct rigorous research to explore its factor structure.
Certain studies found the three-factor structure to be more consistent and thus implied that Y-
BOCS has an inconsistent factor structure (Rapp et al., 2016). A handful of studies also found
that Y-BOCS possesses low divergent and discriminant validity with depression, which
researchers traced back to the high rate of comorbidity between OCD and Depression (Rapp
et al., 2016). Y-BOCS was also found to exhibit a low sensitivity to change, which was
challenged multiple times by upcoming researchers and experts in the field (Castro-
Rodrigues et al., 2018).

Conclusion

Despite these shortcomings, the Y-BOCS continues to serve and maintain its
prestigious reputation of being considered as the gold standard of assessing the severity of
OCD symptomatology and treatment sensitivity.
 10

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (5th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Compulsion. In APA Dictionary of Psychology.

Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/compulsion

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Obsession. In APA Dictionary of Psychology.

Retrieved January 16, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/obsession

Anholt, G. E., van Oppen, P., Cath, D. C., Smit, H. J., den Boer, J. A., Verbraak, M. J. P. M.,

& van Balkom, A. J. L. M. (2010). The Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive scale:

factor structure of a large sample. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 1(18).

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2010.00018

Castro-Rodrigues, P., Camacho, M., Almeida, S., Marinho, M., Soares, C., Barahone –

Correa, J. B., & Oliveira-Maia, A. (2018). Criterion Validity of the Yale-Brown

Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Second Edition for Diagnosis of Obsessive-Compulsive

Disorder in Adults. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9(431).

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00431

Faramazyan, A. Y., Marcil, W., & Petty, F. (2007). Obsessive Compulsive Disorders.

xPharm: The Comprehensive Pharmacology Reference, 1-7.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-008055232-3.60653-1

Goodman, W. K., & Price, L. H. (1992). Assessment of Severity and Compulsive Disorder.

Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 15(4), 861-869. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0193-

953X(18)30214-4
 11

Goodman, W. K., Price, L. H., Rasmussen, S. A., Mazure, C., Fleischmann, R. L., Hill, C. L.,

Heninger, G. R., & Charney, D. S. (1989). The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive

Scale: Development, use, and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46(11),

1006–1011. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1989.01810110048007

Goodman, W. K., Rasmussen, S. A., Price, L. H., & Storch, E. A. (2011). CY-BOCS-II

Clinical Version. https://iocdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/CYBOCS-II-2020.pdf

Kapalka, G. M. (2010). Tic Disorders. Nutritional and Herbal Therapies for Children and

Adolescents, 291-315. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-374927-7.00010-8

Morgiève, M. (2018). A Golden Standard to Evaluate OCD: On the Use of the Y-BOCS.

Measuring Mental Disorders: Psychiatry, Science and Society, 95-125.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-78548-305-9.50003-1

Rajashekharaiah, M., & Verma, P. (2016). Phenomenology of Obsessions and Compulsions

in Indian Patients. International Journal of Contemporary Medical Research, 3(7),

2139-2143. https://www.ijcmr.com/uploads/7/7/4/6/77464738/ijcmr_766_jul_8.pdf

Rapp, A. M., Bergman, R. L., Piacentini, J., & McGuire, J. F. (2016). Evidence-Based

Assessment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Journal of central nervous system

disease, 8, 13–29. https://doi.org/10.4137/JCNSD.S38359

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry

(11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Stanford Medicine (n.d.). Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: Diagnosis.

https://med.stanford.edu/ocd/about/diagnosis.html

Stevens, L. (2011). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Psychiatry, 60-61.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-7020-3396-4.00034-2
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Storch, E. A., De Nadai, A. S., Conceição do Rosário, M., Shavitt, R. G., Torres, A. R.,

Ferrão, Y. A., Miguel, E. C., Lewin, A. B., & Fontenelle, L. F. (2015). Defining

clinical severity in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Comprehensive

Psychiatry, 63, 30–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2015.08.007

Sulkowski, M. L., Storch, E. A., Geffken, G. R., Ricketts, E., Murphy, T. K., & Goodman,

W. K. (2008). Concurrent Validity of the Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale–

Symptom Checklist. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(12), 1338-1351.

https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20525

Yale School of Medicine (n.d.). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Research Clinic.

https://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/research/programs/clinical_people/ocd/
 1

The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

January 26, 2021

 2

The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

Purpose

The present investigation aims to assess the general internal feeling state or affect,
particularly the positive affect and the negative affect of a subject using the Positive and
Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

Introduction to the Concepts

Developing an understanding of concepts such as ‘mood’ and ‘affect’ is of paramount

importance in the clinical settings, primarily to assess a wide range of psychiatric disorders
(Manjunatha et al., 2009). Undeniably an integral part of Mental Status Examination in
clinical practice, both ‘mood’ and ‘affect’ are often perceived as similar concepts. However,
it is vital to acknowledge and understand the differences in the conceptualization of both
‘mood’ and ‘affect’ as clinicians and researchers in the discipline of psychology.

Mood

The concept of ‘Mood’ is often understood as being analogous to the concept of

‘climate’. In this context, it can be contended that mood refers to a sustained, prolonged and
pervasive emotional or feeling state that can last for hours, days, or even weeks (American
Psychological Association, n.d.; Manjunatha et al., 2009). It is often possible that the
individual experiencing a particular mood state may not be aware of what prompted that
particular state in the first place (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Perhaps a low
intensity feeling state, mood can influence people’s behaviour and colour their perceptions
and judgement of difference aspects of the world (Sadock et al., 2015). These underlying
emotional states are diffuse and often not directed towards a specific object (Lischetzke,
2014). Often considered as being tonic in nature (continually present), mood has the ability to
mould the background of our moment to moment experiences, but can also fluctuate over
time (Lischetzke, 2014). A myriad of adjectives can be used to describe mood, for instance,
irritable mood, depressed mood, cheerful mood, euphoric mood, etc. (Sadock et al., 2015).
Disturbances in mood can be indicative of the development of mood disorders, which needs
to be assessed by mental health professionals.

Affect
 3

On the other hand, Affect is often understood as being analogous to the concept of
‘weather’. In this context, affect can be defined as the momentary and more fluctuating
changes in emotional states (Manjunatha et al., 2009). These experienced feelings can vary
immensely – from suffering to elation. In essence, these can range from the simplest to the
most complex sensations of feeling, and from the most normal to the most pathological
emotional reactions (American Psychological Association, n.d.). Considered to be situational
and cross-sectional in nature, affect often indicates how the person is feeling right now, in the
moment, and is therefore considered a cornerstone of Mental Status Examination, which
majorly focuses on assessing the same (Vitters, 2014).

Structure of Affect

The structure of affect is complex and intricate. It can be broken down and understood
with the help of the comprehensive and consensual two-factor model given by Watson and
Tellegen (1985) which posits that the structure of affect constitutes of the following-
Dimensional Structure and Factorial Structure (Cropanzano et al., 2003)

The Dimensional Structure (Also called Unrotated Dimensions or Factors) further

comprises of two sub-components. The first sub-structure is referred to as ‘Hedonic Tone’,
which is commonly understood as ‘Pleasantness and Unpleasantness’. On this continuum,
pleasantness is considered to be on one end of the continuum – the positive end which
includes feelings like ‘happy’ and ‘pleased’, while unpleasantness lies on the other end of the
continuum – the negative end, which includes feelings like ‘despondent’ and ‘sad’
(Cropanzano et al., 2003). The second sub-structure is called ‘Affect Intensity’ and can be
better understood as ‘Excitement-Calm’, ‘Engagement’ or ‘Arousal’ (Cropanzano et al.,
2003). It is important to understand that arousal here is more focused on the perceived
physical arousal rather than the actual physical arousal. Individuals scoring high on arousal
can be attributed terms like ‘restless’ and ‘changeable’, whereas terms like ‘peaceful’ and
‘controlled’ can be used for individuals scoring less on arousal (Cropanzano et al., 2003).

The Factorial Structure of Affect (Also called Rotated Dimensions or Factors)

classifies affect into Positive Affect and Negative Affect. Positive Affect (PA) reflects the
extent to which an individual feels enthusiastic, alert and active (Brondino et al., 2020). High
Positive Affect may be characteristic of a state where an individual experiences positive
emotions including pleasurable engagement, increased energy, full concentration and high
levels of activation (Brondino et al., 2020; Cropanzano et al., 2003). Low PA does not
 4

necessarily correspond to an individual experiencing negative emotions, rather their moods

are reflective of feeling states that indicate both the absence of positive emotions and low
energy levels (Cropanzano et al., 2003). In other words, low PA may be characterized by
sadness, lethargy, drowsiness, and sluggish. On the other hand, Negative Affect (NA) refers
to a state of subjective distress and unpleasurable engagement (Merz et al., 2013). High NA
may be attributed to emotional states including irritable, angry, or hostile while low NA can
be associated with calmness, serenity, placid, relaxed – which denote the absence of negative
emotions (Cropanzano et al., 2003).

Trait PA, according to Tellegen, corresponds to the personality factor of extraversion

and sensitivity to rewards, whereas trait NA corresponds to anxiety and neuroticism and
sensitivity to punishment (Watson et al., 1988). Tellegen also propounded that low PA is
primarily characteristic of depression, whereas high NA is characteristic of anxiety disorders
(Watson et al., 1988).

Introduction to the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

Developed in 1988 by US psychologists David Watson, Lee Anna Clark and Auke
Tellegen, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) is the most widely and
frequently used self-report scale to measure and examine an individual’s internal feeling state
(American Psychological Association, n.d.). More specifically, PANAS has been designed to
assess the affect of an individual, particularly the two dominant dimensions of Positive Affect
(PA) and Negative Affect (NA), and their relationship within the bounds of personality trait
(Riopel, 2021). Essentially, PANAS has been developed taking the bipolar model of affect as
the basis which posits that positive affect and negative affect are the polar sides of a single
dimension (Merz et al., 2013). What gives PANAS an upper edge over the other popular
measures of mood and affect is the ability to assess the affect of an individual during any
time period or context (“during the past few weeks”; “during the past few days”, “during the
past year”, and “in general”), which can be specified by the researcher to suit the needs and
demands of the testing purpose (American Psychological Association, n.d.). The items of this
scale are classified into different content categories that further comprise of different feelings
and emotions which are broadly used to assess the PA and NA of individuals. These
categories include i) attentiveness (attentive, interested, alert), (ii) excited (enthusiastic,
excited, inspired), (iii) proud (proud, determined), (iv) strong (strong, active), (v) distressed
(distressed, upset), (vi) angry (hostile, irritable), (vii) fearful (scared, afraid), (viii) guilty
 5

(ashamed, guilty), and (ix) nervous (nervous, jittery) (Merz et al., 2013). More specifically,
the Positive Affect scale includes ‘Interested’, ‘Excited’, ‘Strong’, ‘Enthusiastic’, ‘Proud’,
‘Alert’, ‘Inspired’, ‘Determined’, ‘Attentive’, and ‘Active’; whereas the Negative Affect
scale includes ‘Distressed’, ‘Upset’, ‘Guilty’, ‘Scared’, ‘Hostile’, ‘Irritable’, ‘Ashamed’,
‘Nervous’, ‘Jittery’, and ‘Afraid’.

History and Development of PANAS

PANAS was initially developed in North America by Watson et al. (1988) in an

attempt to remedy the limitations of the numerous scales that had been developed previously
to measure mood and affect, specifically positive affect and negative affect. Watson argued
that many of the popular measures lacked the rigour and robustness, with inadequate and
insufficient reliability and validity evidence to back them up as sound psychometric tools for
measuring affect (Watson et al., 1988). Another shortcoming identified by Watson was the
inability of these widely used measures of PA and NA to sample student populations (Watson
et al., 1988). Further, he also found these measures to be time-consuming and complex in
terms of their administration (Watson et al., 1988). These limitations are what essentially
pushed Watson et al. (1988) to develop PANAS - a brief, easy to administer and sound
psychometric self-report measure of positive and negative affect. The items of PANAS, in the
scale development process, were empirically derived from a list of 27 adjectives that broadly
fell within 9 mood categories (Merz et al., 2013). The standardization procedure of PANAS
was carried out on the basis of the data obtained from White university students and
employees (Merz et al., 2013).

Versions of PANAS

Different versions of PANAS have been developed over time to cater to different
populations and to further refine the original scale and improve upon the psychometric
properties.

The Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C) was developed by
Laurent et al. (1990) to assess affect, more particularly Positive Affect and Negative Affect
among children and adolescents. PANAS-C is a 27-item self-report questionnaire, which
consists of 15 items measuring NA and 12 items measuring PA. Each item of the scale is
scored on a 5-point Likert Scale, ranging from 1 (indicative of ‘very slightly/ not at all’) and
5 (indicative of ‘extremely’). The items were adapted and expanded from PANAS-X to make
it suitable and fit to be used with school children (Hughes & Kendall, 2009).
 6

PANAS-X, developed by Watson & Clark (1994), is the expanded version of PANAS
which consists of 60 items. PANAS-X follows a similar scoring pattern i.e., items are scored
on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Very Slightly or Not at All) to 5 (Extremely).
What makes it different from the original PANAS is that not only does it incorporate and
assess the two original higher order scales i.e., the General Dimension Scales (PA and NA),
but it also includes the newly added scales of Basic Negative Emotion Scales (Fear, Hostility,
Guilt, Sadness), Basic Positive Emotion Scales (Joviality, Self-Assurance, Attentiveness), and
Other Affective States (Shyness, Fatigue, Serenity, Surprise) (Watson & Clark, 1994).

PANAS-SF (Short-Form) is the short and concise version of PANAS which consists
of 10 items. It was developed by Watson et al. (1988) in an attempt to make it more suitable
for administration to various other clinical populations.

Subsequently, to improve upon the psychometric properties of PANAS and PANAS-

SF, the I-PANAS-SF (International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form) was
developed by Thompson (2007). I-PANAS-SF consists of 10 items that are easy to
understand and are unambiguous in a way that can be easily comprehended and administered
internationally and cross-culturally, on non-native English speakers.

Despite the development of various versions of PANAS, the original PANAS

continues to the most widely used scale for measuring affect globally.

Scoring of PANAS-GEN

PANAS-GEN consists of a total of 20 items, wherein the two subscales – Positive

Affect and Negative Affect comprise of 10 items each. The scores for each subscale are
calculated using a five-point scale ranging from 1 (Very Slightly or Not at All) to 5
(Extremely). For the Positive Affect subscale, the total score ranges between 10-50, and
higher scores on PA subscale are indicative of higher levels of PA. Similarly, the total score
for Negative Affect subscales ranges between 10-50, and lower scores are indicative of lower
levels of NA (Magyar-Moe, 2009). Thus, the final or total score is computed by summing up
the scores on both the subscale, making the maximum possible score that can be obtained on
PANAS, 100. For the Positive Affect subscale and general time instructions, M = 35 and SD
= 6.4. For the Negative Affect subscale and general time instruction, M = 18.1 and SD = 5.9
(Watson et al., 1988).

Psychometric Properties of PANAS

 7

PANAS is regarded as one of the most reliable, valid, and efficient tools for assessing
and measuring the two important dimensions of mood – namely positive affect and negative
affect (Watson et al., 1988).

It has demonstrated impressive internal consistency reliability, with alpha coefficients

of Positive Affect ranging from .86-.90 and alpha coefficients of Negative Affect ranging
from .84-.87 (Watson et al., 1988). These alpha coefficients for the internal consistency
reliability more or less remain stable irrespective of the time period and instructions specified
by the researcher while administering the test (Magyar-Moe, 2009). The test-retest reliability
for PANAS was found to be satisfactory for a time period of more than 8 weeks, yielding
correlation coefficient of 0.54 for momentary positive affect and 0.45 for momentary
negative affect (Watson et al., 1988). Similarly, with respect to the time period of ‘over the
past week’, the correlation coefficients obtained were 0.47 for both positive affect and
negative affect (Magyar-Moe, 2009). These results indicated that PANAS is sensitive to
fluctuations in mood when used with short-term instructions (Magyar-Moe, 2009).

PANAS has exhibited excellent convergent and divergent validity. Excellent

convergent validity was established by comparing the correlation coefficients of the Positive
Affect subscale of PANAS with measures of diurnal variation in mood and social activity
while the Negative Affect subscale yielded very good correlation coefficients with measures
of stress, aversive events, depression, and general distress and dysfunction (Watson et al.,
1988). The results for discriminant validity were opposite to those obtained for convergent
validity, wherein the Positive Affect subscale yielded good correlation coefficients with
measures of stress, aversive events, depression, and general distress and dysfunction; while
the Negative Affect subscale demonstrated high coefficients with measures of social activity
and diurnal variation in mood (Magyar-Moe, 2009). The measures that were used for
computing the validity of PANAS included psychometric measures like Hopkins Symptom
Checklist (HSCL), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and STAI State Anxiety Scale (A -
State) (Watson et al., 1988).

Applications of PANAS

PANAS has largely been used as a self-report measure in clinical, research, and
community settings owing to the fact that it can be administered not only on the general adult
population, but also on other populations (Merz et al., 2013). It also serves as an immensely
helpful tool for therapists in observing and keeping a track of changes in the nature of
 8

emotions experienced by the client (both positive and negative emotions) (Magyar-Moe,
2009). Moreover, PANAS can also be used chart out and examine the immediate effects of
therapy sessions and the outcomes associated with the interventions and activities employed
by the therapist. These changes within the clients can be assessed from week-to-week as
clients engage in their everyday lives (Magyar-Moe, 2009).

Limitations

Even though PANAS has excellent psychometric properties and is a reliable measure
of assessing affect, it has certain limitations that need to be acknowledged and addressed. It
can be challenging to assess the mood of individuals accurately as people may often end up
underestimating or overestimating their experiences of feelings and mood (Merz et al., 2013).
Another limitation of PANAS can be attributed to its sample constituting majorly of
university students, which has led to questionable generalizability of the results, and thus
concerns about its application to other different samples (Watson et al., 1988). With respect
to the cross-cultural context, PANAS has also been increasingly criticized for its use of words
that are potentially characteristic of the language used in North America and thus are
ambiguous when it comes to the “International” or common standards of the English
language worldwide (Thompson, 2007). Thompson (2007) also criticized PANAS on the
grounds of having redundant items and a lengthy administration time, especially in studies
where other variables are also being assessed and time-constraint populations are taken into
account. Finally, the inability of PANAS to examine higher order mood states can also be
considered a serious limitation (Riopel, 2021).

Methodology

Materials Required

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule General (PANAS-GEN), PANAS-GEN

Scoring Manual, Pen/Pencil.

Particulars of the Subject

Name: S

Age: 26 years

Sex: Male
 9

Educational Qualification: Master’s

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Engineer

Socio-Economic Status: High SES

Preliminary Set-Up

For the smooth administration of the present assessment of the Positive and Negative
Affect Schedule (PANAS-GEN), it was ensured that the participant was well rested and was
seated comfortably. A rapport was successfully established with the participant, and it was
ensured that the environment for conducting the assessment was quiet. Efforts were made to
minimize external disturbances and noises and it was ensured that the room was well-lit. The
materials required for the administration of PANAS-GEN were procured from the laboratory
prior to the administration and were kept ready to facilitate its smooth conduction.

Procedure

The present investigation aimed to assess the subject’s general internal feeling state or
affect, particularly the positive affect and negative affect. The investigator conducted the
assessment on a healthy subject. The subject was seated comfortably, and after establishing a
rapport, was given the required instructions prior to the administration. For carrying out the
present assessment, the subject was given the PANAS-GEN response sheet and was asked to
tick the suitable box that indicated the extent to which he generally felt for each item
associated with a particular feeling and affect. Attempts were made by the investigator to
clarify the queries of the subject, if he had any, at any point during the administration. The
administration was completed in one sitting. This was followed by evaluating and scoring the
responses of the subject in accordance with the prescribed scoring guidelines. The results so
obtained were converted into z-scores and subsequently interpreted and discussed.

Instructions

The following instructions pertaining to the administration of PANAS-GEN were

given to the subject –

“You will be given a scale consisting of 20 words or items that describe different feelings and
emotions. You are required to read each word carefully and mark the appropriate response
 10

corresponding to the space given next to that particular word. You are required to respond
keeping in mind that the answer indicates the extent to which you generally feel, or on an
average feel, a particular way. You are required to respond as honestly and truthfully as
possible.”

Precautions

The following precautions should be taken during the investigation to facilitate its smooth
conduction-

• All external disturbances should be minimized to ensure that the subject’s attention
and concentration is sustained and maintained throughout the administration.
• The assessment should be conducted in a single sitting.
• The investigator should ensure that the subject feels comfortable and at ease.

Results

Table 1 shows the total scores of the subject on the positive affect and negative affect
subscales respectively, along with the corresponding z-scores, percentile ranks and
interpretation.

Table 1

Total Scores on PANAS-GEN Subscales, z-scores, Percentile Rank and Corresponding

Interpretation of the Subject

Subscale Total Scores z-score Percentile Interpretation

Rank
Positive Affect 30 -0.78 21 Low Average

Negative Affect 15 -0.53 32 Average

As evident from Table 1, the total score of the subject on the Positive Affect subscale
came out to be 30. The calculated z-score came out to be -0.78 and the corresponding
percentile rank was 21 which can be interpreted as low-average.
 11

As evident from Table 1, the total score of the subject on the Negative Affect subscale
came out to be 15. The calculated z-score came out to be -0.53 and the corresponding
percentile rank was 32 which can be interpreted as average.

Discussion

The present investigation aimed to assess the general internal feeling state or affect,
particularly the positive affect and the negative affect of a subject using the Positive and
Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The total score of the subject on Positive Affect
subscale came out to be 30, and the corresponding z-score and percentile rank came out to be
-0.78 and 21 respectively. These results of the subject on the Positive Affect subscale can be
interpreted as falling in the ‘low-average category’. This indicates that the subject possesses
the characteristics of both high PA and low PA in moderation. It can be contended that the
subject, in general, experiences positive emotions including moderately pleasurable
engagement, slightly increased energy, moderate levels of activation and occasional ability to
concentrate fully. Further, the subject may be more likely to experience sadness, lethargy,
drowsiness, and sluggishness in general. Since the subject’s scores fall in the low-average
category, it can however, be argued that the characteristic traits of low PA may be more
dominantly expressed as compared to those of high PA. Moreover, since Tellegen
propounded that low PA is primarily characteristic of depression, it can be posited that the
subject may exhibit depressive tendencies. Low-average PA and average NA scores may also
be indicative of the subject exhibiting a moderate sensitivity to both rewards and punishment
respectively. The total score of the subject on the Negative Affect subscale came out to be 15,
and the corresponding z-score and percentile rank came out to be -0.53 and 32 respectively.
These results of the subject on the Negative Affect subscale can be interpreted as falling in
the ‘average’ category. This indicates that the subject possesses the characteristics of both
high NA and low NA in moderation. The subject may generally experience irritability, anger,
or hostility, but might also have the tendency to experience calmness, serenity, placidity, and
relaxation in moderation with the high NA traits. Therefore, since the subject falls into the
low-average category of PA, it is recommended that the subject seek professional help or
gain access to mental health resources that may benefit him in the long run and to avoid the
culmination of his depressive tendencies into any kind of psychopathology.
 12

References

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Affect. In APA Dictionary of Psychology.

Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/affect

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Mood. In APA Dictionary of Psychology.

Retrieved January 23, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/mood

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

(PANAS). In APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved January 23, 2022, from

https://dictionary.apa.org/positive-and-negative-affect-schedule

Brondino, M., Raccanello, D., Burro, R. & Pasini, M. (2020). Positive Affect Over Time and

Emotion Regulation Strategies: Exploring Trajectories with Latent Growth Mixture

Model Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1575.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01575

Cropanzano, R., Weiss. H. M., Hale, M. S. J., & Reb, J. (2003). The Structure of Affect:

Reconsidering the Relationship Between Negative and Positive Affectivity. Journal of

Management, 29(6), 831-857. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0149-2063(03)00081-3

Hughes, A. A., & Kendall, P. C. (2009). Psychometric Properties of the Positive and

Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C) in Children with Anxiety Disorders.

Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 40(3), 343–352.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-009-0130-4

Laurent, J., Catanzaro, S. J., Joiner, T. E., Jr., Rudolph, K. D., Potter, K. I., Lambert, S.,

Osborne, L., & Gathright, T. (1999). A measure of positive and negative affect for

children: Scale development and preliminary validation. Psychological Assessment,

11(3), 326–338. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.11.3.326

 13

Lischetzke T. (2014). Mood. In Michalos A.C. (eds), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and

Well-Being Research. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1842

Magyar-Moe, J. L. (2009). Positive Psychological Tests and Measures. Therapist's Guide to

Positive Psychological Interventions, 43-72. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-

374517-0.00003-6

Manjunatha, N., Khess, C. R., & Ram, D. (2009). The conceptualization of terms: 'Mood' and

'affect' in academic trainees of mental health. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 51(4),

285–288. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.58295

Merz, E. L., Malcarne, V. L., Roesch, S. C., Ko, C. M., Emerson, M., Roma, V. G., & Sadler,

G. R. (2013). Psychometric properties of Positive and Negative Affect Schedule

(PANAS) original and short forms in an African American community sample.

Journal of affective disorders, 151(3), 942–949.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2013.08.011

Riopel, L. (2021, January 6). What is the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule? (PANAS).

Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/positive-and-negative-affect-

schedule-panas/

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry

(11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.

Thompson, E. R. (2007). Development and Validation of an Internationally Reliable Short-

Form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Journal of Cross-

Cultural Psychology, 38(2), 227-242. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0022022106297301

Vitters, J. (2014). Positive Affect. In Michalos A.C. (eds), Encyclopedia of Quality of Life

and Well-Being Research. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_1842

 14

Watson, D., & Clark, D. A. (1994). THE PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative

Affect Schedule - Expanded Form. https://doi.org/10.17077/48vt-m4t2

Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological

Bulletin, 98, 219-235.

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegan, A. (1988). Development and Validation of Brief

Measures of Positive and Negative Affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of

Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.

 1

Sentence Completion Test (SCT-DD)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

January 31 , 2022
 2

Sentence Completion Test (SCT)

Purpose

To assess the personality traits of sociability, self-confidence, and ambitiousness of

the subject using Dubey and Dubey’s Sentence Completion Test (SCT).

Introduction to the Concepts

The word ‘personality’ has been derived from the Latin word persona, often used to
refer to those masks worn by the actors of the ancient times which were representative of a
particular personality trait of any character in a play (Cherry, 2022). The concept of
personality has been viewed and defined by many different prominent figures and
psychologists. For instance, Gordon Allport, a renowned pioneer in the field of personality,
believed that "Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought" (McLeod,
2017). While according to Raymond Cattell, “Personality is that which permits a prediction
of what a person will do in a given situation” (Cattell, 1950; as quoted in Kelland, 2020).
Largely basing our understanding on the various definitions of personality that have evolved
gradually over the years, personality is now commonly conceptualized as the configuration
and combination of relatively enduring, complex, and dynamic characteristics, traits and
behaviours that constitute a person’s unique manner of adjustment to life (American
Psychological Association, n.d.).

Personality Assessment

Personality assessment is a broad field that involves the thorough application of the
knowledge of the procedure of administration, scoring, and interpretation of rigorously and
empirically standardized measures of personality traits (American Psychological Association,
n.d.). This serves the purpose of cultivating an understanding of the existing individual
differences in personality among people across time and situations (Wheeler & Archer,
2016). It is also vital to understand the significant role personality assessment plays in
contributing valuable information for making professional diagnoses in clinical settings
(Nezami & Butcher, 2000). Personality has commonly been assessed by clinicians using both
objective as well as projective tests.

Objective tests of personality assessment, including self-report inventories, require the

participants to respond to a given set of questions by following specific instructions - either
 3

choosing among given options/ responses or rating how suitable the given statement or
question is for the participant (Silverman, 1990). Some of the most widely and commonly
used objective measures of personality are tthe Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), 16 PF, Neo Pi-R, Millon Clinical Multiaxial
Inventory (MCMI-II), and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ-R) (Nezami &
Butcher, 2000; Cherry, 2022).

Projective tests, on the other hand, consist of relatively ambiguous and unstructured
stimuli that are presented to the participant in order to elicit and tap the unconscious feelings,
thoughts, needs, attitudes, and conflicts projected by them onto the stimuli (Sturner, 2009).
Having its roots in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic perspectives, projective tests operate
on the idea that the ambiguous nature of the stimuli reduce the scope of social desirability on
part of the participant (Cherry, 2020). Lindzey (1959) classified projective techniques into
five categories namely - associative techniques, construction techniques, completion
techniques, choice or ordering techniques, and expressive techniques.

Associative techniques are the ones in which the participants are required to respond
to a stimuli or cue presented with the first word, image, or percept that comes to their mind
(Lindzey, 1959). Some of the common associative techniques include Word Association Test,
Rorschach Inkblot Test, Helmholtz Inkblot Test, and the Somatic Inkblot Series.

Construction techniques require the participants to construct or compose a product

(usually an art form) – like a story, or picture (Lindzey, 1959). It is believed that the story or
picture so constructed holds personal significance or relevance to the stimulus presented and
is, therefore, meaningful (Lindzey, 1959). Thematic Apperception Test, the Blacky Pictures,
the Make-A Picture-Story Test, and Children’s Apperception Tests are common examples of
construction techniques.

In Completion Techniques, the participants are provided with an incomplete stimulus

and are expected to complete these stimuli in whichever way they wish to – be it completing
a sentence or finishing a drawing (Lindzey, 1959). The Sentence Completion Test and the
Picture Frustration Study are considered one of the most widely and commonly used
examples of completion techniques.

Choice or Ordering Techniques require the individuals to rank, among the given
alternatives, groups of stimuli (pictures or sentences) that fit some specified criterion
 4

(Lindzey, 1959). The Szondi Test and the Picture Arrangement Test are the best-known
examples of Choice or Ordering Techniques.

Finally, the Expressive Techniques hold great clinical significance as these require the
individuals to respond to a given stimulus by combining or integrating the stimuli into a
novel product through self-expression (Lindzey, 959). Psychodrama, role-playing techniques,
play techniques or dance fall under the category of expressive techniques. Draw-a-person test
and House-Tree-Person Test are also a part of expressive techniques.

Introduction to Sentence Completion Test (SCT)

In the Sentence Completion Test (SCT), participants are required to complete

incomplete or unfinished sentence stems, that are presented to them, in whichever way they
wish to (American Psychological Association, n.d.; Watson, 1978).

The test used for the present assessment is the Sentence Completion Test developed
by Dubey and Dubey (2005), which follows the same aforementioned principle. The test aims
to primarily measure three personality traits- i) Sociability, ii) Self-Confidence, and iii)
Ambitious. All the stems are framed and worded in a manner such that the responses to them
help in evoking either the positive or the negative aspect associated with any of the
previously mentioned traits. SCT-DD consists of a total of 50 items or incomplete sentences,
out of which 15 cater to measuring the ‘Sociability’ trait, 20 measure the ‘Self-Confidence’
trait and the remaining 15 measure ‘Ambitious’ trait.

History and Development

The use of this broad category of tests can be traced back to the very beginning of
psychology as a discipline. Herman Ebbinghaus, a pioneer in the field of memory and
learning, was the first person to make use of a sentence completion test in 1897 to assess the
intellectual capacity and the ability to reason among school children in Germany (Lah, 2001).
Later on, in France, it was Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon who included a sentence
completion test in their intelligence scale in order to examine intellectual deficits in school
children (Lah, 2001). To study personality, Carl Jung developed and made use of the Word
Association Test, which interestingly enough paved way for the development of the sentence
completion test. With the increasing use of the Word Association Test, later researchers
posited that the very notion of obtaining a single response (word) to a single stimulus
presented can be too limiting and may not be deemed sufficient enough to assess the
 5

personality of an individual properly (Lah, 2001). To rectify this shortcoming, researchers

began to make use of phrases and parts of sentences to evoke responses that could help in
providing better insight into an individual’s personality.

Versions of Sentence Completion Test

Sentence Completion Test, as mentioned previously, is not used to refer to any one
specific test. Rather, it is a broad category of tests which are often viewed as a generic
classification. Various sentence completion tests have been developed overtime by different
authors in the field.

Rooted in the psychodynamic theory, the Tendler Sentence Completion Test was
developed in 1930 by Tendler to assist psychologists in understanding the patients’ problems.
Consisting of 20 items, this test can be administered to any patient, irrespective of their age,
provided they are fit to perform the task at hand (Holaday et al., 2000).

Another form of Sentence Completion Test is the Sentence Completion Test for the
Office of Strategic Services Assessment. Used by the Veterans Administration, this free-
association method has been developed to analyze brief responses to examine the
personalities of the candidates’ part of their program (Holaday et al., 2000). Consisting of
100 items, the test is designed to be administered on adults and owing to its lengthy nature,
should be administered in two parts.

Perhaps the most common form of Sentence Completion Test is the Rotter’s
Incomplete Sentences Blank developed by Julian Rotter and his colleagues. The test was
initially developed to identify maladjusted high school and college students (Holaday et al.,
2000). Consisting of 40 sentence stems, the scoring of this test depends upon the content of
the responses (positive, neutral, conflict) and takes an average of 20 minutes to complete the
entire test (Holaday et al., 2000; Lah, 2001).

The Sentence Completion Test, developed by Sacks and Levy in 1950, is a 60-item
test consisting of 4 subscales - Family, Sex, Interpersonal Relationships, and Self-Concepts

Scoring of Sentence Completion Test

The present test requires the responses, or the sentences provided by the subject to be
scored along three categories namely Positive, Negative, and Neutral. Positive Sentences are
those that are positive in nature and highlight the positive aspect of one of the traits are
 6

awarded 2 points. Negative Sentences are those that are negative in nature and highlight the
negative aspect of one of the traits are awarded 1 point, whereas neutral sentences are the
ones that fall neither in the positive or negative aspect traits category and are awarded a score
of 0 (Dubey & Dubey, 2005).

After the administration of the test gets completed, the investigator is required to
calculate the total raw scores for both the full test as well as for each of the three traits. The
manual is used for obtaining the corresponding z-scores for the calculated raw scores, which
is further followed by obtaining corresponding grades and levels from the z-scores so
obtained, to facilitate the interpretation (Dubey & Dubey, 2005).

Psychometric Properties of Sentence Completion Test

The Sentence Completion Test by Dubey and Dubey (2005) has been standardized on
a sample of 1150 school and college students, aged 14-19 years, in Madhya Pradesh using
stratified sampling method. The results revealed this version to be psychometrically sound.

Reliability

The split-half reliability for the overall test came out to be 0.62 and for the different
traits measured by the test i.e., Sociability, Self-Confidence, and Ambitiousness came out to
be 0.72, 0.69, and 0.73 respectively (Dubey & Dubey, 2005).

The test-retest reliability for the overall test came out to be 0.67, and for the different
traits measured by the test i.e., Sociability, Self-Confidence, and Ambitiousness came out to
be 0.76, 0.71, and 0.67 (Dubey & Dubey, 2005).

Validity

For the present test, the validation criterion involved assessing the correlation of the
scores of solely 10% of the teachers constituent of the sample. For Sociability, the coefficient
of correlation was -0.66, whereas for Self-Confidence and Ambitiousness, the coefficient of
correlations came out to be -0.73 and -0.69 respectively.

Application of Sentence Completion Test

With the improvements and modifications in the Sentence Completion Tests, early
researchers began using these for studying a myriad of issues and concepts such as to study
normal college students, public works employees, emotional states of people, the thought
processes of senile and schizophrenic patients, various aspects of achievement, intelligence,
 7

and most recently, personality (Lah, 2001). In the clinical settings, however, sentence
completion tests were used, and continue to be used, primarily to assess the attitudes, feelings
and thoughts characteristic of an individual’s personality (Lah, 2001).

Methodology

Materials Required

Consumable Booklet of Sentence Completion Test (SCT-DD), Manual for Sentence

Completion Test (SCT), Pen/ Pencil.

Particulars of the Subject

Name: A

Age: 18 years

Sex: Female

Educational Qualification: Eleventh Grade (11th)

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Student

Socio-Economic Status: Middle SES

Preliminary Set-Up

For the smooth administration of the present assessment of the Sentence Completion
Test (SCT-DD), it was ensured that the participant was well rested and was seated
comfortably. A rapport was successfully established with the participant, and it was ensured
that the environment for conducting the assessment was quiet. Efforts were made to minimize
external disturbances and noises and it was ensured that the room was well-lit. The materials
required for the administration of SCT- DD were procured from the laboratory prior to the
administration and were kept ready to facilitate its smooth conduction.

Procedure

The present investigation aimed to assess the subject’s personality traits of

Sociability, Self-Confidence and Ambitiousness. The investigator administered the test on a
healthy subject. The subject was seated comfortably, and after establishing a rapport, was
given the required instructions prior to the administration. For carrying out the present
 8

assessment, the subject was given the consumable booklet or the response sheet of the SCT
and was asked to complete the incomplete sentences by writing down her responses in the
corresponding blanks. Attempts were made by the investigator to clarify the queries of the
subject, if she had any, at any point during the administration. The administration was
completed in one sitting. This was followed by the evaluation and scoring of the responses of
the subject in accordance with the scoring guidelines prescribed by the manual. The total raw
scores for the full test and for each personality trait separately i.e., for Sociability, Self-
Confidence, and Ambitiousness were calculated, and their corresponding z-scores, grades,
and levels were obtained from the manual. The scores so computed were subsequently
interpreted and discussed.

Instructions

The following instructions pertaining to the administration of SCT-DD were given to

the subject –

“You are being given a sentence-completion test which consists of 50 incomplete sentences.
Read each sentence carefully and complete each of the given incomplete sentences with the
first thought that comes to your mind. The sentences that you write should be meaningful.
Even though there is no time limit, please make sure to complete all the 50 statements as
quickly as possible. There are no right and wrong answers and be rest assured that all your
responses would be kept strictly confidential and would not be shared without your prior
consent.”

Precautions

The following precautions should be taken during the investigation to facilitate its smooth
conduction-

• All external disturbances should be minimized to ensure that the subject’s attention
and concentration is sustained and maintained throughout the administration.
• The assessment should be conducted in a single sitting.
• The investigator should ensure that the subject feels comfortable and at ease.

Results

Table 1 shows the full test raw score, z-score, and the corresponding grade and type
of personality of the subject for the full test.
 9

Table 1

Raw Score, z-Score, Grade, and Type of Personality on the Full Test

Full Test Raw Score z-Score Grade Level and Type of Personality

70 +0.32 D Average Amicable Personality

Table 2 shows the raw scores, z-scores, and the corresponding grade and level of the
subject on the three personality traits.

Table 2

Raw Scores, z-Scores, corresponding Grades, and Levels of Three Personality Traits

Personality Traits Raw Score z-Score Grade Level

Sociability 17 -0.60 E Below Average

Self- Confidence 29 +0.56 C Above Average

Ambitious 24 +0.86 C Above Average

Discussion

The present investigation aimed to assess the personality traits of sociability, self-
confidence, and ambitiousness of the subject using Dubey and Dubey’s Sentence Completion
Test (SCT).

As evident from Table 2, the subject obtained a raw score of 17, with a corresponding
z-score of -0.60 and a corresponding ‘E’ grade, which indicates that the subject’s level on the
domain of ‘Sociability’ is ‘Below Average’. In this context, it can be inferred that the subject
may be withdrawn, shy, reserved, and quiet. Not very keen to seek out companionship, the
subject may find it a bit taxing to socialize with others and may sometimes, prefer solitude
and staying in their own private world of thoughts. It can also be argued that the subject may
be thoughtful and reflective and may not actively seek out adventurous and thrilling
experiences. Statements like “My interest for outdoor games is very low”, “I don’t speak
much when talking with boys/girls”, and “I don’t open up quickly when I meet a stranger”
can be used to corroborate the so-obtained findings.
 10

As evident from Table 2, the subject obtained a raw score of 29, with a corresponding
z-score of +0.56 and a corresponding ‘C’ grade, which indicates that the subject’s level on
the domain of ‘Self-Confidence’ is ‘Above Average’. In this context, it can be inferred that
the subject may be incredibly focused, and has trust in, and self-awareness about, her own
abilities, capacities, and judgment. It can be said that the subject confidently puts forth her
opinions and stand and can be assertive when need be. She may also have faith in herself in
overcoming her problems on her own and is organized and streamlined in her approach.
Statements such as “I plan and organize to do the work quickly”, “I by myself try to solve my
problems”, “The cause of my failure is none” and “On all sides I think that I have changed
for the better” can be used to corroborate the present findings. However, statements such as
“When nobody accepts my view, I get very angry” and “When somebody asks me several
questions then I feel a little bit irritated” may interestingly enough be suggestive of how the
subject is irritable, which happens to be a common characteristic of people high on self-
confidence.

As evident from Table 2, the subject obtained a raw score of 24, with a corresponding
z-score of +0.86 and a corresponding ‘C’ grade, which indicates that the subject’s level on
the domain of ‘Ambitiousness’ is ‘Above Average’. In this context, it can be inferred that the
subject is highly driven to strive for success and achievement in her life. As mentioned
above, since the subject has an organized and streamlined approach in her life, she has the
ability to envision and decide upon her goals. Further, she also has the ability to chart out a
plan to achieve the goals she has set in her life. An interesting that that can be inferred from
the subject’s statements is that she envisions to a future free of corruption and malpractices
and aims to build a world that is fair and just. Statements such as “I have made some plans
about my future”, “I wish I could remove all malpractices from this world”, “I do not want
that I get success by bribing” can be used to corroborate the present findings.

The total raw score obtained by the subject on the full test, as evident from Table 1,
came out to be 70, with a corresponding z-score of +0.32 and a corresponding ‘D’ grade,
which indicates that the subject has an ‘Average Amicable Personality’. From this, it can be
inferred that the subject is friendly, amicable and open, majorly with people she is
comfortable with, but at the same time, values her alone time. She has cordial relations with
others in her life and deeply respects and values both the people close and elder to her. The
subject also likes to maintain harmony by following societal norms and rules and oftentimes,
looks out for other people’s well-being. This is evident in statements like “I feel happy when
 11

others are happy”, “I feel perturbed when one of my family members or friends don’t pick up
my call”, “I think twice before speaking when talking to elders”, and “When in a crowd, I
maintain social distancing”. However, at the same time, the subject may have her inhibitions
about fully opening up with people and may maintain distance with others situationally. For
instance, statements like “Sometimes I think that is being a good person the right thing?”, “I
don’t open up quickly when I meet a stranger”, “Very often I feel that I can’t trust people
anymore” may be reflective of the aforementioned.

Conclusion

From the present assessment, it can be concluded that the subject has an overall
average amicable personality type. The assessment provided a fairly good insight into the
subject’s internal states and overall personality characteristics.
 12

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Personality. In APA dictionary of psychology.

Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/personality

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Sentence - Completion Test. In APA dictionary

of psychology. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/sentence-

completion-test

Cherry, K. (2020, April 26). How Projective Tests Are Used to Measure Personality.

VeryWell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-projective-test-2795586

Cherry, K. (2022, August 12). What is Personality?. VeryWell Mind.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-personality-2795416

Dubey, L. N., & Dubey, A. (2005). Manual for Sentence Completion Test. National

Psychological Corporation: Agra.

Holaday, M., Smith, D. A., & Sherry, A. (2000). Sentence Completion Tests: A

Review of the Literature and Results of a Survey of Members of the Society for

Personality Assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment, 74(3), 371–383.

https://faculty.med.virginia.edu/facultyaffairs/wp-

content/blogs.dir/105/files/2016/04/2013-6-12a-1.pdf?r=1

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y_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/10%3A_Trait_Theories_of_Personality/10.05%3

A_Basic_Concepts_of_Cattell's_Theory
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Lah, M.I. (2001). Sentence Completion Test. In: Dorfman, W.I., Hersen, M. (eds)

Understanding Psychological Assessment. Perspectives on Individual Differences.

Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1185-4_7

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56(2), 158–168. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0043871

McLeod, S. A. (2017). Theories of personality. Simply Psychology.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-theories.html

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2022, from https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/personality

Nezami, E., & Butcher, J. N. (2000). Objective Personality Assessment. In Handbook of

Psychological Assessment (pp. 413–435). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-

008043645-6/50094-X

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History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations. 3rd edition. Butterworths.

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Behavioral Pediatrics (pp. 763–769). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4160-

3370-7.00077-8

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Mental Health (pp. 267–269). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397045-

9.00188-9
 1

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

May 2, 2022
 2

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Purpose
To assess the different facets of personality of an individual using the Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT).
Introduction to the Concepts
Allport (1961) defined personality as the “dynamic organization within the individual
of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought”
(Feist & Feist, 2009). Personality is a pattern of relatively stable traits and characteristics that
give meaning and consistency to one's behaviour. There are many theories evolved to explain
personality from time to time. The psychoanalytic approach of Sigmund Freud, and the
different theories of personality by the Neo Freudians as well as the recent theories of
personality shows the importance of personality in human life.
Projective Tests
The term ‘projective method’ was devised by Frank (1939, 1948) to refer to a
category of tests with unstructured stimuli and assessing personality (Gregory, 2005). A
projective test is a psychological measurement characterised by the following: an ambiguity
in the stimulus, multiplicity of responses permitted the subject in an open situation where the
responses do not have a right or wrong character and the interest of the interpreter in the
unconscious or latent aspects of the personality and in their amenability to holistic personality
analysis (Schneidman, 1965). The expectation from these projective tests, known as the
projective hypothesis, is that by allowing the individual to respond freely, their interpretations
of the structure and the stimuli will project their underlying thoughts, conflicts, feelings,
needs, anxieties, etc. (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009).
Introduction to TAT
History and Development of TAT
The Thematic Apperception test (TAT), developed by the American Psychologist
Henry A. Murray and Christina D.Morgan in the 1930s at the Harvard Psychological Clinic,
is a projective test that aims at revealing an individual’s perception of interpersonal
relationships and underlying dynamics of personality. According to Murray (1943, 1971) and
Bellak (1933), the TAT is expected to reveal a hierarchy of a person’s needs and nature of
their dominant emotions and conflicts. It is based on Murray’s need theory which
distinguishes 28 human needs including the needs for sex, affiliation and dominance. The
general opinion of how the test originated was when one of Murray’s undergraduate students
 3

told him about how her son, while recuperating from an illness, used to sit at home all day
and look at pictures from magazines while telling stories about them. The mother enquired if
this technique could be used in testing (Rothney & Heimann, 1953). Most of the pictures are
said to be artistic drawings of Christiana Morgan. Through constant reviewing of the set of
pictures used, the drawings were modified by editing any complexities to make them more
ambiguous. The test went through a Series A, Series B, Series C and finally Series D which is
used even today.
After World War II, the TAT was adopted more broadly by psychoanalysts and
clinicians to evaluate emotionally disturbed patients. An Indian adaptation was developed in
1960 by Mrs. Uma Choudhary. Later, in the 1970s, the Human Potential Movement
encouraged psychologists to use the TAT to help their clients understand themselves better
and stimulate personal growth.
Description of TAT
The Thematic Apperception Test is also known as a picture interpretation test as it
involves narrating stories about a series of provocative yet ambiguous sets of black and white
pictures. The subject is encouraged to make the story as dramatic and vivid as possible. The
stories must include each of the following four elements:
1. What has led up to the event shown in the picture?
2. What is currently happening in the picture?
3. What the characters are feeling and thinking?
4. What is the outcome of the story?
In the standard form of TAT there are a total of 30 picture cards and 1 blank card
which show different situations. Amongst these cards, 11 cards are meant for both sexes and
for all ages, 7 are for boys under fourteen and males over fourteen (BM), 7 are for girls under
fourteen and females over fourteen (GF), 1 is for boys and girls under fourteen (BG), one for
males and females over fourteen (13MF) and one each suitable for boys (B), for girls (G), for
males over fourteen (M) and females over fourteen (F). One card is a blank card.
Generally, 20 cards are used, including one blank card. When selecting the cards, the age
and sex of the subject is taken into consideration, while the blank card is administered to all,
generally, towards the end.
Psychometric Properties of TAT
In a study by Hartman (1953) in order to understand the relationship among 56
categories in TAT responses and personality ratings on a Likert-type personality rating scale
of 35 superior teen aged boys in a detention, home found that most of the biserial coefficients
 4

were in the .40 to .55 range but a Cronbach alpha of .82 and TAT vocabulary and rating of
fluency was also found. (Rothney & Heimann, 1953).
Indian Adaptation of TAT by Dr. L.P Mehrotra
Since the original version of TAT has pictures catering more to the western
population, the need for modifying the cards to suit the Indian population was eminent. Some
of the key issues included the difference in social aspects for example, the concept of joint
family system and religious fantasy vs the individualistic approach. (Chowdhury, 1960)
The Indian adaptation was devised by Dr. L.P Mehrotra in 1993. These cards were
modified in a manner wherein the ambiguity and generalized structure of the pictures were
carefully retained, and no innovations were introduced unless they were vital for effective use
of the test within the Indian context. (Chowdhury, 1960). Seventeen cards were drawn and
tested on a small sample, and after further revision, 15 cards were selected and given to 260
individuals of rural and industrial areas of South Bengal. Out of these 15 cards, 14 were
finally chosen. Among these are Cards II and VIII represent especially the joint family and
religious phantasy not found in the original TAT. (Chowdhury, 1960).
Scoring of TAT
The Indian version of TAT is scored keeping in mind the following categories –
1. The Main Theme: Understood as restating the gist of the story, the main theme is
usually broken down into five levels, namely – i) Descriptive level (Plain restatement
of the story/ Summary), ii) Interpretive Level, iii) The Diagnostic Level, iv) The
Symbolic Level, and v) The Elaborate level.
2. Main Hero: The main hero of any story would be the one who is the most referred to
in the story, whose feelings and subjective notions are the most discussed, and
perhaps the character with whom the subject seems to identify himself with the most.
The vocation, interests, abilities,, traits, abilities, adequacy, and body image are
recorded.
3. Main Needs and Drives of the Subject: The Behavioural Needs of the subject, along
with Figures, Objects, or Circumstances Introduced, and Figures, Objects, and
Circumstances Omitted are recorded under this.
4. Conception of the Environment: Adjectives such as hostile, friendly, succouring,
dangerous can be used to describe how the subject actually perceives the surroundings
around him to be.
 5

5. Figures Seen as: In this, the parental figures, contemporary figures, and junior
figures are taken into account – how these figures are seen as or viewed by the main
hero or the character and how the subject reacts to it.
6. Significant Conflicts: Used to define the nature of conflicts which are between two
forces. Example – Between super ego and aggression.
7. Nature of Anxieties: The main anxieties and nature of the anxieties primarily
experienced by the main hero are of remarkable importance to understand the
defenses which may have been used by the hero.
8. Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears: At times, drives are less clearly
expressed than the defenses, so it becomes important to record the defense
mechanisms used by the hero.
9. Strength/Severity of SuperEgo: This focuses on the nature of punishment in
response to the severity of the offenses or crime, giving us an insight into the
adequacy of the superego.
10. Integration of the Ego: Tells us how well a subject is able to function and the extent
to which he is able to compromise between his drives and the demands of reality.
Applications of TAT
The TAT can be utilized in a number of different ways. Some of these include:
• To learn more about a person and their personality: the test can provide useful
information about potential emotional conflicts the client may have.
• To help people express their feelings. the TAT is often used as a therapeutic tool to
allow clients to express feelings in a non-direct way. A client may not yet be able to
express a certain feeling directly, but they might be able to identify the emotion when
viewed from an outside perspective.
• To explore themes related to the person's life experiences: clients dealing with
problems or conflicting situations might interpret the ambiguous scenes and relate it
to their unique circumstances, allowing deeper exploration over the course of therapy.
• To assess someone for psychological conditions: the test is sometimes used as a tool
to assess personality or thought disorders.
• To evaluate crime suspects: clinicians may administer the test to criminals to assess
the risk of recidivism or to determine if a person matches the profile of a crime
suspect.
 6

• To screen job candidates: this test is sometimes used to determine if people are suited
to particular roles, especially positions that require coping with stress and evaluating
vague situations such as military leadership and law enforcement positions.

Criticism

Over time, the TAT has been heavily criticized for its psychometric properties, lack
of standardization and scoring practices, and controversial interpretation (Weiner and
Greene, 2008). Despite its provocative nature as a projective assessment, the TAT remains
one of the most researched projective tests in personality assessment.

Similarly, in 1965 (Bellak and Bellak), after much criticism of the original CAT
assessment tool, a revised version was published known as the CAT-H. In this later version,
the 10 pictures outline only human beings which seem to appeal far greater to the older
population used in this testing, ages 7 to 10.

The CAT and TAT is frequently criticized for its lack of objective scoring, its
reliance on the scorer’s own scoring method and bias, and the lack of accepted evidence for
its reliability (consistency of results) and validity (effectiveness in measuring what it was
designed to measure). For example, no clear evidence exists that the test measure’s needs,
conflicts, or other processes related to human motivations in a valid and reliable way.
(Niwlikar, 2019)

TAT and CAT, as well as other projective measures, has been criticized for their lack
of standardized methods of administration as well as the lack of standard norms for
interpretation. Studies of the interactions between examiners and test subjects have found, for
example, that the race, gender, and social class of both participants influence the stories that
are told as well as the way the stories are interpreted by the examiner (Niwlikar, 2019).

Methodology
Materials Required
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Cards, Short-Form Bellack TAT Blank, Pen/
Pencil, Piece of Paper
Particulars of the Subject
Name: A

Age: 23 years
 7

Sex: Male

Educational Qualification: BTech Graduate

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Unemployed

Socio-Economic Status: Middle SES

Preliminary Set-Up

For the smooth administration of the present assessment of the Thematic

Apperception Test, it was ensured that the participant was well rested and was seated
comfortably, facing the test administrator. A rapport was successfully established with the
participant, and it was ensured that the environment for conducting the assessment was quiet.
Efforts were made to minimize external disturbances and noises and it was ensured that the
room was well-lit. The materials required for the administration of TAT were procured from
the laboratory prior to the administration and were kept ready to facilitate its smooth
conduction.
Procedure

The present investigation aimed to assess the different facets of personality of an

individual using the Thematic Apperception Test. The investigator conducted the assessment
on a healthy subject. The subject was seated comfortably, and after establishing a rapport,
was given the required instructions prior to the administration. For carrying out the present
assessment, the subject was presented with the each of the ten cards, one-by-one, and was
asked to develop a story by looking at the pictures present on each card keeping in mind the
following four questions – “What has led up to the event shown in the picture?”, “What is
currently happening in the picture?”, “What the characters are feeling and thinking?”, and
”What is the outcome of the story?”. The subject was asked to write down the stories on a
piece of paper. After the administration phase was completed, the researcher carried out the
inquiry phase wherein, after reading the stories, she inquired about the elements of the story
to gain more clarity. The administration was completed in one sitting. This was followed by
scoring, and subsequently, interpreting the responses of the subject using the Bellack’s
scoring system. This was subsequently supplemented by a summary of the report of the TAT
stories of the subject which helped in understanding the different aspects of the subject’s
personality.
 8

Instructions

The following instructions pertaining to the administration of TAT were given to the
subject –

“I am going to show you some cards that have pictures on them. I would like you to create a
story for each of these cards, keeping in mind the following four questions – “What has led
up to the event shown in the picture?”, “What is currently happening in the picture?”, “What
the characters are feeling and thinking?”, and” What is the outcome of the story?”. There
are no right or wrong answers and there is no time limit for this test. You can either choose to
write the stories down on a piece of paper or narrate them verbally so that I can take a note of
them. In case you have any doubts or queries regarding the procedure, kindly directly them
towards me. Rest assured, your responses would remain confidential.”

Precautions

The following precautions should be taken during the investigation to facilitate its
smooth conduction-

• The cards should not be shown to the subject beforehand.

• In case of deception, it should be ensured that the subject be informed of the true
purpose of the test after completing the administration.
• All external disturbances should be minimized to ensure that the subject’s attention
and concentration is sustained and maintained throughout the administration.
• The assessment should be conducted in a single sitting
• The investigator should ensure that the subject feels comfortable and at ease.

Results and Discussion

Table 1.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 1 (T1)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Raunaq
Age: Adolescent
Sex: Male
 9

Vocation: Student
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: Interest for Music, Interested to
Learn
Traits: Inquisitiveness/ Curiosity,
Responsible, Considerate, Nurturing,
Helpful, Determined
Adequacy: Adequate Hero
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nCognizance
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Grandparents, Parents, Younger
Sister (New-Born)
Implying need for or to:
nAchievement, nNurturance
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Friendly, Nurturing, Supportive
Parental Figures are seen as Hard-working, Active, Loving, Nurturing,
And Subject’s Reaction is Helpful, Important Figure of Power
And subject’s reaction is awestruck,
appreciative, curious
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Original, appropriate,
complete
 10

Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 2.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 2 (T2)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Ram
Age:
Sex: Male
Vocation: Works on the farm with his
family
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Realistic, Logical, Kind
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs:
nUnderstanding
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Haystack (Object), Rashi’s father,
Rashi’s neighbour, Rich Merchant
Implying need for or to:
nNurturing
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Supportive
Parental Figures are seen as Superstitious, Supportive
 11

And Subject’s Reaction is -

Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, In the middle of realistic
and unrealistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Stereotyped, Complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 3.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 3 (T3 M.B.)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation
Main Theme
Main Hero Rahul
Age: Adolescent
Sex: Male
Vocation: Student
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Hardworking, Sincere, Honest,
Composed
Adequacy: Adequate Hero
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: -
nAchievement
 12

b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: Vir,
Rahul’s father.
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Competitive, Dishonest
Parental Figures are seen as Admirable, Honest
And Subject’s Reaction is No information available in the story.
Significant Conflicts Between SuperEgo and nAchievement
Nature of Anxieties Moral Anxiety
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Introjection, Suppression
Severity of Superego as manifested by Strong superego
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Reaslistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Original, Appropriate
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 4.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 4 (T4 M.B.)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation
Main Theme Feelings of Guilt driven by Superego
Main Hero Vir
Age: Adolescent/ Early Adulthood
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: -
Interests: -
Traits: Forgiving, Kind, Compassionate,
Respectful
 13

Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nNurturance
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: Father
Implying need for or to: nAutonomy
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
Parental Figures are seen as Forgiving
And Subject’s Reaction is Accepting, Deciding to stay with his mother
Significant Conflicts Between Id and Superego
Nature of Anxieties Of lack or loss of love
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Suppression, Undoing
Severity of Superego as manifested by Strong Superego
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Bordering between
stereotypical and original, Appropriate,
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 5.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 5 (T5)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Dia
Age: No information available in the story
Sex: Female
Vocation: No information available in the
story
 14

Abilities: No information available in the

story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: No information available in the
story
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: - nHarm
Avoidance
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Belongings (Objects), Police Officer
Implying need for or to: Need for Safety
and Security
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Frightening, Unsafe
Parental/Contemporary/Junior Figures are Harmful, Dangerous, Scary
seen as
And Subject’s Reaction is Scared, Crying intensely
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties Of physical harm and injury, Reality
Anxiety
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Realistic
Drive control: Slightly in control
Thought processes: Bordering on
stereotypes and original.
Intelligence: Average
 15

Maturity Level: Moderately Mature

Table 6.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 6 (T6)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Fisherman
Age: No information available in the story
Sex: Male
Vocation: Fisherman
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: No information available in the
story
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: -
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Fisherman, Fish Net (Object), Canal
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as No information available in the story
Parental/Contemporary/Junior Figures are -
seen as
And Subject’s Reaction is -
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
 16

Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -

Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
Drive control: Able to control drive well
Thought processes: Original, Complete
Intelligence: Above Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 7.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 7 (T7)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Mrs. Singh
Age: Adult
Sex: Female
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Caring
Adequacy: Moderately adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: Need for
Affiliation, Need for Succourance
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: -
Implying need for or to: -
 17

c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as No information available in the story
Contemporary Figures are seen as Unfaithful, Irritable, Uninterested
And Subject’s Reaction is Shock, Dismay
Significant Conflicts Superego and Need for Affiliation/Affection
Nature of Anxieties Of lack or loss of love
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Avoidance
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Moderately Adequate
Outcome: Unhappy, realistic
Drive control: Drives not significantly in
control
Thought processes: Stereotyped, Slightly
Incomplete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Slightly Mature

Table 8.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 8 (T8)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Woman
Age: Adult
Sex: Female
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
 18

Traits: No information available in the

story
Adequacy: Slightly Inadequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: -
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Bandits, Lord Shiva
Implying need for or to: Need for Safety
and Security, Need for Harm Avoidance,
Need for Deference (Respect)
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as No information available in the story
Parental/Contemporary/Junior Figures are Scary, Harmful, Dangerous
seen as
And Subject’s Reaction is Afraid, Crying
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties Reality Anxiety, Anxiety of Physical Harm
or Injury
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Rationalization
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Slightly Inadequate
Outcome: Happy, Unrealistic
Drive control: Not able to control drives
well.
Thought processes: Stereotyped,
Incomplete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Slightly Mature

Table 9.
 19

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 9 (T9)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme Trying to overcome feelings of guilt
Main Hero Raj
Age: Adolescent
Sex: Male
Vocation: Student
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: No information available in the
story
Adequacy: Slightly Adequate
Body/Self-Image: Exploring his body and
its changes
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nAffiliation,
nSex
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Neighbour’s husband, Friends
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
Parental/Contemporary/Junior Figures are Pushy, nudging
seen as
And Subject’s Reaction is -
Significant Conflicts Conflict between Id and Superego
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Sublimation, Avoidance
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Slightly Adequate
 20

Outcome: In the middle of happy and

unhappy; and realistic and unrealistic
Drive control: Able to control drives to a
certain extent.
Thought processes: In the middle of
stereotyped and original
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 10.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 10 (T10)

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Ramesh
Age: Adult
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Smart, Logical
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nCounteraction
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: Deepa
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
 21

Conception of Environment (World) as -

Parental/ Contemporary/Junior Figures are Clever, Smart, Helpful
seen as
And Subject’s Reaction is Appreciative
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Between realistic and
unrealistic
Drive control: Able to control drives well
Thought processes: Original, Appropriate,
Complete
Intelligence: Above Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 11.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Blank Card

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero The subject himself
Age: Early adulthood
Sex: Male
Vocation: Information not available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Responsible, Honest, Thoughtful
Adequacy: Adequate
 22

Body/Self-Image: No information available

in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: -
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: The
subject himself, Woman
Implying need for or to:
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as No information available in the story
Parental/Contemporary/Junior Figures are No information available in the story
seen as
And Subject’s Reaction is No information available in the story
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Neutral, realistic
Drive control: Drives are well-controlled
Thought processes: Stereotyped,
Appropriate, Complete
Intelligence: Above Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Integrated Summary

The client, A, aged 23 years, was cooperative while narrating the stories and
providing clarification regarding the same.
In terms of understanding the structure and drives of the subject, it can be observed
the nAchievement, nCognizance, nNurturance, nUnderstanding, nAutonomy,
nHarmAvoidance, nSuccourance, and nAffiliation are the dominant needs of the subject. The
need for achievement perhaps arises in the subject owing to his tendency to work towards a
particular goal by solely focusing on it and investing all his resources, efforts, perseverance to
 23

achieve that goal. Since the subject tends to set unrealistically high standards for himself, it is
possible that he may end up facing obstacles in different domains of his life. From the
information obtained from the client, this need is also exhibited in how the client has been
striving to pave his way and prepare for competitive examinations to land a secure and decent
job. The need for Cognizance can indicate that the subject has a curious and inquisitive
nature, especially with respect to learning more about the outer world and actively seeking
knowledge. The needs for nurturance and affiliation perhaps arise from the subject feeling
unloved and unwanted, especially by his family members in his real life. It can also be
attributed to how the subject is so genuinely interested in helping others out and sympathizing
with them when they are in a time of need. There is also the need for nurturance because the
character is caring for other characters and the client would want someone in life to care for
in the same way. The need for understanding stems more from the subject’s striving for
knowledge or wisdom. In can be contended that the subject attempt to understand the
relationship between one object or event and another. Discussion and argumentation with the
goal directed toward increasing knowledge. The need for autonomy pops out most
significantly as the subject, even though he lives at his home and is largely unemployed
wants to detach from his family and become independent. The need for Harm Avoidance is
perhaps associated with his persistent need to avoid having any injury or illness inflicted on
him and avoiding pain. Further, since the subject has been going through a lot of problems
lately, all these identified needs and unconscious drives fit the context better.
After observing the details and listening to all the stories given by the participant, it
can be seen how the subject has different perspectives and ways of viewing the world in
different scenarios. Predominantly, the subject talks about how primarily, he finds the outer
world as friendly, supportive and forthcoming, which may be associated with him having
incredibly supportive friends who have moulded him to be like this. However, there have
been times where the subject feels he does not feel welcome and has become unbecoming
and unsafe because of reasons unknown.
From all the stories that have been recorded, it has been observed that the subject’s
relationship with others has been pretty good. This can be associated with how the client goes
out of his way to cater to the needs of those around him. His sympathetic nature is what
makes it easier for him to gell well with those around him.
The significant conflicts that have emerged from the stories are primarily the conflict
between the Id and the SuperEgo. There are many times, as reported by the subject, where he
finds himself in a fix and overpowered by the id’s irrational impulses, the subject attempts to
 24

let go of these unconscious feelings and desires, as dictated by the superego. The ego here
meditates and tries to inform the subject about ‘what should have been done’, keeping him
grounded and exercise.
In terms of the nature of anxieties, it can be argued that reality anxiety, anxiety of lack
or loss of love, anxiety of physical illness or injury, and moral anxiety are predominantly
experienced by the subject. All these natures of anxieties correspond to the needs of the
subject as well, making them more important to understand. Since the subject has a tendency
to getting hurt frequently, it can be contended that the subject experiences anxiety of physical
illness or injury. The subject further finds himself in a lot of situations where he is faced with
moral dilemmas, and thus experiences moral anxiety, where his superego tends to overpower
all other impulses. Since the subject largely feels unloved by his family and in general by
others, it might be possible that because of this, the subject experiences the anxiety of lack or
loss of love. Despite experiencing these anxieties, the client seems to be well adjusted
emotionally to all the situations. This is exhibited because in most of the stories the client is
able to resolve conflicts and understand his emotions and then move on from there. Even
when certain stories have not very happy endings, the client is able to resolve those and
power through in this situation and bring about a happy angle to the story. This shows that
even in his life he has had situations where he has had setbacks or obstacles which have made
him feel like he would not be able to emerge out of those situations. However, he powers
through them and is able to modify and modulate his emotions accordingly to match the
situation. Therefore, we can say that the client is well adjusted emotionally and is able to
match his emotions to the nature of anxiety in the situation he is a part of.
In order to overcome the anxiety and feelings of guilt that the subject may experienc,
he has a tendency to majorly use defense mechanisms like suppression, avoidance,
rationalization, sublimation, and undoing. Suppression is a mature defense mechanism that
the subject uses in situations to cope with distressing mental thoughts and anxiety by
voluntarily and consciously making efforts to remove them from the conscious awareness.
In terms of examining the structure of the superego of the subject, it can be inferred
from his stories that the subject’s superego has strong impulses, and it is often because of this
that the subject is able to navigate his way through the problems in his life and understand
what should be done in a particular situation. At the same time, the client has the ability to
regulate the impulses of his superego and let the ego mediate the impulses. The ego functions
of reality testing and judgement appear to be strongly possessed by the subject.
 25

The subject has a well-integrated ego. In most of his stories, the end of the story –
irrespective of whether it is happy or not, the characters are able to rise to the occasion and
stand up for themselves, sticking to their beliefs and convictions. Through the identified hero,
the subject is in fact able to function well and hence can be regarded as being adequate. The
plot of the stories is usually original and realistic, and it can be inferred that the subject can
regulate and control his drives to a great extent. The sentences are well structured, use proper
grammar and there is richness of language, which indicates that the subject possesses average
intelligence level. Further, looking at how well the stories have been developed and how the
characters have been created, including the way they respond, is reflective of how truly the
mature the subject is.
Conclusion

It can be inferred that the subject is highly creative and imaginative as the quality and
details of the stories are impeccable. The stories created by the subject are reflective of how
optimistic and resilient he is. He possesses awareness pertaining to how he can motor through
and overcome any obstacles or any situations that come his way and this is what makes him a
very strong person. His experiences in life have been a rollercoaster ride but he still has the
dedication to power through and make the best out of whatever is available. He is well
oriented to reality and has a well-functioning ego as well as superego. The client seems to
have average to average levels of intelligence but at the same time a very superior level of
verbal ability and vocabulary. The client also seems to have a very superior level of range
and freedom of imagination and creativity which is depicted in the way he has
written all of these stories. Overall, he is a very well-functioning individual.
 26

References

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440-444, DOI: 10.1080/00223891.1972.10119792

Chowdhury. (1960), An Indian Modification of the Thematic Apperception Test. The Journal

of American Social Psychology

Feist, J; Feist, G J;. (2009). Theories of Personality (4 ed.). New York: McGraw- Hill.

Gregory. (2005). Psychological testing: History, Principles and Applications. New York:

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Kaplan & Saccuzzo. (2009). Psychological testing:Principles, Applications and Issues.

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1990;55(3-4):800-803. doi:10.1080/00223891.1990.9674114

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Sci Public Interest. 2000;1(2):27-66. doi:10.1111/1529-1006.002

Mary R. Haworth (1963) A Schedule for the Analysis of CAT Responses, Journal of Projective

Techniques and Personality Assessment, 27:2, 181-184, DOI:

10.1080/0091651X.1963.10120031

Morgan CD, Murray HA. A Method for Investigating Fantasies: The Thematic Apperception

Test. Arch NeurPsych. 1935;34(2):289-306.

 27

Morgan, W. (2002). "Origin and History of the Earliest Thematic Apperception test". Journal

of Personality Assessment. 79 (3): 422–445. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa7903_03. ; see

Weber's "Christiana Morgan (1897–1967)," in Michel Weber and William Desmond, Jr. (eds.),

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2008, v. II, pp. 465-468.

Niwlikar, A. (2019, April 13). CHILDREN’S APPERCEPTION TEST (CAT). Careershodh.

https://www.careershodh.com/childrens-apperception-test-cat/

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doi:10.1016/0272-7358(81)90009-X

Weiner, I. B., & Greene, R. L. (2008). Handbook of personality assessment. New York: Wiley.
 Stories

Card 1
In a distant village of India where life was still slow paced and tranquil, there lived a boy
named Raunaq. Raunaq was his father’s eldest son, an elder brother to a newborn sister and
his grandmother’s most priced treasure. Raunaq’s mother was the very hard working despite
giving birth to a newborn she was still very active and did her and her family’s daily chores,
but Raunaq’s grandmother unlike the stereotypic mother-in-law helped her and recently took
majority of the burden of household work as Sheetal Devi was still recovering. Raunaq was a
little young to help his father in farm but being the second man of the family wanted to
contribute as much as he can to help his family. So, he used to help his grandmother and
though she was an old lady, Raunaq was always awestruck by her strength. One hot day in
the mid of June they were cleaning an old storeroom to make room for his sisters’ new
clothes and toys.” What is this dadi ?” Raunaq inquired looking at a musical instrument.
Grandmother glanced at the instrument reminiscing about all the time it was played for her,
had a bittersweet expression on her face. She snapped out of it listening to her grandson’s
repeated calls and questions,
“is it a ‘Sitar’ or a ‘Veena’?”
“to whom does it belong?”
“How did it get here?”
“Do you know how to play it?”
“It is your dada ji’s tanpura” she answered somewhat being lost and started moving heavy
boxes Raunaq was all agog to know more about his old man’s old man and started running in
circles in excitement around his grandmother “can you play it? Can you teach me how to play
it?”
Grandmother happy to see Raunaq really curious about the instrument kept the boxes aside
and sat on a stool, Raunaq sat on the floor with the Tanpura in his hand making sense of what
it was and how it was played. He didn’t know a lot about his grandfather as he passed away
around the time he was born. His grandmother told Raunaq how sitting with the tanpura like
that he looked just like his grandfather who was a ‘tahseeldar’,” What is a ‘tahseeldar’ dadi
?” “A government officer she replied.”and continued to tell how it was his hobby and he was
very proficient at playing the instrument. Raunaq’s father never really could learn how to
play it as he started working in the farm from a young age. That’s the reason why the
grandmother didn’t let Raunaq work in the farm as she used to believe it takes away the
developing years in a child’s life when he can learn new things. Listening to all this holding
the tanpura like a tanpura maestro Raunaq made up his mind to practice everyday and master
the instrument. On hearing his plan grandmother’s eyes were filled with tears of joy as she
could see glimpse of his grandfather in him.

Card 2
On a sunny day, on some farm there worked a family. The farm was their main source of
income. One day something strange happened on the farm. It seemed like a goat was able to
converse as a human, everyone was shocked but little boy Ram knew this cannot happen
unlike his superstitious elders who were presuming it to be some deity. Ram poked the
haystack behind the goat, from the haystack emerged a beautiful woman. Ram’s mother
asked the woman in a serious tone what business do you have here and how did you end up in
the haystack.
The woman timidly said “my name is Rashi-“
“But why are you here?” Ram’s mother interrupted.
Ram’s aunt with her daughter were standing nearby and seeing what the commotion was all
about. Rashi the stranger told them that her father was forcefully marrying her off to some
rich merchant and she was unhappy as she wanted to marry her neighbour. After hearing all
this Ram asked his mother to let Rashi stay with them. Ram’s aunt looked at Ram’s mother
and they both smiled. Ram’s aunt was heading out, so she carried on. Ram’s mother told
Rashi that she can stay as long as she wants. This made Ram happy but his mother happier as
she knows her son is going to grow up into a kind man.

Card 3
Mr. Dayal was the star faculty of his coaching institute. The term exams were nearing and
Mr. Dayal was at the institude day and night working with his star students. The one at the
top of the cream was Rahul he used to ace all exams and was great student. The institute
exams were really competitive, but he never let the pressure get to him and came at the to he
was closely followed by Vir another student. For the term exam preparation all the students
were putting in theor heat and soul, but Mr. Dayal believed there can only be one who is at
the top and he always considered Rahul to be the one. One day after the classes he told Rahul
to stay back. He handed him a file it had all the question papers for the term exam. Rahul
asked “how-”
“I’m a really well connected man” said Mr. Dayal .
They both were quiet and Mr. Dayal looked at Rahul and told him to take them home and
practice. Rahul was taken aback. A plethora of emotions were running though him. His
teacher was asking him to cheat. Does Mr. Dayal not trust me enough he thought to himself.
After a long pause Rahul said I’m sorry sir my father taught me not to cheat and was leaving.
Mr. Dayal was annoyed at Rahul for not seeing the bigger picture and was disappointed but
so was Rahul that his teacher would do such a thing. Exams came and did the results Rahul
did not get the highest marks Vir did.
But we know who got it the right way.

Card 4
Vir’s father had passed away, so he reluctantly went to the funeral. Yes, reluctantly as he left
his home 7 years ago, not a call nor a letter. He was not sure how he was going to face his
mother after all these years.
It was guilt that brought him back even though things were not great between them, but he
had to be there for the last rites. The rituals took the entire day and Vir was constantly busy,
but in the evening when the guests left and preparations for the next day’s ceremony were
done. He got the chance to talk to his mother after 7 years. He could not say anything but
‘amma’. His mother on hearing hers sons voice after 7 years did not give that grand
expression one would expect. Vir did not know what to say next, so he stood quit. The
silence was deafening. Vir felt guilt for leaving but so did his mother for not being able to
make him stay and the grief of loss of a loved one was overshadowing all these emotions.
They didn’t say much for a while then the mother said “sleep Vir, tomorrow is a long day and
we have a lot of catching up to do, Vir nodded and went to bed and he thought he will stay
with his mother from now on as all she has is him now.

Card 5
It was the cold time of the year. One late night Dia was returning home when suddenly she
felt someone was following her. She clenched her belongings tightly underneath the shawl
she was wrapped in. She was scared, but she tried to tell herself she might be overthinking
and started walking faster. The footsteps she heard were briskly walking too.
Reaching to the corner she lost her calm and started running, the suspicious man broke into a
sprint too. He nabbed Dia. This was a mugging. Dia froze and as she was about to yell for
help the thug choked her, not letting her cry for help he started robbing her. After taking all
her belongings he pushed her down on the sidewalk, Dia tripped and fell and till she could
regain her composure and make sense of what’s what the thug was long gone. Dia was scared
to the core, she burst into tears but crying made her throat hurt where the thug choked it. She
somehow pick herself together and went to the nearby police station where she filed a report
and an officer accompanied her home.

Card 6
A fisher man was sailing his boat in the river after spreading the net in the water. He was
heading back home. Suddenly the clouds started to appear, and it became dark, furious
winds were blowing and it became hard to sail in the river. The fisherman thought that it
would be best to dock the boat somewhere nearby. The weather became worse, and it started
to rain. The fisherman was lucky enough to find an adjacent canal to the river. He was quick
to dock the boat and get of it. The water level rose, and the fisherman was really happy as this
would mean more fish in his net. He happily went home.

Card 7
Mr. and Mrs. Singh were now married for 10 years. They were a model couple for their
neighbourhood. But lately Mrs. Singh was noticing a change in Mr. Singh’s behaviour, late
office hours, general disinterest in things he used to like, irritability and many more. Mrs.
Singh being the caring woman she was thought it was due to extra hours at office, but there
were other signs too that led her to believe something was going on. One day Mr. Singh was
getting ready to go out Mrs. Singh asked him “where are you going?”
“To a friend’s house” he replied. “whh” ,there was a certain vagueness to his answer that got
Mrs. Singh thinking, and she said “okay take care and don’t be late”. She thought why ask
him when she can see for herself. She went after him into a big house. She saw him go in,
wanting to see what is going inside she started looking around the house for a door or a
window. She found an open window and peeped in. Much to her shock she saw Mr. Singh
with another woman. She was heartbroken on this sight and just left without saying anything
his house, his life everything.

Card 8

Running through jungle a woman was trying to evade a band of bandits. They were looking
to rob her. Scared and tired she tried to take refuge in a building like structure there. It was
old temple in the middle jungle. She was dead scared and crying, she collapsed on the stairs
of the temple praying Lord Shiva to save her life and passed out she woke up after some time
and by this time the thugs were gone, she thanked the God, because according to her he is the
one who saved her.

Card 9
Raj was a young and handsome boy. He was exploring his body and the changes that occur in
the body during adolescence. He had an eye for his neighbour who a newly married woman
her husband was in merchant navy and lived offshore for greater part of the year. He was
friends with the neighbour. They shared jokes and funny banter was a common thing but
sometimes things got awkward, situations in which Raj became quite and his body became
stiff on the other hand Ria was much mature than Raj and handled this situation with a smile
or flirting with Raj. This sometimes-made Raj blush. There were times that their actions were
in the grey are nobody will call it wrong, but it was not right either. Raj went to Ria’s house
to watch a movie. For the past week he was being teased by his friends about this so called
‘movie date’. His friends hyped it to be something it was not, maybe. Raj went to Ria’s house
all cleaned up and nice she welcomed him, and they started watching movie in the living
room. Ria fell asleep mid movie. Raj shook her, she got up and excused herself to the
washroom and after some time called Raj in saying “we’ll watch the rest of the movie in here
on this TV”. Raj was reluctant going into her bedroom, but he went in. There she was in the
blanket wearing nothing but a smile. Raj froze this was the moment he was waiting for all his
life. A very strong voice in his head said go with it, and just when he was about to go for it
something came over him and he stopped. Ria asked “Raj are you coming or what? Come in
the blanket it’s cold outside.”
Something came over Raj “I am an adult but I won’t commit adultery.” This made sense in
his mind but out loud it just sounded stupid. It is one of those few times even Ria couldn’t
normalise the situation by saying something witty. There was brief moment of awkward
silence. Raj left. They never talked about it again and stopped hanging out altogether. He
started focusing on his studies to keep himself engaged.

Card 10

Lights were out again! This was the fourth time today that the MCB had tripped. “It must be
your hair dryer” said Ramesh to Deepa. Ramesh was going up the stairs nervously like the
three times before. It was something about electrical boards that gave him the shivers. Yes,
getting electrocuted is a scary thought but something as harmless as a MCB can also rattle up
Ramesh. But today it was his day building up the courage to go up fourth time in a row. “It’s
up!” he yelled after turning on the switch. The light was back on and now Ramesh was
confident when he saw Deepa’s hairdryer there. He knew what it meant. Ramesh was a smart
man, he went to Deepa and confronted her.
“You accidently left it up”, Deepa tried acting coy and claimed she didn’t know what he was
talking about. After a very long session of question and answers Deepa finally accepted being
up there. Keeping this confrontation in mind Ramesh concluded it was Deepa who was
turning the power off “but why?”
“So that you are no longer afraid of doing it” she replied “it’s called exposure therapy”
saying this she went to sleep.
Baffled by why Deepa chose today as the day to practice it Ramesh had many questions, but
one good came from it he was no longer afraid.

Blank Card
Walking on the street I saw a woman drop a sheet of paper as she rushed hurriedly into a
building.
As a good Samaritan I yelled " hey lady " to bring it to her notice, but she was in such a hurry
that she paid no heed to my call. After she went in, I went to pick up the paper and much to
my surprise it was blank. It was a plain blank white sheet of paper. Now picking up the sheet
and returning it to the lady felt not that important. But something inside me told me to pick
up the sheet so I did.
On my way back home I took the sheet out of my pocket and wondered what could have been
written on this piece of paper or will the lady miss it. But soon I realised even though it has
the potential to be something really important document but until then it's as dispensable as
any other blank sheet. This would be a great lesson for my kids after tonight's story.
 1

Children’s Apperception Test (CAT)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

April 24, 2022

 2

Children’s Apperception Test (CAT)

Purpose

To assess individual variations in children's responses to standardized stimuli

presented in the form of pictures of animals (CAT-A) or humans (CAT-H) in common social
situations.

Introduction to the Concepts

Allport (1961) defined personality as the “dynamic organization within the individual
of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behaviour and thought”
(Feist & Feist, 2009). Personality is a pattern of relatively stable traits and characteristics that
give meaning and consistency to one's behaviour. There are many theories evolved to explain
personality from time to time. The psychoanalytic approach of Sigmund Freud, and the
different theories of personality by the Neo Freudians as well as the recent theories of
personality shows the importance of personality in human life.
Projective Tests
The term ‘projective method’ was devised by Frank (1939, 1948) to refer to a
category of tests with unstructured stimuli and assessing personality (Gregory, 2005). A
projective test is a psychological measurement characterised by the following: an ambiguity
in the stimulus, multiplicity of responses permitted the subject in an open situation where the
responses do not have a right or wrong character and the interest of the interpreter in the
unconscious or latent aspects of the personality and in their amenability to holistic personality
analysis (Schneemann, 1965). The expectation from these projective tests, known as the
projective hypothesis, is that by allowing the individual to respond freely, their interpretations
of the structure and the stimuli will project their underlying thoughts, conflicts, feelings,
needs, anxieties, etc. (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2009).
Development of CAT
The Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.), devised by Leopold Bellak and Sonay
Sorel Bellak and first published in 1949, is based on nature of the TAT picture-story test. The
CAT is used with young children within the age groups of 3 to 10 years. According to
Bellaks (1949) the C.A.T. was designed to facilitate the understanding of various important
problems of childhood such as feeding problems, sibling rivalry, toilet training and oedipal
problems. The test also intended to discover the child's structure of personality, dynamic
 3

mode of reacting to their problems and the manner in which they would handle problems of
development. The CAT is used to assess personality, level of maturity, and, often,
psychological health. The theory is that a child's responses to a series of drawings of animals
or humans in familiar situations are likely to reveal significant aspects of a child's personality.
Some of these dimensions of personality include level of reality testing and judgment, control
and regulation of drives, defenses, conflicts, and level of autonomy.
Description of CAT
Similar to the TAT, The Children’s Apperception Test involves narrating stories
about a series of provocative yet ambiguous sets of black and white pictures. The test consists
of 10 picture cards and 1 blank card. In creating the original CAT, animal figures were used
instead of the human figures depicted in the TAT because it was assumed that children from
three to ten years of age would identify more easily with drawings of animals. The original
CAT consisted of ten cards depicting animal (CAT-A) figures in human social settings.
Bellak later developed the CAT-H, which included human figures, for use in children who,
for a variety of reasons, identified more closely with human rather than animal figures. A
supplement to the CAT (the CAT-S), which included pictures of children in common family
situations, was created to elicit specific rather than universal responses.
The pictures on the CAT were chosen to draw out children’s fantasies and encourage
storytelling. Descriptions of the ten pictures are as follows: baby chicks seated around a table
with an adult chicken appearing in the background; a large bear and a baby bear playing tug-
of-war; a lion sitting on a throne being watched by a mouse through a peephole; a mother
kangaroo with a joey (baby kangaroo) in her pouch and an older joey beside her; two baby
bears sleeping on a small bed in front of a larger bed containing two bulges; a cave in which
two large bears are lying down next to a baby bear; a ferocious tiger leaping toward a
monkey who is trying to climb a tree; two adult monkeys sitting on a sofa while another adult
monkey talks to a baby monkey; a rabbit sitting on a child’s bed viewed through a doorway;
and a puppy being spanked by an adult dog in front of a bathroom. The cards in the human
version substitute human adults and children for the animals but the situations are the same.
Gender identity, however, is more ambiguous in the animal pictures than in the human ones.
The ambiguity of gender can allow for children to relate to all the child animals in the
pictures rather than just the human beings of their own sex.
The pictures are meant to encourage the children to tell stories related to competition,
illness, injuries, body image, family life, and school situations. The CAT test manual suggests
that the administrator should consider the following variables when analyzing a child’s story
 4

about a particular card: the protagonist (main character) of the story; the primary needs of the
protagonist; and the relationship of the main character to his or her personal environment.
The pictures also draw out a child’s anxieties, fears, and psychological defenses.
Psychometric Properties of CAT
It is difficult to obtain reliability and validity measures of projective techniques
because there is no uniform and standard way of scoring and interpreting the responses. The
CAT requires computation of construct validity which has not been fully obtained. However,
analysis of CAT responses by Haworth (1962) have achieved a reliability coefficient of .88
(Rulon formula with Spearman-Brown correction) an intra-scorer reliability coefficient of
.96. While a comparison study between TAT, CAT and CAT-H by Myler et al. (1972) found
an interrater reliability of .94.
Indian Adaptation of CAT by Uma Chowdhury
The CAT primarily uses animal pictures in order to make the test relatively culture-
free. However, when cross-cultural comparisons were made within the Indian population,
particularly on Indian school children from different parts of Calcutta, children of contiguous
rural areas and children from the Abor tried of the Northeastern Frontiers of India, analysis of
the responses from these different groups showed a discrepancy between the different groups.
Some children of the sophisticated society were able to easily identify with the original CAT
cards while responses from less urbanized children faced difficulty in identifying themselves
with some of the original cards. Hence making the need for a modification of the images
quite evident.
The modification of the original pictures was planned on the basis of the experiences
gained from the results of the original tests with different groups. The modification was
made as close as possible to the pattern of the original and no innovation was attempted
except where it was absolutely necessary to make it suitable for the new situation. In the
present adaptation therefore the special features of the Indian social situations and the
environmental needs which do not have counterparts in the original CAT had to be
supplemented by introducing new cards to suit the requirement of its cultural milieu keeping
the new drawing as close as possible to the original.
Scoring of CAT
The Indian version of CAT is scored using the Bellack’s system of scoring, keeping in
mind the following categories –
1. The Main Theme: Understood as restating the gist of the story, the main theme is
usually broken down into five levels, namely – i) Descriptive level (Plain restatement
 5

of the story/ Summary), ii) Interpretive Level, iii) The Diagnostic Level, iv) The
Symbolic Level, and v) The Elaborate level.
2. Main Hero: The main hero of any story would be the one who is the most referred to
in the story, whose feelings and subjective notions are the most discussed, and
perhaps the character with whom the subject seems to identify himself with the most.
The vocation, interests, abilities,, traits, abilities, adequacy, and body image are
recorded.
3. Main Needs and Drives of the Subject: The Behavioural Needs of the subject, along
with Figures, Objects, or Circumstances Introduced, and Figures, Objects, and
Circumstances Omitted are recorded under this.
4. Conception of the Environment: Adjectives such as hostile, friendly, succouring,
dangerous can be used to describe how the subject actually perceives the surroundings
around him to be.
5. Figures Seen as: In this, the parental figures, contemporary figures, and junior
figures are taken into account – how these figures are seen as or viewed by the main
hero or the character and how the subject reacts to it.
6. Significant Conflicts: Used to define the nature of conflicts which are between two
forces. Example – Between super ego and aggression.
7. Nature of Anxieties: The main anxieties and nature of the anxieties primarily
experienced by the main hero are of remarkable importance to understand the
defenses which may have been used by the hero.
8. Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears: At times, drives are less clearly
expressed than the defenses, so it becomes important to record the defense
mechanisms used by the hero.
9. Strength/Severity of SuperEgo: This focuses on the nature of punishment in
response to the severity of the offenses or crime, giving us an insight into the
adequacy of the superego.
10. Integration of the Ego: Tells us how well a subject is able to function and the extent
to which he is able to compromise between his drives and the demands of reality.
Administration of CAT
The CAT takes approximately 20 to 40 minutes to administer. The test may be used
directly in therapy or as a play technique in other settings. After carefully establishing rapport
with the child, the examiner shows the child one card after another in a particular sequence
(although fewer than ten cards may be used at the examiner’s discretion) and encourages the
 6

child to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end about the characters. The examiner
may ask the child to describe, for example, what led up to the scene depicted, the emotions of
the characters, and what might happen in the future.
Applications of CAT
• The CAT, which is designed for use in clinical, educational, and research settings,
provides the examiner with a source of data, based on the child's perceptions and
imagination, for use in better understanding the child's current needs, motives,
emotions, and conflicts, both conscious and unconscious.
• Its use in clinical assessment is generally part of a larger battery of tests and
interview data. The pictures also draw out a child’s anxieties, fears and psychological
defences.
• The child’s structure and his dynamic method of reacting to and handling his
problems of growth. The CAT maybe clinically useful in understanding what dynamic
and structural factors might be related to a child’s behaviour and problems in a group
setting like, school or kindergarten or at home.
• The CAT maybe used directly in therapy as a play technique. CAT can be applied in
making informed decisions pertaining to differential diagnosis treatment
recommendations.
Criticism
Over time, the TAT has been heavily criticized for its psychometric properties, lack of
standardization and scoring practices, and controversial interpretation (Weiner and Greene
2008). Despite its provocative nature as a projective assessment, the TAT remains one of the
most researched projective tests in personality assessment. Similarly in 1965 (Bellak and
Bellak), after much criticism of the original CAT assessment tool, a revised version was
published known as the CAT-H. In this later version, the 10 pictures outline only human
beings which seem to appeal far greater to the older population used in this testing, ages 7 to
10.
The CAT and TAT is frequently criticized for its lack of objective scoring, its reliance
on the scorer’s own scoring method and bias, and the lack of accepted evidence for its
reliability (consistency of results) and validity (effectiveness in measuring what it was
designed to measure). For example, no clear evidence exists that the test measures needs,
conflicts, or other processes related to human motivations in a valid and reliable way.
(Niwlikar, 2019)
 7

TAT and CAT, as well as other projective measures, has been criticized for their lack
of standardized methods of administration as well as the lack of standard norms for
interpretation. Studies of the interactions between examiners and test subjects have found, for
example, that the race, gender, and social class of both participants influence the stories that
are told as well as the way the stories are interpreted by the examiner (Niwlikar, 2019).

Methodology
Materials Required
Children’s Apperception Test (CAT) Cards, CAT Manual, Pen/ Pencil, Piece of Paper
Particulars of the Subject
Name: VT

Age: 8 years

Sex: Male

Educational Qualification: 3rd grade

Socio-Economic Status: Middle SES

Preliminary Set-Up

For the smooth administration of the present assessment of the Children’s

Apperception Test, it was ensured that the subject i.e., the child was well rested and was
seated comfortably, facing the test administrator. A rapport was successfully established with
the child, and it was ensured that the environment for conducting the assessment was quiet.
Efforts were made to minimize external disturbances and noises and it was ensured that the
room was well-lit. The materials required for the administration of CAT were procured from
the laboratory prior to the administration and were kept ready to facilitate its smooth
conduction.
Procedure
After carefully establishing rapport with the child, the investigator showed the child
one card after another in a particular sequence (although fewer than ten cards may be used at
the investigator's discretion) and encouraged the child to tell a story, keeping in mind the
following four questions – “What has led up to the event shown in the picture?”, “What is
currently happening in the picture?”, “What the characters are feeling and thinking?”, and
”What is the outcome of the story?”. The administration was completed in one sitting. This
 8

was followed by scoring, and subsequently, interpreting the responses of the subject. This
was subsequently supplemented by a summary of the report of the CAT stories of the subject
which helped in understanding the different aspects of the child’s personality.
Instructions
The following instructions pertaining to the administration of TAT were given to the
subject –
“I am going to show you some cards that have pictures on them. I would like you to create a
story for each of these cards, keeping in mind the following four questions – “What has led
up to the event shown in the picture?”, “What is currently happening in the picture?”, “What
the characters are feeling and thinking?”, and” What is the outcome of the story?”. There are
no right or wrong answers and there is no time limit for this test. You can narrate the story
out loud so that I can write them down. If you have any questions, you can ask me at any
point.”
Precautions
The following precautions should be taken during the investigation to facilitate its
smooth conduction-
• The consent should be obtained both from the child as well as from his/her parents or
caretakers.
• The cards should not be shown to the subject beforehand.
• In case of deception, it should be ensured that the subject and the informant be
informed of the true purpose of the test after completing the administration.
• All external disturbances should be minimized to ensure that the subject’s attention
and concentration is sustained and maintained throughout the administration.
• The assessment should be conducted in a single sitting
• The investigator should ensure that the subject feels comfortable and at ease.

Results and Discussion

Table 1.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 1

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

 9

Main Theme Overpowering id impulses driving the hero

to seek instant gratification and operate on
pleasure principle; Feelings of guilt as
experienced after giving in to id’s demands.
Main Hero One of the baby chicks
Age: 1-3 years
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Curious, Exploratory, Stubborn,
Restless
Adequacy: Inadequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nPlay,
nNurturance, nAutonomy
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Garden, Radishes, Fruits, Gate
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Nurturing, Supportive
Parental Figures are seen as Loving, Nurturing, Helpful
And Subject’s Reaction is Happiness

Significant Conflicts Conflict between Id and Superego

Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Denial
 10

Severity of Superego as manifested by -

Integration of Ego Hero: Inadequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are not in control
Thought processes: Original, appropriate,
complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Immature

Table 2.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 2

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme Inferiority complex paving way for feelings
of anxiety
Main Hero Smallest Bear
Age: 5-7 years
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Respectful, Appreciative,
Determined
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nNurturance,
nDeference (Respect), nSuccorance,
nPlay
 11

b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: -
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Nurturing, Supportive
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Loving, Nurturing, Helpful, Kind, Strong
And Subject’s Reaction is Admiration, Happiness

Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Idealization
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Original, appropriate,
complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 3.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 3

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme Neurotic anxiety leading to escapism
Main Hero Lion
Age: No information available in the story
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
 12

Interests: No information available in the

story
Traits: Gullible, Over-Dependent, Scared
Adequacy: Inadequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero d) Behavioural Needs: nAggression,
nDominance
e) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: - Bird,
Fox, Dog, Bone
Implying need for or to:
nAbasement, nHarm Avoidance
f) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as No information available in the story
Contemporary Figures are seen as Helpful (Bird and Fox), Supportive, Scary
And Subject’s Reaction is and Dangerous (Dog)
Admiration, Happiness

Significant Conflicts nDominance and nAbasement

Nature of Anxieties Of physical harm and illness
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Escapism, Avoidance
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Inadequate
Outcome: Unhappy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are not in control
Thought processes: Original, complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 4.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 4

 13

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Older Kangaroo Kid
Age: -
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Curious, Exploratory
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nNurturance,
nPlay,
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Hunters
Implying need for or to: nSafety
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Nurturing, Supportive, Helpful
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Loving, Nurturing, Helpful, Kind, Strong
And Subject’s Reaction is Admiration, Happiness, Felt safe

Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
 14

Drive control: Drives are in control

Thought processes: Original, appropriate,
complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 5.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 5

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme -
Main Hero Small Bear
Age: -
Sex: 4-5 years old
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Curious, Exploratory, Sharp
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nChange,
nPlay, nCognizance
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: Bears,
Tall tree, Ladder
Implying need for or to: -
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
 15

Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as -

And Subject’s Reaction is -
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Original, appropriate,
complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 6.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 6

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme
Main Hero Kid Bear
Age: - No information available in the story
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Smart, Clever
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
 16

Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nNurturance,

nPlay, nSecurity
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: Fox,
Lion, Bones
Implying need for or to: nSafety,
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Loving, Nurturing, Supportive, Helpful
And Subject’s Reaction is -
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, Bordering on Realistic
Drive control: Drives are in control
Thought processes: Original, complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 7.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 7

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme -
Main Hero Tiger
Age: - No information available in the story
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
 17

Abilities: No information available in the

story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Clever, Aggressive, Impulsive
Adequacy: Inadequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nDominance,
nAggression
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced: Bears
Implying need for or to: nSafety
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Smart, Sly
And Subject’s Reaction is Aggression
Significant Conflicts Conflict between nDominance and nSafety
Nature of Anxieties Of being overpowered and helpless
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Escapism
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Inadequate
Outcome: Unhappy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are not in control
Thought processes: Original, complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 8.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 8

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

 18

Main Theme Fixation in the Oral Stage leading to

Gullibility
Main Hero Small Monkey
Age: - 4-6 years
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Helpful, Caring, Explorative
Adequacy: Adequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nNurturance,
nPlay, nCognizance
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Monkeys in a cave
Implying need for or to:
nAffiliation
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as Friendly, Loving
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Loving, Nurturing
And Subject’s Reaction is -
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears -
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Adequate
Outcome: Happy, unrealistic
 19

Drive control: Drives are not in control

Thought processes: Original, complete
Intelligence: Above Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Table 9.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 9

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme Fixation to anal stage resulting in
carelessness and disorganization
Main Hero Small Boy
Age: - 4-6 years
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Explorative, Curious, Considerate,
Inattentive, Disorganized, Careless
Adequacy: Inadequate
Body/Self-Image: No information available
in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nAutonomy,
nPlay,
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Mother, Toy, Trees, Fruits, Toy
Repairer
Implying need for or to: -
 20

c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Loving, Supportive
And Subject’s Reaction is -
Significant Conflicts -
Nature of Anxieties -
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Regression
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Inadequate
Outcome: Unhappy, unrealistic
Drive control: Drives are not in control
Thought processes: Original, complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Immature

Table 10.

Interpretation of Subject’s Story on Card 10

Elements of Scoring Interpretation

Main Theme -
Main Hero Small Dog
Age: - 4-6 years
Sex: Male
Vocation: No information available in the
story
Abilities: No information available in the
story
Interests: No information available in the
story
Traits: Obedient, Sincere, Compliant
Adequacy: Slightly inadequate
 21

Body/Self-Image: No information available

in the story
Main Needs of the Hero a) Behavioural Needs: nPlay,
nDeference (Compliance)
b) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances Introduced:
Mother
Implying need for or to:
nAutonomy, nApproval
c) Figures, Objects, or
Circumstances omitted: -
Conception of Environment (World) as -
Parental/Contemporary Figures are seen as Occasionally strict, otherwise nurturing
And Subject’s Reaction is Sadness
Significant Conflicts nApproval vs nAutonomy
Nature of Anxieties Of physical harm, disappointment
Main Defenses against Conflicts and Fears Projection
Severity of Superego as manifested by -
Integration of Ego Hero: Slightly Inadequate
Outcome: Unhappy, Realistic
Drive control: Drives are not in control
Thought processes: Original, complete
Intelligence: Average
Maturity Level: Mature

Integrated Summary
The subject, VT, an 8-year-old male, was cooperative while narrating the stories and
providing clarification regarding the same.
In terms of understanding the structure and drives of the subject, it can be observed
the nPlay, nAutonomy, nNurturance, nApproval, nDeference, nDominance, nAggression and
nAffiliation emerged to be the most prominent drives and needs of the subject. The need for
play may perhaps stem from how the subject loves to play games, crack jokes and have fun in
merry, jolly and amusing situations. The subject being easy-going also contributes towards
the need for play being significantly prominent. The need for autonomy arises from how the
 22

subject wishes to become independent in carrying out certain tasks, but the need for
nurturance does come into the picture and clashes with it as the subject, at the same time,
wishes to be loved, supported, and cared for by his family members and those around him.
The need for deference here can be attributed to how the client looks upto others around him
as possessing positive qualities and express their admiration towards them. This can be
towards his parents, siblings, or even his friends who he may believe are exceptional. The
need for affiliation stems from the subject’s need and desire to cultivate close-knit bonds with
people around him and make friends, as has been expressed by him in reality. The need for
dominance and need for aggression stem from the subject’s wish to control and influence
those around him, but this can become slightly aggressive if others do not comply with the
subject’s attempts to establish control.
The subject finds himself often caught in situations where he does feel like doing
things independently and standing on his own two feet, but since he is a child, he also realizes
it might be difficult for him to attain that level of independence at this stage and therefore,
has to depend on others for many things and seek their approval and validation on whether
what he is doing is right. Similarly, the subject also has a tendency to land up in fights when
he tries exerting his influence and control among his friends but the physical fights arising
due to disagreements is what compels the subject to seek safety and security and avoid any
harm to himself. The subject also finds himself rarely in situations where he is unable to
delay his gratification and would want what he wants to have almost immediately. This might
be considered typical of children as they are still developing, and id impulses tend to be
stronger among children as their concepts of reality and morality have not been developed
fully.
To combat with the anxieties that the client experiences in his day-to-day life, as
evident from the stories, it can be seen how he uses the defense mechanisms of projection,
regression, escapism, avoidance, idealization and denial. The subject might use projection in
situations when he perceives that his parents or teachers, are disappointed in him even when
they are not, and he believes himself to not have performed well. This is exhibited in his real-
life where he tends to not score as much as he expects himself to and becomes disappointed
in himself, and attributes this to his parents even when there is no evidence for the same.
Further, the subject may rarely have a tendency to regress back to his previous stages of
functioning when he may not be getting as much attention as he typically gets. Escapism,
avoidance, and denial may be exhibited in how the subject tries to escape from the anxiety-
provoking situations where he might feel cornered by other people, especially during fights
 23

with friends. Finally, the subject may have a tendency to place certain people in his life on a
pedestal, thinking that they are perfect and in hopes of becoming like them one day.
The plot of the stories is organized. All the stories are complete and seem to be
original. The content of the stories is appropriate as per the form demand and is age
appropriate and creative. It can be observed that the subject is highly imaginative and creative
and was able to articulate well for children of his age. It can also be inferred that the subject
identifies more with male heroes than with female, and the heroes were his own age. This
suggests that the subject projects his own self to the heroes and these projections can be
accepted as representation of the subject’s own unconscious material. In some stories, the
subject realized that he is projecting his own thoughts on to the animals. The subject’s main
heroes aim for play and fun while exploring the world around them. The subject has an
average intelligence and he was able to express his thoughts in a language that was coherent
and in a flow. The stories are structured, well organized and logically developed. The stories
are suggestive of average emotional maturity in terms of age. The subject seems to identify
with the characters of the same sex and the same age in the stories. The theme of nurturance
and autonomy is high which can indicate that the subject wants to explore his surroundings
while being in the protective care of his parents and being affiliated to them.
Another interesting observation is that some stories explore the themes of
abandonment and getting lost but the subject takes a proactive approach to find his way back
indicating self-reliance and self-confident. In the stories, the subject has loving and
supportive relations with family. The parents allow the hero to explore his environment
indicating that the subject has freedom to explore the world. The subject also has positive
relations with his peers and likes playing with them.
From the stories it is evident that the subject’s ego is functioning normally. Most of
the stories fulfil the reality demand of the picture and are structured in a way that suggests
that the subject is oriented to reality. Even though projection is seen, the subject is aware of
projecting his own experiences onto the pictures suggesting that the ego is not in danger and
is not trying to protect itself. The capacity to solve conflicts is adequate and the conflicts are
resolved in a healthy manner.
Conclusion
The subject has average intelligence and can efficiently express himself. His
experiences indicate positive relations with family and peers. The subject experiences
positive emotions more than negative emotions. Minor conflicts are seen but they are
resolved in a proactive and healthy manner. Projection is used at a conscious level and does
 24

not pose threat to the ego. Id dominates the behaviour and actions of the subject and the
subject is curious to explore his surroundings which is an age-appropriate trait.
Recommendations
The subject has a high self-confidence and adopts healthy ways of managing conflict
which can be seen as an advantage for his better adjustment. He is advised to learn ways to
control id impulses. The subject has good insight which can aid in the development of ego
and learning how to use restraint and control in life.
 25

References

Anastasi & Urbina. (2014). Psychological Testing. New Jersey: Printice Hall.

Beatrice Myler , Arthur Rosenkrantz & George Holmes (1972) A Comparison of the TAT,

CAT and CAT-H among Second Grade Girls, Journal of Personality Assessment, 36:5,

440-444, DOI: 10.1080/00223891.1972.10119792

Chowdhury. (1960), An Indian Modification of the Thematic Apperception Test. The Journal

of American Social Psychology

Feist, J; Feist, G J;. (2009). Theories of Personality (4 ed.). New York: McGraw- Hill.

Gregory. (2005). Psychological testing: History, Principles and Applications. New York:

Pearson education.

Kaplan & Saccuzzo. (2009). Psychological testing:Principles, Applications and Issues.

Belmount: Wardsworth Cengage Publication.

Keiser RE, Prather EN. What is the TAT? A review of ten years of research. J Pers Assess.

1990;55(3-4):800-803. doi:10.1080/00223891.1990.9674114

Lilienfeld SO, Wood JM, Garb HN. The Scientific Status of Projective Techniques. Psychol

Sci Public Interest. 2000;1(2):27-66. doi:10.1111/1529-1006.002

Mary R. Haworth (1963) A Schedule for the Analysis of CAT Responses, Journal of Projective

Techniques and Personality Assessment, 27:2, 181-184, DOI:

10.1080/0091651X.1963.10120031

Morgan CD, Murray HA. A Method for Investigating Fantasies: The Thematic Apperception

Test. Arch NeurPsych. 1935;34(2):289-306.

 26

Morgan, W. (2002). "Origin and History of the Earliest Thematic Apperception test". Journal

of Personality Assessment. 79 (3): 422–445. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa7903_03. ; see

Weber's "Christiana Morgan (1897–1967)," in Michel Weber and William Desmond, Jr. (eds.),

Handbook of Whiteheadian Process Thought, Frankfurt / Lancaster, Ontos Verlag,

2008, v. II, pp. 465-468.

Niwlikar, A. (2019, April 13). CHILDREN’S APPERCEPTION TEST (CAT). Careershodh.

https://www.careershodh.com/childrens-apperception-test-cat/

Rothney & Heimann. (1953). Development and Application of Projective Tests of Personality.

Review of educational research, 23(1), 70-84.

Schneidman. (1965). Projective Techniques. In b. Wolman, Handbook of Clinical Psychology.

New York: McGraw Hill.

Vane JR. The thematic apperception test: A review. Clin Psychol Rev. 1981;1(3):319-336.

doi:10.1016/0272-7358(81)90009-X

Weiner, I. B., & Greene, R. L. (2008). Handbook of personality assessment. New York: Wiley.
 1

Multidimensional Assessment of Personality System (MAPS)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

April 20, 2022

 2

Multidimensional Assessment of Personality System (MAPS)

Purpose

To assess the personality dimensions of the subject using the Multi-dimensional

Assessment of Personality System (MAPS).

Introduction to Personality

The word ‘personality’ has been derived from the Latin word persona, often used to
refer to those masks worn by the actors of the ancient times which were representative of a
particular personality trait of any character in a play (Cherry, 2022). The concept of
personality has been viewed and defined by many different prominent figures and
psychologists. For instance, Gordon Allport, a renowned pioneer in the field of personality,
believed that "Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought" (McLeod,
2017). While according to Raymond Cattell, “Personality is that which permits a prediction
of what a person will do in a given situation” (Cattell, 1950; as quoted in Kelland, 2020).
Largely basing our understanding on the various definitions of personality that have evolved
gradually over the years, personality is now commonly conceptualized as the configuration
and combination of relatively enduring, complex, and dynamic characteristics, traits and
behaviours that constitute a person’s unique manner of adjustment to life (American
Psychological Association, n.d.).

Theories of Personality

Psychodynamic Theories of Personality: Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development

and Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages widely mention the development of personality.
Both the theories suggest that both conscious and unconscious factors are equally responsible
for the personality of the individual (Baron & Misra, 2016).

Trait Theories of Personality: Traits are the factors which are considered to be more stable
and greatly influence an individuals’ behaviour. According to this theory, personality is made
of different traits, and it has a major role in influencing the behavioural pattern of individuals.
Trait theory focuses on the major differences between the individuals. Allport’s traits theory,
3-Dimensions, Five factor theory are the examples of the trait personality theories (Morgan,
King, Weisz, & Schopler, 2017).
 3

Behavioural Theories of Personalities: These theories mainly focus on the overt actions of
the individual and their interactions with nature to define personality. John B. Watson is the
founder of this school of thought. He believed that personality is a learnt concept and depends
on classical conditioning, operant conditioning, punishment, reinforcement, and other social
factors (Feldman, 2017).

Humanistic Theories of Personality: These theories give priority to the free will of an
individual. Carl Roger’s theory of a fully functioning person and Abraham Maslow’s
‘hierarchy of needs’ are examples of humanistic theories of personality. These theories
believe in the innate goodness of human beings and focus on the individual’s independence
(Baron & Misra, 2016).

Biological Theories of Personality: These theories focus on the biological aspect of a person.
They also discuss the role of biological factors in the formation of the personality of an
individual, e.g., DNA structure and gene coding (Leukel, 2002). The initial theories stated
that the personality of a being depends upon their body shape, size, features etc (Hippocrates;
Sheldon).

Personality Assessment

Personality assessment is a broad field that involves the thorough application of the
knowledge of the procedure of administration, scoring, and interpretation of rigorously and
empirically standardized measures of personality traits (American Psychological Association,
n.d.). This serves the purpose of cultivating an understanding of the existing individual
differences in personality among people across time and situations (Wheeler & Archer,
2016). It is also vital to understand the significant role personality assessment plays in
contributing valuable information for making professional diagnoses in clinical settings
(Nezami & Butcher, 2000). Personality has commonly been assessed by clinicians using both
objective as well as projective tests.

Objective tests of personality assessment, including self-report inventories, require the

participants to respond to a given set of questions by following specific instructions - either
choosing among given options/ responses or rating how suitable the given statement or
question is for the participant (Silverman, 1990). Some of the most widely and commonly
used objective measures of personality are tthe Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), 16 PF, Neo Pi-R, Millon Clinical Multiaxial
 4

Inventory (MCMI-II), and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ-R) (Nezami &
Butcher, 2000; Cherry, 2022).

Projective tests, on the other hand, consist of relatively ambiguous and unstructured
stimuli that are presented to the participant in order to elicit and tap the unconscious feelings,
thoughts, needs, attitudes, and conflicts projected by them onto the stimuli (Sturner, 2009).
Having its roots in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic perspectives, projective tests operate
on the idea that the ambiguous nature of the stimuli reduce the scope of social desirability on
part of the participant (Cherry, 2020). Lindzey (1959) classified projective techniques into
five categories namely - associative techniques, construction techniques, completion
techniques, choice or ordering techniques, and expressive techniques.

Multidimensional Assessment of Personality (MAPS)

The Multidimensional Assessment of Personality System (MAPS) is a series of tests

that has been developed by Sanjay Vohra to primarily analyse and report the individual
differences in personality by assessing different personality dimensions. The test caters to
assessing personality among primary level children as well as the normal adult population. In
fact, Vohra developed four forms for assessing different populations, ranging from children
to adults.

Forms of MAPS

The form MAPS P has been developed for primary school children, aged 4-7 years,
whereas the form MAPS C has been developed for children aged 7-11 years. In both these
forms, only two response alternatives have been provided for the respondents to choose one
from. The idea of providing two response alternatives in the test was to prevent the kids from
getting confused with another middle option, which is something that they can find complex,
keeping in mind their age.

The MAPS T form has been developed for teenagers aged 12-18 years, where the
respondents are required to select one response alternative from the three responses provided
– the one that is the most appropriate for the respondent.

Finally, the last form MAPS A has been developed for adults aged 18 years and
above. Comprising of 147 items, form MAPS A examines 20 dimensions of personality.
MAPS A follows a similar pattern of response alternatives as MAPS T. For each item, the
 5

respondent is required to choose among the three response options provided, namely – Yes,
No, and Maybe, which is the most appropriate for them.

Dimensions of MAPS

As mentioned above, the 147 item MAPS A measures the personality profile of a
subject along the lines of 20 dimensions, which are –

Adaptability (Ad)

This dimension refers to the ability of the subject to adjust and to respond to changing
circumstances in an appropriate and suitable manner. It also measures other personality
dimensions such as Emotional Maturity, Uninhibited Behaviour, Trustworthiness, Self-
Assurance, Strong Willpower, Self-Image, and Social Preciseness. The individuals scoring
high on this dimension are said to readily embrace and accept dynamism as a means of
fulfilling the demands of the environment. Highly adaptable individuals are able to adjust
well in different domains of life, such as work, and learn to eliminate and remove
unnecessary preparatory behaviour. On the other hand, individuals scoring low tend to
struggle with maintaining a harmonious relationship and balance with the environment, and
hence remain largely unsatisfied as most of their needs and demands are unmet.

Achievement Motivation (Am)

This dimension mainly measures two attitudes – ‘learning skills’ and ‘keeping the
job’. Feelings associated with being a failure have a tendency to decrease the score Am
reflects the extent to which an individual is currently interested and motivated to work, and
measures other personality dimensions like general intelligence, imagination, dominance,
self-sufficiency, discipline, and radicalism. Individuals scoring high on Am are ambitious,
overtly invested and interested in making their career, and are realistic when it comes to
different domains of their life. On the other hand, individuals scoring low are more prone to
exhibiting regressive behaviour, escapism, and unwillingness to accept responsibility and
accountability.

Boldness (BO)

Individuals scoring high on this dimension are usually thrill seekers, adventurous,
energetic, gregarious, and bold. They are confident and often enjoy being the centre of
attention in group settings. Since they are confident, they have an easy time making
 6

decisions, however that does not necessarily mean that they make the correct decisions.
Further, individuals high on this dimension possess the ability to withstand external pressures
smoothly and with little effort. Athletes and successful salespersons often obtain above
average score on this dimension. On the other hand, individuals scoring low on this
dimension struggle to deal with external pressures and demands due to low stress tolerance.

Competition (Co)

Individuals scoring high on this dimension are dominant, assertive, but at the same
time can be aggressive. Generally, these individuals describe themselves as being forceful,
and believe in maintaining direct, straightforward relationships with people around them.
These individuals prefer having things their own way and like to work more towards
implementing and executing their plans. If analysed from the clinical perspective, it can be
contended that individuals scoring extremely high on this dimension (sten 9 or 10) are highly
aggressive and stubborn – the attributes that often mask the feelings of inferiority. Attributes
associated with individuals with low Co scores are humility, submissive, and
accommodating.

Enthusiasm (En)

Individuals scoring high on this dimension are usually described as happy-go-lucky,

cheerful, lively, enthusiastic, sociable and outgoing. These individuals require external
stimulation to keep themselves going which is probably why they enjoy parties, shows, and
jobs that offer change, variety, and travel. Thus, it can be regarded that airhostesses, stewards,
travel agents and sales personnel lie on the higher end of the spectrum, whereas researchers
and scientists are more likely to score less than average on this dimension, therefore lying on
the lower end of the spectrum. Individuals scoring low on this dimension are more likely to
be serious, prudent, and sober. This dimension is usually treated as a behaviour control
indicator, wherein high scores are indicative of individuals having a greater tendency to ‘act
out’ conflicts. On the other hand, low scores indicate that the individual is more likely to
internalize or control his inner conflicts.

General Ability (Gn)

Individuals scoring high on this domain are intellectual, fast learners, have a greater
mental capacity and desire to learn, and exhibit good decision-making and judgement ability.
 7

Individuals scoring low on this dimension are said to have poorer mental capacity, lesser
ability and willingness to learn, poor organization skills and poor judgment ability.

Guilt Proneness (Gp)

Individuals scoring high on Gp are said to experience excessive worry and feelings of
inadequacy in dealing with the everyday demands of their lives. They have a tendency to feel
excessively fatigued when faced with social and excitable situations and can feel easily
disheartened and regretful as they are more inclined towards piety. Further, they are said to
share a perspective wherein they question the morality of other people around them and show
a preference for private activities like spending time alone and reading books instead of
spending time amidst others and the daily hustle bustle. In fact, they are highly selective
when it comes to making friends. In group settings, these individuals have difficulty coming
to terms with their acceptance as a member of any group and thus, feel inhibited to
participate. This often makes them come across as shy and ineffective speakers. Since they
are largely unable to get themselves to participate, they are more likely to show a higher
group conformity to rules. From a clinical perspective, Gp helps in understanding the anxiety
experienced by clients typically in depressive and anxiety related disorders. This contributes
towards them scoring high on neuroticism, while at the same time, they can possess some
characteristics typical of the psychotic spectrum. This dimension is primarily concerned with
differentiating between individuals who act out due to their maladjustment from individuals
who are experiencing feelings of guilt due to internal conflicts.

Imagination (Im)

Individuals high on Im are said to have elaborate and vivid imaginative tendencies.
High on subjectivity, they are more likely to experience internal anxiety and tension as they
tend to indulge in imaginary scenarios more often than others. Owing to this, it is possible
that these individuals can prove to be irresponsible when it comes to solving practical
problems. In group settings, although individuals high on Im tend to feel unaccepted and
unwelcome, but they also seem to be unbothered about the same. They participate in group
activities, however their inputs are not really valued and taken into consideration by the other
members, which leads to them being discarded often. With respect to the group rules,
proceedings, and unity, these individuals seem to be largely dissatisfied and discontent.

Innovation (In)
 8

Individuals high on innovation perform well in problem solving and are frequently
analytical and liberal. For them logic overshadows feelings, and they are less inclined to
morals and values and despise traditions. Neurotics may not score high on this dimension. In
groups they tend to be more vocal as well as criticizing.

Leadership (Ld)

Individuals scoring high on this dimension, are good leaders and have the ability to
influence others in a group. They hold high positions and demand control and authority. They
have higher self-confidence and will power. They may also be adventurous, persevering, and
determined. They take ownership of their responsibilities and more organized than otherwise.
They focus on the right etiquettes and morals.

Maturity (Ma)

The dimension indicates dynamic integration opposed to general emotionality. A low

score on this dimension means higher anxiety. The level of Ma indicates an individual’s
stress tolerance. The higher the Ma score, the more adaptable a person would be compared to
a person with a low Ma score who would mostly be troubled and dissatisfied with different
factors. Low Ma shows generalized neurotic response in the form of phobias, psychosomatic
disturbance, sleep disturbances, hysterical and obsessional behaviour.

Mental health (Mh)

Individuals scoring high on this dimension, tend to have more endurance, are well
adjusted and are on the path for attaining self-actualization. It includes measures aimed at
preventing mental disorder and at improving psychological adjustment of the individuals and
their ability to maintain relationships. It also consists of personality characteristics.

Morality (Mo)

Individuals scoring high on the dimension tend to be more persistent and respectful of
authority. They are also conforming in a group. High Mo often feel disgusted with sloppy
people and messy rooms and they may not be as flexible as compared to those who have low
Mo.

Self-control (Sc)

This dimension may be used to indicate the ability to bind anxiety. Higher self-control
would mean having more control over their life and being socially and practically more
 9

consciously responsive with the norms. They are considerate and have foresight. They are
able to maintain objectivity when required and are decisive and are often involved in
technical and organizational activities.

Sensitivity (Se)

Individuals high on Se, are often up for new experiences, appreciate dramatics. They don’t
like people who are rude and situations that account for working in groups. They can often be
clingy and insecure in relationships and may create dependency on others for their needs.
High Se tend to be prone to mental breakdowns, different neurotic and psychotic symptoms.
Low Se may have a history of fewer illnesses and may be more practical and realistic in
comparison to the individuals with high Se.

Shrewdness (Sh)

Those who score high on this dimension are more reserved and prefer being around
sophisticated people. They are alert to social obligations. They are often goal oriented and
provide constructive solutions. Among married couples, high Se may be too detached and
unable to respond to the emotional needs of the other partner.

Suspiciousness (Su)

High scorers tend to be jealous, critical and irritable. Self-reports indicate that they do not
forget mistakes easily. They worry about what others think and what they may be saying
behind their backs.

Social warmth (Sw)

They tend to be warm hearted and open. They prefer occupations that require them to have
interpersonal contact. They are flexible and empathetic as well. Low scorers may indicate
unsatisfied interpersonal relationships.

Tension (Tn)

High scorers are often short tempered and may also have sleep disturbances. Extreme cases
involve them being irrationally worried, tense, irritable and anxious. They are rarely seen as
good leaders and have trouble in group settings.

Administration of the Test

 10

All the forms of MAP can be administered on both groups and individuals. In clinical
settings, generally, the test is administered on individuals. There is no time limit to complete
the test owing to the fact that it is a power test. On an average, it is expected that a subject
may take approximately 25-30 minutes to complete the test. An important feature of MAP A
is that it can be self-administered, under little supervision.

Procedure

The examiner establishes rapport with the participant at the very outset. This is done
to ensure that the participant is comfortable and in the right state iof mind to give the test, a
good understanding between the participant and examiner also increases the likelihood that
the participant will answer honestly. The participant was then given instructions and given a
chance to ask questions and clarify any doubts. The test is conducted as the examiner marks
the responses the subject reports, followed by scoring and interpretation. The participant is
debriefed at the end of the test.

Materials Used

1. MAPS Form A

2. Answer Sheet

3. Answer key/stencil

4. Profile sheet

5. Manual

6. Stationary

Psychometric Properties

Reliability

Split half reliability using the Spearman Brown formula and test-retest reliability were
conducted. Test-retest reliability for dimension Ad (Adaptability) was .69, for Am
(Achievement Motivation) was .63 and for Bo (Bold) was .72. Split half reliability for
dimension Ad was .72, Am was .68 and .76 for Bo.
 11

References

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Personality Assessment. Retrieved March 28,

2022, from https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/personality

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Personality. In APA dictionary of psychology.

Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/personality

Baron, R. A., & Misra, G. (2016). Psychology, Indian subcontinent edition. Noida: Pearson India

Education Service Pvt. Ltd.

Cherry, K. (2022, August 12). What is Personality?. VeryWell Mind.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-personality-2795416

Feldman, R. S. (2017). Understanding Psychology. McGraw Hill Education; Twelfth edition.

Kelland, M. D. (2020, August 17). Basic concepts of Cattell's theory. LibreTexts.

https://socialsci.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Psychology/Book%3A_Personality_Theor

y_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/10%3A_Trait_Theories_of_Personality/10.05%3

A_Basic_Concepts_of_Cattell's_Theory

Leukel, F. (2002). Introduction to Physiological Psychology. CBS.

McLeod, S. A. (2017). Theories of personality. Simply Psychology.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/personality-theories.html

Morgan, C., King, R., Weisz, J., & Schopler, J. (2017). Introduction to Psychology. McGraw Hill

Education.

Nezami, E., & Butcher, J. N. (2000). Objective Personality Assessment. In Handbook of

Psychological Assessment (pp. 413–435). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-

008043645-6/50094-X
 12

Silverman, W. (1990). Frequently Performed Psychological Tests. In Clinical Methods: The

History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations. 3rd edition. Butterworths.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK321/

Sturner, R. (2009). General Principles Of Psychological Testing. In Developmental-

Behavioral Pediatrics (pp. 763–769). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4160-

3370-7.00077-8

Wheeler, E. M. A., & Archer, R. P. (2016). Personality Assessment. In Encyclopedia of

Mental Health (pp. 267–269). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397045-

9.00188-9
 1

Rorschach Inkblot Test (RIBT)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

April 24, 2022

 2

Rorschach Inkblot Test (RIBT)

Purpose: To assess the psychopathology of an individual using the Rorschach Inkblot Test
(RIBT)

Introduction to the Concepts

While attempting to describe a human, we tend to use various adjectives that are
characteristic of that person. It is the combination of these characteristics or traits that a
person exhibits in himself, which makes up his personality. Since psychology is a field of
study of human behavior and mind, a significant amount of value is given to the concept of
personality. To understand a human personality, various methods have been developed
whose applicability ranges from a clinical setting to schools and organizations. In clinical
psychology, personality testing is particularly useful in clarifying diagnosis, problematic
patterns and symptoms, intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics, and treatment implications.
Personality

The word ‘personality’ has been derived from the Latin word persona, often used to
refer to those masks worn by the actors of the ancient times which were representative of a
particular personality trait of any character in a play (Cherry, 2022). The concept of
personality has been viewed and defined by many different prominent figures and
psychologists. For instance, Gordon Allport, a renowned pioneer in the field of personality,
believed that "Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought" (McLeod,
2017). While according to Raymond Cattell, “Personality is that which permits a prediction
of what a person will do in a given situation” (Cattell, 1950; as quoted in Kelland, 2020).
Largely basing our understanding on the various definitions of personality that have evolved
gradually over the years, personality is now commonly conceptualized as the configuration
and combination of relatively enduring, complex, and dynamic characteristics, traits and
behaviours that constitute a person’s unique manner of adjustment to life (American
Psychological Association, n.d.).

Personality Assessment

Personality assessment is a broad field that involves the thorough application of the
knowledge of the procedure of administration, scoring, and interpretation of rigorously and
empirically standardized measures of personality traits (American Psychological Association,
 3

n.d.). This serves the purpose of cultivating an understanding of the existing individual
differences in personality among people across time and situations (Wheeler & Archer,
2016). It is also vital to understand the significant role personality assessment plays in
contributing valuable information for making professional diagnoses in clinical settings
(Nezami & Butcher, 2000). Personality has commonly been assessed by clinicians using both
objective as well as projective tests.

Objective tests of personality assessment, including self-report inventories, require the

participants to respond to a given set of questions by following specific instructions - either
choosing among given options/ responses or rating how suitable the given statement or
question is for the participant (Silverman, 1990). Some of the most widely and commonly
used objective measures of personality are tthe Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI), Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), 16 PF, Neo Pi-R, Millon Clinical Multiaxial
Inventory (MCMI-II), and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ-R) (Nezami &
Butcher, 2000; Cherry, 2022).

Projective tests, on the other hand, consist of relatively ambiguous and unstructured
stimuli that are presented to the participant in order to elicit and tap the unconscious feelings,
thoughts, needs, attitudes, and conflicts projected by them onto the stimuli (Sturner, 2009).
Having its roots in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic perspectives, projective tests operate
on the idea that the ambiguous nature of the stimuli reduce the scope of social desirability on
part of the participant as they cannot figure out the interpretation of their answers due to the
questions being vague (Cherry, 2020). Presumably, the specific responses given by the client
reflect something about that individual’s psychodynamic functioning. One of the major
advantages of projective tests is that in many cases, the root cause of a client's problem
cannot be uncovered as they are not available to the conscious awareness of the client. There,
the structure of personality tests allows the investigator to access the unconscious thoughts
and feelings behind the client’s issues. Further,

Lindzey (1959) classified projective techniques into five categories namely - associative
techniques, construction techniques, completion techniques, choice or ordering techniques,
and expressive techniques.

Associative techniques are the ones in which the participants are required to respond
to a stimuli or cue presented with the first word, image, or percept that comes to their mind
 4

(Lindzey, 1959). Some of the common associative techniques include Word Association Test,
Rorschach Inkblot Test, Helmholtz Inkblot Test, and the Somatic Inkblot Series.

Construction techniques require the participants to construct or compose a product

(usually an art form) – like a story, or picture (Lindzey, 1959). It is believed that the story or
picture so constructed holds personal significance or relevance to the stimulus presented and
is, therefore, meaningful (Lindzey, 1959). Thematic Apperception Test, the Blacky Pictures,
the Make-A Picture-Story Test, and Children’s Apperception Tests are common examples of
construction techniques.

In Completion Techniques, the participants are provided with an incomplete stimulus

and are expected to complete these stimuli in whichever way they wish to – be it completing
a sentence or finishing a drawing (Lindzey, 1959). The Sentence Completion Test and the
Picture Frustration Study are considered one of the most widely and commonly used
examples of completion techniques.

Choice or Ordering Techniques require the individuals to rank, among the given
alternatives, groups of stimuli (pictures or sentences) that fit some specified criterion
(Lindzey, 1959). The Szondi Test and the Picture Arrangement Test are the best-known
examples of Choice or Ordering Techniques.

Finally, the Expressive Techniques hold great clinical significance as these require the
individuals to respond to a given stimulus by combining or integrating the stimuli into a
novel product through self-expression (Lindzey, 1959). Psychodrama, role-playing
techniques, play techniques or dance fall under the category of expressive techniques. Draw-
a-person test and House-Tree-Person Test are also a part of expressive techniques.

Introduction to Rorschach Inkblot Test

The Rorschach Inkblot Test (RIBT) is a projective test designed by Hermann

Rorschach. It is based on the art of Klecksography- pictures made out of inkblots on paper.
The current test consists of 10 inkblots printed on cards. Five of these cards are achromatic
(black and white) while the other five are chromatic(colour). The test was created in 1921
with the publication of Psychodiagnostik by Hermann Rorschach. The test has been
commonly used since 1940s - 1950s and has been synonymous with clinical psychology.
According to surveys, RIBT had become the most frequently used psychological test by the
year 1961 (Sundberg, 1961). Despite its popularity, the test has certain limitations in its use
 5

and analysis. The results yielded by RIBT are hard to test in any systematic manner and the
use of multiple kinds of scoring systems for the responses given to each ink blot has led to
some debate.

History and Development of RIBT

Hermann Rorschach did not make it clear where he got the idea from the test.
However, like most children of his time, he often played the popular game called Blotto –
involving creating poem-like associations or playing charades with inkblots. With the coinage
of the term ‘schizophrenia’ in 1911 by Eugen Bleuler, Rorschach wrote his dissertation about
hallucinations. While working with schizophrenia patients, Rorschach inadvertently
discovered that the patients responded quite differently to the Blotto game than others. He
made a brief report of this finding to a local psychiatric society, but nothing more came of it
at the time. It wasn't until he was established in his psychiatric practice in Russia's Krombach
hospital in 1917 that he became interested in systematically studying the Blotto game. He
used about 40 inkblots in his original studies in 1918 through 1921, but only administered
about 15 of them regularly. Ultimately, he collected data from 405 subjects (117 non-patients
which he used as his control group). His scoring method focused on how to classify responses
by their different characteristics rather than their content. He used a set of codes now called
scores- to determine if the response was talking about the whole inkblot (W), a large detail
(D), or a smaller detail, form of the inkblot (F) and colour (C). Between 1919 and 1920, he
failed to find a publisher willing to publish his findings and the 15 inkblot cards he regularly
used because of printing costs. Finally in 1921, he found a publisher willing to publish his
inkblots, but only 10 of them. Rorschach reworked his manuscript to include only 10 of the
15 inkblots he most commonly used. Rorschach reworked his manuscript to include only 10
of the 15 inkblots he most commonly used.

Coding and Scoring

Prior to the 1970s, there were five primary scoring systems for how people responded
to the inkblots dominated by two-the Beck and the Klopfer systems. Three other that were
used less often were the Hertz, Piotrowski and the Rapaport Schafer systems. In 1969, John
Exner Jr. published the first comparison of these five systems entitled The Rorschach
Systems. His ground-breaking analysis concluded that because the five systems differed so
dramatically and significantly, there weren't five scoring systems but rather as if five
uniquely different Rorschach tests had been created. He decided to undertake the creation of
 6

a new, comprehensive Rorschach scoring system taking into account the best components of
these five existing systems, combined with extensive empirical research on each component.
In 1973, Exner published the first edition of The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System laying
out the new scoring system. Exner broke down how a person responds to an inkblot into three
primary phases. In phase 1, the person looks at the card while their brain encodes the stimulus
(inkblot) and all its parts then classifies the stimulus and its parts. In phase 2, the person
discards potential answers that aren't ranked well, and censors other responses they think may
be inappropriate. In phase 3, they select some of the remaining responses by reason or traits,
styles, or other influences. If a person responds to common contours of a blot, Exner
theorized there was little projection going on. However, when a person starts to add more
information than they originally provided, it can be a sign of projection i.e., the person is
telling the examiner something about themselves or their lives, because they are going well
beyond the features of the inkblot itself. Once a client cycles through the 10 inkblots once
and provides his responses to the psychologist, the psychologist will then take the client
through each inkblot again, asking the client to help the psychologist see what they saw in
their original responses. The psychologist gets into some detail to clearly understand what
and where a person has seen various aspects in each inkblot.

In Rorschach's original work (1969), four basic dimensions within each response were
noted: mode of apperception (location and derived scores) form, movement and color (later
called determinants); content; and noting of original answers (later expanded to include
noting popular responses and other qualitative observations). Beck (1933) introduced the
notion of an additional dimension, organizational activity. Hence, the five basic dimensions
can be designated: location, organization, determinants content, and qualitative observations.

Seven Coding Categories

1. Location and Developmental Quality

2. Determinants

3. Form Quality

4. Contents

5. Popular Responses

6. Organizational Activity (Z-score)

 7

7. Special Scores

Purpose of the Test

Rorschach test has been found to be very effective in the following situations:

1. Helping psychiatrist to establish clinical diagnosis

2. Assessment for re-employment

3. Suspect of criminal activities under investigation

4. Behavioural/conduct problem–no history available

Reasons for preferring Rorschach above other tests are:

1. Wider applicability

2. Limited faking

3. Holistic evaluation

4. More dependable

5. Unearth subconscious

6. Evaluates conflicts

7. Predictive value

Description of Cards

There are two types of inkblots, chromatic and achromatic; achromatic are made only
with black ink whereas chromatic is made with the ink of blue, red, or green colours. The test
consists of 10 inkblots, five of which are black and white, five are coloured (2 are red and the
rest are coloured). The inkblot cards are of 24×17 cm size and have a roman numeral on the
top to indicate the number of the tile as well as the correct position of the tile.

Table 1

Card numbers, colour scheme and meaning

Card Colour
I Black and White
II Black, Red and White
 8

III Black, Red, and White

IV Dark Black
V All Black
VI Black and White
VII Light Shaded
VIII Multi-Coloured
IX Multi-Coloured
X Multi-Coloured

Administration

Materials required

Rorschach cards, Manual, Location sheet

Preliminary Setup

The client will be made to sit comfortably on a chair in the room. The materials
required for conducting the assessment will be kept ready. They will be asked if they are
well-rested and ready to begin the assessment. The seating arrangement for this test is that
the subject should either sit right of the tester away from table or tester should sit behind the
subject or tester and subject should sit by forming a 90-degree angle on the non-dominant
hand side of the tester or the subject and the tester should be sitting side by side.
Procedure

Instructions should be given in the language of the subjects. Basic instructions

should be explained clearly. The following instructions are given to the client:
“I have a pack of ten cards. These cards are just series of inkblots. I will show you these
cards one by one and you are supposed to tell me what they look like to you. Different people
see different sort of things in these cards. Usually, people see many things in each card. Tell
me all what you can see in each card."
There are six phases of Rorschach workup-

• Arrangement
 9

• Instruction

• Free association

• Inquiry

• Scoring

• Interpretation and Report writing

Free association

• Hand over card number one, holding it from upper middle part and encourage subject to
take it in both hands.

• Both E and S should hold the card simultaneously for a few second to ensure it has
firmly reached in the hands of S. Simultaneously start stopwatch. Record RT in seconds.

• Record responses verbatim, leaving large space between responses.

• Note down the reaction time in seconds in appropriate column.

• Record all card turning.

• Note down the position of the card in which a response was given.

• Do not snatch the card, even if subject is unable to see any other thing.

• Finish the work of recording responses on all the 10 cards.

Inquiry Phase

Inquiry phase begins only after the response phase has ended and it consists of
2 major questions:

• Where on the card did you see this response?

• Explain what you see so that I can see it like you saw it.
 10

Coding & Scoring

At least five major scoring systems are in common use: those of Beck (1961), Piotrowski
(1957), Klopfer (1954, 1956), Rapaport-Schafer (1945,1946), and Exner (1974). In
Rorschach’s original work (1969), four basic dimensions within each response were noted:
mode of apperception (location and derived scores) form, movement and colour (later called
determinants); content; and noting of original answers (later expanded to include noting
popular responses and other qualitative observations). Beck (1933) introduced the notion of
an additional dimension, organizational activity. Hence, the five basic dimensions can be
designated: location, organization, determinants content, and qualitative observations.
Seven Coding Categories

1. Location and Developmental Quality

2. Determinants

3. Form Quality

4. Contents

5. Popular Responses

6. Organizational Activity (Z-score)

7. Special Scores

Table 2

Location coding

Area Blotted Blotted and Whitespace

Whole Blot W WS

Common Detail D DS

Uncommon Detail Dd DdS

 11

Developmental quality:

● [+] synthesized with contour

● [v/+] synthesized vague

● [o] Ordinary with contour

● [v] Vague

Determinants:

● Form (F)–Shape, Characteristics

● Movement–M (human movement),

● FM (animal movement),

● m(Inanimate),

● A(Active) and P(Passive)

Chromatic Colour – C (Pure Colour),

● CF (Colour Form),

● FC (Form Colour)

● Achromatic Colour–C’(Pure Achromatic Colour),

● C’F (Achromatic Colour Form)

● Shading-Texture–T (Pure Texture),

● TF (Texture Form),

● FT (Form Texture)

● Shading-Dimension – V (Pure Vista),

 12

● VF (Vista Form),

● FV (Form Vista)

● Shading-Diffuse – Y (Pure Shading),

● YF (Shading Form),

● FY (Form Shading)

● Pair Dimensions–2(Pair),

● rF (Reflection Form),

● Fr (Form Reflection)

Form Quality:

● [+] Ordinary Elaborated

● [o]Ordinary

● [u]Unusual [-] Minus

Table 3

Content Categories

Category Symbol

Whole Human H

Human Detail Hd

Whole Human (Fictional or Mythological) (H)

Human Detail (Fictional or Mythological) (Hd)

Human Experience Hx
 13

Whole Animal A

Animal Detail Ad

Whole Animal (Fictional or Mythological) (A)

Animal Detail (Fictional or Mythological) (Ad)

Anatomy An

Art Art

Anthropology Ay

Blood Bl

Botany Bt

Clothing Cg

Clouds Cl

Explosion Ex

Fire Fi

Food Fd

Geography Ge

Household Hh

Landscape La

Nature Na

Science Sc

Sex Sx
 14

X-Ray Xy

Table 4

Popular Responses

Card Location Popular Response

I W Bat

W Butterfly

II D1 Bear, Dog, Elephant or Lamb

III D9 Human Figures

IV W or D7 Human or Human like Figure

(Could be mythological or
science fiction)

V W Butterfly

W Bat

VI W or D1 Animal Skin, Hide, Pelt, Rug

VII D1 or D9 Human Head or Face

VIII D1 Whole Animal – Canine, Feline,

or Rodent

IX D3 Human or Human like Figure

(Could be mythological or
science fiction)
 15

X D1 Spider

D1 Crab

Organizational Activity

ZW–Whole response with a developmental quality of +, o, or v/+

ZA–2 or more separate objects, identified in adjacent detail areas of the blot are reported in a
meaningful relationship

ZD – 2 or more separate objects, identified in distal detail areas of the blot are reported in a
meaningful relationship

ZS–White space is integrated with other areas of the blot in forming a response

Special Scores

DV – Deviant Verbalization

DR – Deviant Response

INCOM, FABCOM, ALOG – Inappropriate Combinations

PSV – Perseveration

AB – Abstract Content

AG – Aggressive Movement

COP – Cooperative Movement

MOR – Morbid Content

PER – Personalized Answers

Application
 16

RIBT is widely used in forensic, clinical and educational settings. To be more specific
it is used to evaluate aberrant thinking and problem-solving limitations especially in
Schizophrenia and Neurodegenerative Disorders. The test also gives a clear indication of
developmental maturity, problem solving styles and abilities, and cognitive abilities. It’s
employed to plan treatments, plan goals, monitor change and identify any likely challenges
(Viglione, 1999). RIBT is also effective in uncovering mental illnesses and personality traits
based on an individual's responses.

References

American Psychological Association (n.d.). Personality Assessment. Retrieved March 28,

2022, from https://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/personality

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Personality. In APA dictionary of psychology.

Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/personality

Cherry, K. (2020, April 26). How Projective Tests Are Used to Measure Personality.

VeryWell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-projective-test-2795586

Cherry, K. (2022, August 12). What is Personality?. VeryWell Mind.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-personality-2795416

Cummings, J.A. (1986). Projective drawings. The assessment of child and adolescent

personality, 199-244.

Exner Jr., John, E., & Philip Erdberg (2005). The Rorschach, advanced interpretation. John

Wiley & Sos.

Exner, J.E., & Colligan, S.C. (2001). A Rorschach workbook for the comprehensive system.

Kumar, R. (2010). Rorschach Inkblot Test: A Guide to Modified Scoring System.

(Practical Tips & Skills for Beginners). Prasad Psycho Corporation.

 17

Lindzey, G. (1959). On the classification of projective techniques. Psychological Bulletin,

56(2), 158–168. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0043871

Meyer, G. J. (1997). On the Integration of Personality Assessment Methods: The Rorschach

and MMPI. Journal of Personality Assessment, 68(2), 297–330.

https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6802_5

Mondal, A., & Kumar, M. (2020). Rorschach Inkblot Test: an overview on current status. The

International Journal of Indian Psychology, 8(4), 595–611.

https://doi.org/10.25215/0804.075http://www.ijip.in

Nezami, E., & Butcher, J. N. (2000). Objective Personality Assessment. In Handbook of

Psychological Assessment (pp. 413–435). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-

008043645-6/50094-X

Rorschach, H. (1922). Psychodiagnostik. The Journal of Nervous and Mental

Disease,56(3),306. Rose, T., Kaser-Boyd, N., & Maloney, M.P. (2001). Essentials of

psychological assessment series. Essentials of Rorschach assessment. John Wiley &

Sons Inc.

Silverman, W. (1990). Frequently Performed Psychological Tests. In Clinical Methods: The

History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations. 3rd edition. Butterworths.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK321/

Singh, A. (n.d.). Rorschach Inkblot Psychological Test.

Sturner, R. (2009). General Principles Of Psychological Testing. In Developmental-

Behavioral Pediatrics (pp. 763–769). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4160-

3370-7.00077-8
 18

Wheeler, E. M. A., & Archer, R. P. (2016). Personality Assessment. In Encyclopedia of

Mental Health (pp. 267–269). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397045-

9.00188-9
 1

Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

May 2, 2022
 2

Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE)

Purpose

To assess the cognitive functioning and track cognitive impairment in subjects using
the Mini-Mental Status Examination.

Introduction

Cognitive function is a broad term that refers to mental processes involved in the
acquisition of knowledge, manipulation of information, and reasoning (Kiely, 2014). These
can include the domains of perception, memory, learning, attention, problem-solving,
decision making, and language abilities. In addition, mental speed is an essential feature of
cognitive functioning. These cognitive domains can be impacted selectively or can be
affected by other noncognitive factors that contribute to task performance, such as motivation
or mood (Koekkoek et al., 2014). Cognitive functioning is a major health concern that affects
an individual’s ability to live independently and is a key determinant of quality of life
(McDonald, 2017). Among older adults, cognitive function varies widely with aging.
Generally, some cognitive functions are relatively stable with aging, including vocabulary
and knowledge of world events, whereas other cognitive functions, particularly those that rely
on mental processing speed and attention, working memory, executive function, and verbal
recall, decline with age (McDonald, 2017).

Neurocognitive disorders are characterized by decline from a previously attained level

of cognitive functioning. These disorders have diverse clinical characteristics and aetiologies,
with Alzheimer disease, cerebrovascular disease, Lewy body disease, frontotemporal
degeneration, traumatic brain injury, infections, and alcohol abuse representing common
causes (Sachdev et al., 2014). These include Delirium, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and even
Dementia.

Dementia is a neurocognitive disorder that leads to deterioration in cognitive function

(i.e., memory, judgement, language, thinking, comprehension etc.) beyond what is expected
from the usual consequences of biological ageing. The prevalence rate of dementia is rapidly
increasing, with approximately 80 million cases by the year 2030 (WHO, 2021). Thus, there
is a need for early detection for the best possible way to treat dementia effectively. This can
be achieved with the help of screening tests, one of them being the Mini Mental Status
Examination (MMSE).
 3

Description of the Test

First developed by Folstein in 1975, the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) is
a tool widely recognized and used in the clinical settings to examine the cognitive functioning
and state of individuals, as well as a screening tool for cognitive impairment in the geriatric
population (Monroe & Carter, 2012). In fact, MMSE has also been used to estimate the
severity of cognitive impairment at a given point in time, to follow the course of cognitive
changes in an individual over time, and to document an individual’s response to treatment
(Folstein et al., 1975). Mini Mental State Examination or MMSE is an 11 item 30-point scale
which is a widely used test in older adults who might show signs of deterioration due to age
or any other reasons. Dementia is the most common syndrome with deterioration of cognitive
function. MMSE is an effective tool to screen the deterioration over time. MMSE provides a
tool to assess the orientation of time and place, short-term memory, attention, motor skills
and language functioning. It is not a diagnosis tool on its own, that is if the scores on MMSE
are low then it is indicative of dementia but a further analysis by the neuropsychologist is
necessary. Other psychodiagnostic tools such as neurological examination, medical history
evaluation and brain scans. MMSE can be used to screen if a person is suffering from any
early signs of dementia. The scores can be taken as a warning signal for further investigation.
A meta-analysis study on the accuracy of MMSE found that it is better used as a tool to rule
out the possibility of dementia than to diagnose dementia (Mitchel, 2008). As stated by
Folstein et al. (1975), the MMSE is “useful in quantitatively estimating the seventy of
cognitive impairment and in documenting cognitive change.”

Components of MMSE

Comprising of 11 items with a maximum possible score of 30, the MMSE further
comprises of the following components (Shigemori et al., 2010; Cameron et al., 2012)-

The first component is Orientation, contributing a maximum of 10 points and includes

a task assessing orientation to time and place.

The second component is Registration which involves repeating 3 words, accounting

for 3 points.

Memory Recall, the third component involves a short-term memory recall task,
contributing a maximum of 3 points.
 4

Attention and Calculation serves as a measure of working memory and accounts for a
maximum of 5 points. It includes tasks such as serial subtraction task or spelling ‘WORLD’
backwards.

The fifth component i.e., Language, accounts for a maximum possible score of 8
points and includes tasks such as Repetition (1 syntactically complex sentence),
Comprehending instructions, Reading sentence and doing as it says, Writing a short sentence,
and Recognizing and naming 2 common objects.

The last component is the Design Copying component which assesses the ability to
understand and follow instructions. Contributing a maximum possible score of 1, it primarily
involves the task of copying intersecting pentagons.

Psychometric Properties

Reliability

The MMSE has moderate to high levels of internal consistency (0.68-0.96) (Holzer et
al., 1984). Further, the test-retest reliability has been reported to be high (0.89-0.95) (Folstein
et al., 1975). They also reported good inter-rater reliability when administered by different
examiners (r=0.83).

Validity

Sensitivity and specificity: The MMSE has good sensitivity and specificity
(sensitivity: r = 0.86, specificity: r = 0.92). It is able to accurately discriminate between those
with dementia, delirium, Alzheimer’s diesease, and mild cognitive impairment (Folstein et
al., 1975; O’Connor et al., 1989). Construct validity: MMSE has good construct validity, with
correlations between .70-.90 with scores obtained on the MMSE and those obtained from
other representative samples of cognitive screening tests, such as the Informant Questionnaire
on Cognitive Decline (Tombaugh & McIntyre, 1992).

Scoring

The highest possible score an individual can get is 30 in MMSE.

Table 1

Mini-Mental State Exam Scoring Chart

 5

Score Level of Dementia

24 and higher Normal cognition; no Dementia

19-23 Mild Dementia

10-18 Moderate Dementia

A score of 0 is only given for a few following reasons-

1. Incorrect response

2. If the participant says they don't know the answer

3. If the clinician fails to understand the response compared to other responses that is the
response is unintelligible.

MMSE should be conducted by a professional or under the supervision of a

professional because the interpretation and scoring can be heavily influenced by the social
background, educational level and verbal ability of the test taker.

Limitations

• Less sensitive in detecting mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as well as those in the
early stages of dementia
• Cannot accurately assess impairments in executive functioning, abstract reasoning,
and visual perception that are known to accompany dementia
• Prone to false positives as some patients may be less educated, belong to a lower
socioeconomic status, or have a physiological disorder
• Ceiling effect may be seen in those who have high levels of education, are younger, or
those who have MCI. They may fall into the cognitively impact range of the MMSE,
but may still meet the criteria for dementia
• Some items may be difficult to translate into another language.

These limitations have led psychologists to develop the MMSE 2nd Edition (MMSE-2) as
a more reliable measure of dementia.
 6

References

Cameron, J., Worrall-Carter, L., Page, K., Stewart, S., & Ski, C. F. (2013). Screening for

mild cognitive impairment in patients with heart failure: Montreal Cognitive

Assessment versus Mini Mental State Exam. European Journal of Cardiovascular

Nursing, 12(3), 252–260, https://doi.org/10.1177/1474515111435606

Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (1975). "Mini-mental state". A practical

method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of

psychiatric research, 12(3), 189–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6

Folstein, M. F., Folstein, S. E., & McHugh, P. R. (1975). "Mini-mental state". A practical

method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of

Psychiatric Research, 12(3), 189–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3956(75)90026-6

Holzer, C. E., Tischler, G. L., Leaf, P. J., & Myers, J. K. (1984). An epidemiologic

assessment of cognitive impairment in a community population. Research in

Community & Mental Health.

Kiely, K.M. (2014). Cognitive Function. In: Michalos A.C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of

Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-

007-0753-5_426

Koekkoek, P.S., Rutten, G.E.H.M., & Biessels, G. J. (2014). Cognitive disorders in diabetic

patients. Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 126, 145-166.

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53480-4.00011-4

McDonald W. M. (2017). Overview of Neurocognitive Disorders. Focus (American

Psychiatric Publishing), 15(1), 4–12. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20160030

 7

Monroe, T., & Carter, M. (2012). Using the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) to

explore methodological issues in cognitive aging research. European Journal of

Ageing, 9(3), 265–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-012-0234-8

O'Connor, D. W., Pollitt, P. A., Hyde, J. B., Fellows, J. L., Miller, N. D., Brook, C. P., &

Reiss, B. B. (1989). The reliability and validity of the Mini-Mental State in a British

community survey. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 23(1), 87–96.

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-3956(89)90021-6

Sachdev, P. S., Blacker, D., Blazer, D. G., Ganguli, M., Jeste, D. V., Paulsen, J. S., &

Petersen, R. C. (2014). Classifying neurocognitive disorders: the DSM-5

approach. Nature reviews. Neurology, 10(11), 634–642.

https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2014.181

Shigemori, K., Ohgi, S., Okuyama, E., Shimura, T., & Schneider, E. (2010). The factorial

structure of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in Japanese dementia

patients. BMC geriatrics, 10, 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2318-10-36

Tombaugh, T. N., & McIntyre, N. J. (1992). The mini‐mental state examination: A

comprehensive review. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 40(9), 922-935.

 1

Diagnostic Test for Learning Disabilities (DTLD)

Saumya Narain, 20224238

Department of Psychology, Christ (Deemed to be) University

MPS451N: Psycho Diagnostic Lab - II

Dr. Mohd. Afsar

April 29, 2022

 2

Diagnostic Test for Learning Disabilities (DTLD)

Introduction to the Concepts

Neuropsychology is the study of brain behaviour. The field investigates the relations
between brain processes and mechanisms on one hand and cognition and behavioural control
on the other (Berlucchi, 2016). Clinical neuropsychology makes use of various assessment
methods to ascertain function and dysfunction and applies this knowledge to evaluate, treat
and rehabilitate individuals with suspected or demonstrated neurological or psychological
problems. Neuropsychological assessment aims to extend the neurological examination by:
(1) providing important information for differential diagnosis and prognosis; (2) identifying
the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral deficits of disease or injury and characterizing their
severity; (3) intervention and functional needs such as guiding treatment by using test results
to select effective rehabilitation strategies, determining functional capacity and decision-
making abilities for level-of-care decisions, driving and work capacity, assessing medication
cognitive side effects, and establishing candidacy for surgical procedures; and (4) monitoring
cognitive changes and treatment effectiveness across time.(Schoenberg et al., 2011). Another
goal of neuropsychology is to accurately describe cognitive deficits and their severity.
Repeated neuropsychological evaluations are also useful for monitoring the decline of
neurodegenerative diseases over time, given the potential for varying degrees of disease
progression across patients (Md et al., 2021).

A major part of neuropsychology encompasses studying learning disorders, which

happen to be among the most frequently diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders in children.
It inhibits the ability to learn or apply academic abilities like reading, writing or arithmetic.
Some individuals may have persistent difficulties in reading, writing and/or math which is not
due to a lack of motivation to study or laziness but may be due to genetic, biological causes.
Children may be diagnosed in early school age. The academic performance is usually below
an individual’s chronological age and it rolls out across the different domains. In the 1950s
and 1960s, the identification and description of learning disabilities as being deficient general
learning processes centering mostly on what we today call distractibility, hyperactivity and
visual perceptual and perceptual-motor problems began in the Western world.
 3

DSM- 5 broadens the diagnostic category by using the term “Specific learning
disorder” as an overall diagnosis, which includes the difficulties in learning academic skills,
such as reading, writing and mathematics.

This is diagnosable if a person meets the four following criteria according to DSM- V

1. Have difficulties in at least one of the following areas for at least six months
despite targeted help: Difficulty reading (e.g., inaccurate, slow and only with much effort),
Difficulty understanding the meaning of what is read, Difficulty with spelling, Difficulty with
written expression (e.g., problems with grammar, punctuation or organization), Difficulty
understanding number concepts, number facts or calculations, Difficulty with mathematical
reasoning (e.g., applying math concepts or solving math problems).

2. Have academic skills that are substantially below what is expected for the child’s
age and cause problems in school, work or everyday activities.

3. The difficulties start during school-age even if some people don’t experience
significant problems until adulthood (when academic, work and day-to-day demands are
greater).

4. Learning difficulties are not due to other conditions, such as intellectual disability,
vision or hearing problems, a neurological condition (e.g., pediatric stroke), adverse
conditions such as economic or environmental disadvantage, lack of instruction, or
difficulties speaking/understanding the language.

There are different types of learning disorders namely:

- Dyslexia: Refers to difficulty in acquiring and processing language that is

typically manifested by the lack of proficiency in reading, spelling and writing
- Dysgraphia describes difficulties with putting one’s thoughts on to paper.
Problems with writing can include difficulties with spelling, grammar,
punctuation, and handwriting.
- Dyscalculia describes difficulties in learning number-related concepts or using
symbols and functions to perform math calculations. Problems with math can
include difficulties with number sense, memorizing math facts, math calculations,
math reasoning and math problem-solving.
 4

In India, the prevalence of specific learning disabilities is between 5-15% (Singh et

al., 2017). Teachers often attribute the learning difficulties to a language problem, since
English is taught as a second language in the country.

A number of approaches have been used to assess children with learning disabilities,
like gathering information from teachers, looking at their workbooks, interviews among
others. The tests for learning disabilities have two major components, i.e. testing for potential
and testing processing abilities. It is important to note that the disorder has biological origins
and is not because of intellectual disability, vision or hearing problems, a neurological
condition (e.g., paediatric stroke), adverse conditions such as economic or environmental
disadvantage, lack of instruction, or difficulties speaking/understanding the language.
Specific learning disabilities was recognized as a disorder only recently in 2016 under the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act.

Tools to assess SLDs

There are a variety of tools in the clinical settings that exist to aid the assessment of
SLDs. One of the most prominent tests include the Dyslexia Assessment for Languages of
India (DALI), which is a comprehensive screening and assessment battery for children with
or at risk for dyslexia, between the classes of 1 to 5. Developed by Dr. Nandini Singh and the
team, DALI has two screening tools: Junior Screening Tool (JST) for classes (1-2) (5 to 7
years), and Middle Screening Tool (MST) for classes (3-5) (8 to10 years). Another very
relevant and popularly used test is the NIMHANS Index for Specific Learning Disabilities. It
is a battery of tests used for confirming the diagnosis of SLD. It consists of two levels: Level
1: (5–7 years of age); and Level 2: (8–12 years). The NIMHANS index is used to monitor
progress after remediation and covers a wide range of pertinent areas. A major advantage of
using this test is associated with how it can be easily administered and is easily accessible and
available.

Introduction to DTLD

DTLD was formulated by Smriti Swarup and Dharmishta Mehta. It diagnoses

learning disabilities in 10 areas and thus consists of 10 subtests. It is to be administered
individually in the age group 8-11 years old. Learning Disability encompasses a variety of
skills and sub-skills, the integration of which is required for effective learning. However, in
our country from a host of available tests, few are indigenous. In the dearth of specific goal-
directed diagnostic tests, one had till now to depend upon the conventional norm halogical
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tests which though not diagnostic in nature, are used for a diagnosis. Hence, a need to
develop a diagnostic tool for the identification of the Learning Disabled (LD) was perceived
by the researchers and as a result, the Diagnostic Test of Learning Disability (DTLD) was
prepared. The DTLD is a tool constructed to identify those children, who experience learning
problems, because of learning disability. Since learning disability could span over a variety of
abilities, ten areas, each representing a basic psychological process, have been selected. A
deficit in any of the area or areas or a combination of any, would lead to a learning problem.

Subtests of DTLD

Subtest I: Eye-Hand Coordination (EHC)

This subtest measures the ability to coordinate vision with the movements of the
hands for effective use. It assesses the graphic motor sequencing ability and the quality of the
movement, i.e., smooth, controlled and continuous, so imperative for writing. Subjects having
hand-writing problems because of dysgraphia will score low on this subtest.

Subtest II: Figure Ground Perception (FG)

Also called Selective Attention, this subtest measures the ability to attend only to that
stimulus which require one’s attention at a given period and ignore the other stimuli present
in order to encode the perceptual experience meaningfully. It further measures the subject’s
ability to select, control and direct attentional processes leading to clear perception. The
perceptual world may be chaotic for a child with FGP due to his inability to filter out relevant
stimuli from the irrelevant ones. The child would be bombarded with an array of stimuli
consequently making no sense of it. The cognitive state of this child would be of utter
confusion and would fail to understand the task at hand and results in either a performance
that is disorganized or academic failure.

Subtest III: Figure Constancy (FC)

It is the subject’s ability to identify symbols, figures, shapes despite its apparent
change in size, direction and position. It involves the recognition of pictures, shapes,
graphics, symbols, letters and figures. It also entails the transfer of the visual imprint from a
three-dimensional to a two- dimensional level. The aim of this subtest is to test whether or
not the subject has conserved the important perceptual details about shapes, graphics, letters,
so relevant for any reading or writing activity, e.g. A is an ‘A’, be it in capital, small or
cursive form. A deficit in FC in a child would make the child have a perception at a very
 6

concrete level and the child wouldn’t be able to transfer information from one situation to the
other and his perception is a matter-of-fact type, as it appears to the child. The child may fail
to recognize a picture or an object if the context is changed, this ability later becomes a base
for arriving at generalizations and aids concept formation.

Subtest IV: Position in Space (PS)

Measures the ability to perceive the relationship between the observer and the object
in space, i.e., of it being above, below, behind, in front of next to etc. to the person observing.
This grows out of the individual’s inherent ability to organize and see order in space. It is also
necessary that he comprehends words designating position in space when he reads or hears it,
for adequate comprehension. The perceptual world of a child having a deficit in this area may
be distorted and the child may face difficulties doing any drawing, may perceive no
difference between the letters B and D, G and Q, 14 and 41 etc. This would negatively affect
his reading skills, thereby hampering both comprehension and content expression. In the
areas of mathematics as well, this deficit can be devastating for a child may have great
difficulty in reading and writing numbers correctly and performing mathematical operations.

Subtest V: Spatial Relation (SR)

Tests the ability to see a relationship between two or more objects in relation to self
and in relation to each other. It is an outgrowth of position-in-space. A child needs an
adequate SR for matching blocks, copying patterns, completing incomplete pictures and also
doing reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic, comprehending graphs, maps etc. This
becomes the basis for processing information at an abstract level later. It involves
simultaneous processing in various directions and thought flexibility. A problem in this area
impacts tasks involving directionality and laterality and in reading, writing and spelling.
There could be severe difficulty in geometry and arithmetic tasks.

Subtest VI: Auditory Perception (AP)

This refers to an ability to provide meaning to auditory stimuli. It involves 5 items

that measure different components of auditory perception.

Item 1 represents auditory reception of non-verbal information, basis for any learning
and rules out a sensory impairment.
 7

Item 2 tests the auditory sequencing, an outgrowth of auditory reception. It assesses

one’s encoding ability, a pre-requisite for any language-learning, reading, spelling, and
writing, at a later stage.

Item 3 represents auditory discrimination. It tests the subject's ability of phonemic

analysis and segmentation. Phonemic discrimination is important for phonemic awareness,
again basic for reading, and consequently comprehension.

Item 4 measures the subject's phonemic association and indirectly his verbal fluency.
Possessing a repertoire of vocabulary is essential for completing the task.

Subtest VII: Cognitive Abilities (CA)

This test measures concept formation and higher order thought processing skills.
Item 1 represents the subject's ability to manipulate the stimuli reversed order, Le
reverse the stimulus letters and numbers. It calls for a cognitive retracing.
Item 2 tests the subject's ability of categorization. Indirectly it also measures the level
of his cognitive processing, involving encoding and memory of the input from the range of
his experiential world. Prior knowledge of the distinguishing features of each item given and
the class they belong to is required to enable the subject to perform correctly.
Item 3: The ability to recognize the subtle difference within its common category, is
required for adequate task performance. From the given 6 balloons, he has to perceive the
difference in their shapes and make groups on that basis. This measures the subject's higher
level processing abilities, Le. see variance within the homogeneity. The ability to abstract the
similarities and recognize the differences to categorize the experience in meaningful chunks
is measured by this item. This ability facilities concept formation which further leads to
higher level of cognitive functioning.
Item 4 also represents higher level cognitive processing abilities. The subject first has
to generalize the characteristics/qualities the given pair of stimulus items has in common
within the framework of apparent difference that both are not the same. Yet more processing
has to be undertaken to mention two common features that the given pair has. The subject is
expected to trace some homogeneity within the given variance. This item assesses
simultaneously the abilities of abstraction. categorization and generalization. All these
require higher level processing of incoming information. Children who have processed
information at these various levels would be able to organize their thoughts adequately and
answer the items correctly.
 8

Subtest VIII: Memory (M)

This subtest tests the necessary facilitator for almost all learning. It includes 3 items
which measure surface level and the deeper level. It also measures long-term working
memory which is an essential process in learning through recall tasks which make use of the
LTM.
Items 1 and 2 aim at measuring the child's memory at a surface level, while Item 3
measures it at a deeper level. The subject's range of observation and knowledge could be
measured by these items and sine may also determine the extent to which the subject is
capable of some incidental learning, by retrieving relevant information at an appropriate time.
Subtest IX: Receptive Language (RL)
This test measures the encoding process of an individual. Subject is required to read
or listen to a particular passage and tick the correct response post doing the same. Correct
receptive language is checked via the subject simply ticking the correct response. X.
Item 1 aims at testing the encoding processes of verbal visual stimuli i.e., spontaneous
semantic processing to ensure comprehension. The problems in input and processing can be
diagnosed by this item.
Item 2 aims at testing the subject's verbal fluency, whereby he is expected to make
new words. Though an element of expression is inherent here, the focus is on understanding
the given instructions and performing accordingly.
Items 3 and 4 test the subject's verbal fluency which is generally related to long term
memory level, and the retrieval. It also throws light on the subject's skill of observation,
exposure, vocabulary and potential for Incidental learning.
Subtest X: Expressive Language (EL)
Item 1 tests the subject's ability to use proper syntax in language. The type of
response he gives would indicate whether his level of language is at a concrete descriptive
level or is at a higher level where he processes the information more abstractly. i.e., stating
the function and the like rather than just naming the figure.
Item 2 aims at testing the subject's awareness of syntactical structures and meta-
linguistic structures.
Item 3 aims at testing the subject's perceptual reception of the stimulus, find out the
correct words in his lexical structure to represent the stimulus and use the words in correctly
formed sentences. In other words, it tests the subject's semantic syntactic coordination
abilities. It altogether assesses the subject's perceptual awareness, visuo-motor integration
and level of language expression.
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Scoring Procedure
Each item of the subtests has to be scored separately according to the instruction
given. Any doubtful response has to be given a zero. The score of each area and the total
composite score has to be counted and entered into the respective cells given on the first page
of the booklet. It is likely that the score obtained may be in fractions, it must be entered into
the profile as it is (the individual figures are not to be rounded up except the total score).
● A score of 3 or less, obtained in any subtest, indicates a severe impairment
● A score of 4 is indicative of a moderate impairment
● A score of 5 reflects a mild impairment
● A score of 6-7 in any subtest has to be checked in relation to the subjects scores in
other subtests, for diagnostic purposes.
● A score of 8 to 10, in any subtest, may be accepted as a relatively stronger sub area.
For scoring, it is advisable to strictly adhere to the instructions provided in the test itself.
Psychometric Properties of DTLD
The test-retest reliability of DTLD is 0.79 and the reliability index is 0.89, making it a
considerably reliable tool to assess and diagnose Specific Learning Disabilities.
Conclusion
In DTLD, we therefore, move from a perceptual to a cognitive domain incorporating
thinking, memory, receptive and expressive language later to give us an insight into the
subject's overall cognitive structure. The purpose for this diagnostic tool is to find the locus
of the problem and to provide a sound basis for a structured and an effective ramune. The
DTLD can be administered individually as well as in group.
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