Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Introduction
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), developed by Henry A. Murray and Christiana
D. Morgan at Harvard University in 1935, is a projective psychological test based on Freudian
theory of projection – a defense mechanism in which people place their unconscious wants or
struggles onto other figures.
The TAT employs ambiguous pictorial stimuli depicting social scenarios, prompting
subjects to construct narratives that address the depicted situation, preceding events, characters’
thoughts/feelings, and the story’s outcome. These narratives reveal implicit aspects of
personality, such as unconscious motivations, fears, and adjustment patterns, underlying conflict
and drive, which self-report measures often fail to capture due to conscious bias (Murray &
Morgan, 1935).
Murray likened the TAT to a “booby trap,” acknowledging its subjectivity: patients
project their inner struggles onto the images, while clinicians risk projecting their own biases
when interpreting responses (Hall, 1968, p. 61).
While originally designed for Western populations, the TAT’s cultural limitations
became evident in cross-cultural applications. Despite criticisms of its lack of standardized
administration, scoring, and low criterion-related validity, the TAT remains widely used in
clinical, research, and therapeutic settings due to its unique ability to uncover latent
psychological constructs (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2005).

Historical Development
Henry Murray and Christian Morgan spent the 1930s selecting pictures from magazines
and developing the tests. There are three versions namely Series A, Series B, and Series C. They
decided on the final set of pictures, Series D, in 1935 which remains in use today, with the
manual published in 1943.
Despite various interpretative approaches, the TAT remains a valuable projective tool,
though concerns about its validity, reliability, and standardization persist.
Thompson’s (1949) modification for African American students addressed the lack of
identification with “white” figures in Murray’s original stimuli. Similarly, a joint study by the
U.S. Office of Indian Affairs and the University of Chicago replaced TAT images with those
drawn by an Italian artist for Italian communities, emphasizing that superficial substitutions (e.g.,
altering race or attire) are insufficient; deeper cultural symbolism and lived experiences must be
embedded in the stimuli to evoke meaningful narratives.

Development of the Indian Adaptation

The Indian Adaptation of TAT, developed by Dr. Uma Chowdhary following
McClelland’s procedure, modifies Murray’s original TAT for cultural relevance. It consists of 14
cards, with 12 adapted from the original TAT and 2 newly introduced to represent joint family
structures and religious fantasy, themes absent in the original version. Initially, 17 cards were
tested on a small sample, and 15 were selected for administration to 260 individuals from rural
and industrial areas of South Bengal. Later, 14 final cards were chosen, ensuring the test’s
cultural validity for assessment in the Indian context.
Chowdhury compared the responses of 260 individuals on Rorschach results and TAT
results and the responses were found to be congruent. The participants in the study hailed from
different socio-economic status and religions.

Uma Chaudhury’s Indian Adaptation of TAT incorporates:

 Pictures depicting Indian settings, attire, and social situations that resonate with the
experiences of Indian individuals. Example – card 1 an Indian stringed instrument
tanpura is substituted for a violin
 More relevant themes related to family, social structure, traditions, and challenges
specific to Indian society.
 Changes in gender representation to reflect Indian cultural norms and roles.

Theoretical Framework (Agrima)

 Derived from Freud’s mechanism of projection
 Personology: Murray’s system of studying personality; personality is present in the brain.

System of Needs:
 Behaviour is motivated by needs. “Need”: a physicochemical reaction in the brain that
organises and directs intellectual and perceptual abilities; these needs are projected on to
the images presented in the TAT.
 Identified 20 types of needs. Responses given by clients are classified under these needs,
to understand what needs may be lacking, and/or what might be motivating their
behaviour. The twenty needs are: Abasement, Achievement, Affiliation, Aggression,
Autonomy, Counteraction, Defendance, Deference, Dominance, Exhibition,
Harmavoidance, Infavoidance, Nurturance, Order, Play, Rejection, Sentience, Sex,
Succorance, and Understanding.
 For eg, if a person responds to an image by building a story that includes a sentence such
as “She hugs her friend after a long separation”, it may be interpreted as a need for
Affiliation, which is indicated by craving friendships, acceptance, and warm social
relations.

Need-Press Model in Scoring:

 Need(N): what does the main character in the story want, may be implied or stated
explicitly. Press (P) refers to forces affecting the need, it may be Real (Alpha Press), such
as controlling parent, strict boss, or Perceived (Beta Stress): How a situation is
 interpreted such as “My boss is unfair to me”. The needs and the press interact to form
the Thema, which is the core conflict the story is trying to convey. For eg,
o Need (nAch): "He wants to win the race."
o Press (P): "But he injured his leg last week."
o Thema (T): "Overcoming physical adversity to achieve success."

PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES
Controversy over the TAT's reliability may stem largely from the misapplication of traditional
psychometric measures, which are inappropriate to this test. The TAT is implicitly based on a
multiple regression model, for which coefficient alpha is not appropriate.
Test-retest correlations (Lundy, 1985)
 r = .48 (need for affiliation) .56 (need for intimacy), (approximately the same as those
for, e.g., the MMPI, 16PF, and CPI)
 high stability over time was not due to subjects' recalling and repeating previous
responses

APPLICATIONS
1. Through the narratives people create in response to unclear stimuli, the TAT is used in
clinical settings to analyse personality structures, learn more about their clients' internal
conflicts, interpersonal relationships, emotional functioning, coping strategies, aid in
diagnosis, and guide therapeutic interventions.
2. Used in forensic settings to comprehend how subjects' minds work, which can help with
competency assessments and decisions about criminal responsibility. The test offers
important information about the examinee's impulse control, reality perception, and
possible risk factors.
3. The TAT has been used by researchers to investigate concepts like motivation, personality
development, and social cognition, which enables them to comprehend people's
unconscious motivations and mental processes.
4. The TAT is a useful tool in psychotherapy for assessing treatment outcomes and
comprehending clients' inner experiences. Therapists can inform therapeutic interventions
by gaining insights into their clients' emotional states, conflicts, and coping mechanisms
through the analysis of the narratives generated.

EVALUATION
Merits
1. The TAT encourages people to project their own feelings and experiences onto ambiguous
stimuli, which exposes hidden conflicts and motivations and makes it easier to explore
unconscious aspects of personality.
 2. Comprehensive qualitative insights into a person's interpersonal relationships, self-
perception, and emotional functioning are provided by the narratives elicited, and these
insights can be useful for therapeutic interventions.

Limitations
1. There may be variations in scoring and analysis due to the subjective nature of narrative
interpretation, which raises questions regarding the reliability and consistency of test
results.
2. Because the TAT's imagery is frequently based in Western contexts, people from different
cultural backgrounds might not find it relatable, which could have an impact on the stories'
relevance and interpretation.
3. Different evaluators and environments may have inconsistent results due to variations in
administration and scoring methods, which makes it more difficult to compare results and
reduces the test's overall reliability.

RESEARCH
Study 1 - Analysis of Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) to Identify Student Self-
Endurance
This descriptive study aims to describe students' self-endurance through Thematic Apperception
Test (TAT) analysis. The sample in this study was 120 high school/vocational students from 3
schools in Singaraja City, and data reduction was carried out using random sampling. Data was
collected using the Thematic Apperception Test. Based on the results of the study, the average
self-endurance indicators were obtained as follows: controlling the problem by 80%; finding the
root of the problem by 85%; limiting the scope of the problem by 73%; surviving and enduring
the problem by 82%. So, it can be concluded that the TAT analysis can be used to identify
students' self-endurance. The results of this study can be initial findings as an assessment method
for educational institutions and related agencies in developing student character.

Study 2 - Brain structural associations of syntactic complexity and diversity across

schizophrenia spectrum and major depressive disorders, and healthy controls
This study examines the association between brain structure and thematic content in responses to
the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) across individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders
(SSD), major depressive disorders (MDD), and healthy controls. By analyzing TAT narratives
alongside neuroimaging data, the study explores how syntactic complexity and diversity in
storytelling reflect underlying neural structures. Findings reveal that individuals with SSD
produce simpler and less diverse narratives, correlating with structural abnormalities in the left
superior temporal gyrus and prefrontal cortex, areas crucial for language and cognitive
organization. Participants with MDD show moderate impairments, suggesting a continuum of
linguistic disruption across psychiatric conditions.
 TEST
AIM: The aim of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is to assess an individual's underlying
thoughts, emotions, and personality traits by analyzing their interpretations of ambiguous
images.

Material Required: TAT cards, ⁠Response sheets, ⁠Stationary

Socio Demographic Details:

 Name
 Age
 Sex
 Gender
 Occupation
 Marital status
 Whether their parents are deceased or separated
 Ages and sexes of siblings
 The vocation of family members

PROCEDURE
 Ensure a comfortable and distraction-free environment for administering the test.
Establish rapport with the respondent and explain the purpose of the test in a neutral and
non-directive manner.
 Instruct the respondent to create a story for each picture with a beginning, middle, and
end, including the thoughts and feelings of the characters.
 The first two cards should be presented in ascending order of difficulty to familiarize
the respondent with the process. The rest of the cards should be randomly ordered,
maintaining some level of variation in complexity.
 The cards should be shown one at a time, and the respondent should be given enough
time (approximately 4–5 minutes per card) to narrate a story. After the respondent has
completed the main series of cards, they may be asked to write a version of the story to
assess consistency and deeper thought processes.
 Once all responses are collected, the analysis should focus on themes, conflicts,
motivations, and psychological needs, using both quantitative and qualitative methods
as per the Indian adaptation.

INSTRUCTIONS
You will be shown a series of pictures, one at a time. For each picture, you need to create a story
with a beginning, middle, and end. Your story should describe what is happening in the picture,
what led to it, and what will happen next. Try to include the thoughts and feelings of the
 characters in the story. There are no right or wrong answers; just tell a story based on what you
see. Be as detailed and expressive as possible while narrating your story. If you do not
understand a picture, describe it in your own way and create a story accordingly. Speak naturally
without overthinking; let your imagination guide you. Avoid discussing your story with others
during the test. Stay relaxed and focus on the pictures one at a time.

PRECAUTIONS
 If the respondent struggles to create a story, provide minimal encouragement but avoid
leading them in any way.
 The responses should be recorded verbatim, including any pauses, hesitations, or
emotional expressions.
 Select 10–12 cards based on the respondent's background, age, and gender.
 Provide a relaxed environment where the respondent is free to give opinions without fear.
 Maintain responses and interpretations confidential to facilitate ethical psychological
assessment.

MODES OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

In dealing with the content of stories the method which we recommend is that of
analyzing each successive event into
a) the force or forces emanating from the hero, and
b) the force or forces emanating from the environment. An environmental force is called the
press (plural press).

I. The hero.
The first step is discrimination of the character with which the subject has identified
himself. Like
a) The character in whom the storyteller was apparently most interested, whose point of
view was adopted, whose feelings and motives have been most intimately portrayed.
b) the one who most resembles the subject - an individual of the same sex, of about the same
age, status, or role, who shares some of the subject's sentiments and aims. This character
is called as Hero (either male or female) who plays the leading role in the drama.

Some complications:
1. The main character shifts during the course of the story.
2. Two forces of the subject's personality may be represented by different characters, for
example, an antisocial drive by a criminal and conscience by a law practitioner.
(endopsychic thema with two component heroes)
3. The subject may tell a story that contains a story; the hero observes or hears about events
in which another character (for whom he feels some sympathy) is leadingly involved.
Here we would say of a primary and secondary hero.
 4. the subject may identify with a character of the opposite sex and express a part of his
personality.
5. no perceptible single hero
6. the chief character (hero) belongs to the object side of the subject-object situation
The characterization of the heroes by the interpreter should include superiority (power, ability
inferiority, criminality, mental abnormality, solitariness, belongingness, and leadership.

II. Motives, trends, and feelings of the heroes.

observe everything in great detail that each of the twenty or more heroes feels, thinks, or does,
noting type of personality or of mental illness as well as whatever that is unusual: uncommon or
unique; or common also.
1. Abasement – Submission to punishment, insult, or suffering; self-humiliation.
2. Achievement – Striving for success, recognition, or accomplishment.
3. Aggression
a. Emotional/Verbal – Anger, criticism, verbal conflict.
b. Physical, Social – Defensive or justice-based violence.
c. Physical, Asocial – Unlawful violence, sadism.
d. Destruction – Damaging objects or animals.
4. Dominance – Leading, managing, influencing others, coercion.
5. Intra-ggression – Self-blame, guilt, self-punishment, even suicide.
6. Nurturance – Helping, protecting, comforting others.
7. Passivity – Relaxation, laziness, apathy, yielding.
8. Sex – Romantic or sexual attraction, love, marriage.
9. Succorance – Seeking help, sympathy, support; self-consolation.

Other needs are Acquisition, Affiliation, Autonomy, Blamavoidance, Cognizance,

Creation, deference, Excitance, Exposition, Harm-avoidance and so forth.
From the list of inner states some emotions were selected:
 Conflict – Inner turmoil, indecision, moral struggle.
 Emotional Change – Shifts in mood, boredom with routine, seeking novelty.
 Dejection – Sadness, grief, depression, despair.
 Other inner states are Anxiety, Exaltation, Distrust, and Jealousy.

III. Forces of the hero's environment

The interpreter should note both details and overall patterns, focusing on human
situations the hero faces. Emphasize uniqueness, intensity, frequency, and notable absences.
Record invented elements and recurring character traits, noting friendliness and gender
differences.
 A comprehensive list of environmental forces (press) is rated on a 1–5 scale based on
intensity, duration, frequency, and significance. Scores from 14 stories are compared to norms,
highlighting unusually high or low press for further analysis.
1. Affiliation
a. Associate: Friends, group belonging.
b. Emotional: Love, emotional devotion, marriage.
2. Aggression
a. Emotional/Verbal: Hero is criticized, hated, slandered.
b. Physical, Social: Hero is aggressor; punished or attacked by authority.
c. Physical, Asocial: Hero is assaulted; defends himself.
d. Destruction of Property: Hero’s belongings are damaged.
3. Dominance
a. Coercion: Forced to act through pressure or orders.
b. Restraint: Prevented or imprisoned.
c. Inducement/Seduction: Influenced via persuasion or seduction.
4. Nurturance – Someone aids, protects, consoles, or forgives the hero.
5. Rejection – Hero is scorned, abandoned, or betrayed; loses position or relationship.
6. Lack / Loss
a. Lack: Hero lacks resources, status, or opportunity.
b. Loss: Hero loses someone/something (death, separation, failure).
7. Physical Danger
a. Active: Natural or mechanical threats (storm, wild animal).
b. In Support: Threats of drowning, falling, crash.
c. Physical Injury: Hero is hurt by accident, person, or animal.
It should be understood that a single environment force often consists of a fusion of two or more
different press.

IV. Outcomes
Assess the balance of forces from the hero and the environment. Measure the hero’s energy,
determination, and resilience against environmental support or opposition. Determine whether
the hero actively shapes events or is passively affected. Evaluate success and failure based on
conditions, external help, and moral consequences.

V. Themas
A thema arises from the interaction of a hero's needs and environmental pressures, resulting in
success or failure. Simple themas combine into complex ones, forming story structures. Analysis
involves identifying prevalent need-press combinations and significant, unique, or intense
themas. Thematic analysis can also be holistic, identifying key conflicts such as achievement,
rivalry, love, punishment, or war.
VI. Interests and Sentiments
Examine the subject’s emotional investment in characters, including parental and sibling figures,
through story themes and character portrayals.

SCORING SYSTEMS
Murray’s original interpretative method, grounded in psychoanalytic theory, categorized
responses based on the hero’s characteristics, needs, environmental pressures, and story
outcomes. However, due to its complexity, alternative scoring systems emerged.
- McClelland and Atkinson (1948) - measuring achievement motivation, affiliation, and
power.
- Lundy (1988) - moderate correlations between these needs and behavioral measures
under neutral conditions; stress altered results.
- Eron (1950, 1953) - emotional themes in diverse clinical populations and found that
perceptual distortions were not exclusive to pathology.
- Bellak (1954, 1993) - widely used structured scoring system, assessing themes like
anxiety, defenses, ego functions, and conflicts; not updated with modern reliability and
validity data.
- Dana (1955, 1959) - a perceptual analysis method that successfully differentiated
between clinical groups.
- Murstein (1972) - while most TAT stories had a negative tone, women generally
produced more positive narratives and outcomes than men.

Scoring (Choudhary, 1985)

Use a comprehensive list of 28 n (needs or drives) classified according to the direction or
immediate personal goal (motive) of the activity. A need may express itself subjectively as an
impulse, a wish or an intention or objectively as a trend of overt behavior.
 The strength of each variety of need and emotion manifested by the hero is rated on a 1 to
5 scale. (5 being the highest possible mark for any variable on a single story.)
 The criteria of strength are intensity, duration, frequency and importance in the plot.
 The slightest suggestion of a variable (eg. a flash of irritability) is given a mark of 1,
whereas an intense form (e.g. violent anger) or the continued or repeated occurrence of a
milder form (e.g. constant quarreling) is scored 5.
 Marks 2,3, and 4 are given for intermediate intensities of expression.
 After the fourteen stories have been scored in this way, the total for each variable is
compared to the standard score (if there is available) for subjects of the given age, sex,
and the variables which are either well above or well below the standard are listed and
scrutinized in relation to other.
After the name of each variable there is printed (within parentheses) the correct average (Av)
total score, and the range (8) of scores, for male college students. The figure in each case is for
fourteen stories averaging 300 words in length.
 Besides these needs and emotions, the following very important variable are scored on a -
3 (minus three) to +3 (plus three) scale: Superego, Pride, Ego Structuration.

Interpretation Of Scores (Shruti)

Before interpreting the test, it is essential that the interpreter has a solid background in clinical
experience, including observing, interviewing, and testing individuals from diverse backgrounds.
An inexperienced psychoanalyst may easily misinterpret the results or project one's own biases,
complexes, or theoretical preferences.

Initial Analysis
The first step in the interpretation process is to analyze and score a set of stories, disregarding
their possible personal significance initially. The outcome should include:
 A list of unusually high and unusually low variables (needs, emotions, and press)
 A compilation of prevalent themes and outcomes
 Any relevant observations

Further on, two preliminary assumptions are then made, that are subject to later corrections.
1. Attributes of the heroes (needs, emotional states, and sentiments) reflect tendencies in the
subject's personality. These tendencies could relate to the past, anticipated future, or present,
either actively influencing behavior or lying dormant. These attributes symbolize:
a. Actions the subject has taken
b. Desires or temptations the subject has experienced
c. Unconscious psychological forces that may have shaped fantasies or dreams
d. Expected future behaviors—things the subject wants, fears, or anticipates being
compelled to do
2. Press variables (environmental and situational factors) represent how the subject
perceives their world. These may refer to:
a. Situations the subject has experienced
b. Scenarios imagined in dreams or fantasies
c. The immediate context of the testing environment
d. Anticipated, desired, or dreaded future situations
Press variables essentially reflect the subject’s worldview, influencing their interpretation of
present and future events.

Drawing Conclusions
It is important to remember that interpretations derived from the TAT should be seen as strong
leads or working hypotheses rather than definitive truths. These hypotheses should be validated
through other psychological assessment methods.
When finalizing conclusions, the interpreter must consider the following points:
 1. If the test was administered poorly, if the subject was disengaged, or if the stories are
overly brief, they may contain psychologically irrelevant content. The stories may draw
from:
 Elements explicitly shown in the picture
 Events the subject has witnessed
 Books or movies the subject has encountered
 Spontaneous, superficial inventions
2. On average, about 30% of the stories (six out of twenty) may fall into the impersonal
category. However, even these may contain meaningful elements.
3. A subject’s self-assessment of whether their responses are personal or impersonal should
not be taken at face value. Research indicates that more than half of the content subjects
attribute to external sources (books, movies, etc.) actually represents unconscious
personal memories or complexes.

The TAT is overly optimistic to assume they will always reveal a complete picture of
personality. Just as therapy or interviews may contain unproductive sessions, some TAT
responses may be impersonal or superficial, limiting their diagnostic value.

Levels of Functioning and Personality Layers

There are two levels of functioning. They are distinguished as :
1. First-level functioning – Observable behaviors and verbal expressions
2. Second-level functioning – Thoughts, fantasies, plans, and dreams
The subject’s interaction with the examiner and the test belongs to first-level functioning,
whereas the content of their stories belongs to second-level functioning. The TAT primarily
reveals the second-level, covert aspects of personality (inner and middle layers).

Additionally, three layers of personality should be considered:

1. Inner Layer – Repressed unconscious tendencies, that are rarely expressed in thought or
action
2. Middle Layer – Thoughts and behaviors that may be expressed privately
3. Outer Layer – Publicly acknowledged tendencies and behaviors

Understanding TAT Results

Some interpreters mistakenly assume that variables appearing strongly in TAT stories
will manifest equally strongly in behavior. While statistical studies suggest a general correlation
between imaginal (TAT) and behavioral expressions, there are significant exceptions. Certain
drives and emotions, particularly repressed ones, may appear more prominently in TAT
responses than in daily behavior. Often, what emerges in the test is the opposite of the subject’s
overt actions and words. As a result, the test may reveal aspects of personality that even close
acquaintances would not recognize.
Although the TAT does not primarily aim to assess public behavior (first-level, outer-layer
personality), an interpreter can make informed guesses by noting:
 Stories from the first session often reflect more surface-level, outer-layer personality
traits, while second-session responses may reveal deeper unconscious tendencies.
 Culturally unrestricted tendencies tend to manifest both overtly and covertly.
3. Repetitions and recurring elements in stories provide insight into personal concerns and
experiences.

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