Thematic Apperception Test
TAT is a projective test consisting of a series of
pictures in which the examinee is requested to create
a story about the picture.
Method of revealing to the trained interpreter
some of the dominant drives, emotions, sentiments,
complexes and conflicts of personality.
Apperception – refer to the process of projecting
fantasy imaginary onto an objective stimuli.
• 1960 – Mrs. Uma Coudhary developed
Indian Adoption of TAT
• Human Potential Movement – encouraged
psychologists to use TAT to help their clients
understand themselves better and
stimulate personal growth.
General Conditions:
• To be administered in an interpersonal setting.
• Indian version of TAT materials consists of 13
cards on which ambiguous pictures are
presented.
• During administration, the subject should be
seated beside the examiner with his or her chair
turned away
Instructions:
• The examiner will show some pictures one at
a time, and the subject will be making up as
dramatic a story as he/she can for each
picture card.
• 50 minutes for 10 pictures.
Story structure
a) Current situation ; what is happening at the
moment?
b) Thoughts and feelings of the character (s);
what the characters are feeling and thinking?
c) Preceding events; what has led up to the
event shown in the picture?
d) Outcome ; what was the outcome?
Procedures:
TIME measured should begin when the picture is
first presented and end when the subject begins
his or her story.
RECORDING a subject’s complete responses
should be recorded, along with any noteworthy
behavioral observations: exclamation, stuttering,
pauses, blushing, degree of involvement , and
change in voice inflection
QUESTIONING and INQUIRY to produce an
unhampered and free-flow of the subject’s
fantasy material.
ORDER OF PRESENTATION usually, the cards
should be administered according to their
sequential numbering system
Scoring:
• The Psychological Corporation For each of the
scoring categories, practitioners should
abbreviate their observations about the person.
• In some sections, practitioners are asked to
indicate the levels of importance or strength for
the per by putting one check (mere presence of
characteristics), two checks (moderate) or three
checks (strong). The entire scoring and
interpretation procedure typically takes a half-
hour.
Identifying the presses.
A press refer to any important environmental factor that
may influence or interfere with the need of the hero.
Example: (parents or boss), (the lock on the door is
broken)
Need of the Hero. For Murray, it was also critical to
identify the needs, motives and desire of the hero.
The Hero. Scoring for the hero involves identifying who is
central character(s) in the story
H.A Murray, 1943 scoring the TAT involves evaluating the
following five different aspects of the stories:
• Scoring for outcome. Scoring for the outcome
of the story involves analyzing how the stories
end by noting a happy versus unhappy ending
and assessing the extent to which the ending
is controlled by the strengths of the hero and
forces in the environment.
• Scoring for themes. Scoring for themes in TAT
stories involves noting the nature of the
interplay and conflict between the needs and
presses, the types of emotion elicited by this
conflict, and the way the conflict is resolved.
Interpretation:
1. Nomothethic Interpretation refers to the practice of
establishing norms for answer from subjects in
specific age, gender, racial, or educational level
groups and then measuring a given subject’s
responses against those norms.
2. Idiographic Interpretation refers to evaluating the
unique features of the subject’s view of the world and
relationships.
Most psychologists would classify the TAT is better suited
to idiographic than nomothethic interpretations
In interpreting the responses of the TAT, the examiners
typically focus their attention on one of the three (3)
areas:
The content of the stories that the subject tells;
The feeling or the tone of the stories;
The subject’s behavior apart from responses.
These behavior may include:
Verbal Remarks (e.g. comments about feeling
stressed by situation or not being good story teller) as
well as Nonverbal Actions or Signs (e.g. blushing
stammering, fidgeting in the chair, difficulties making
an eye contact with the examiner, etc.)
The story content usually reveals the subject’s
attitudes, fantasies, wishes, inner conflicts,
and view of the outside world.
The story structure typically reflects the
subject’s feelings, assumptions about the
world, and an underlying attitude of optimism
or pessimism.
The 3 Levels of Interpretations suggest by
Bellak & Abram, 1997 are:
Descriptive Level- it is the mere repeat of the
story
Interpretative Level- It extends the descriptive
level by an alteration of it [if one does the X,
then the outcome will be Y.].
Diagnostic Level- It is the further extension I
that an interference is made about the client.
Results:
• The results of the TAT must be interpreted in
the context of the subject’s personal history,
age, sex, level of education, occupation
identification first language, and other
characteristics that may be important.
• The results of the Thematic Apperception Test
are difficult to generalize.
• The results are often subjective and do not
use any formal type of scoring system.
• However, a close analysis of the stories told by
the subject normally gives the tester a decent
idea of the traits mentioned above
(personality, emotional control, and attitudes
towards aspects of everyday life).
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Picture 1:
A boy is sitting and looking at a Tanpura placed
in front of him.
Personality characteristics
As per description of the subject following
traits may be traced – Creativity – Imagination
ability
• Picture 2 : Country scene with a woman working
in the foreground. In the background, a man is
working in a field while a woman watches.
General Discussion: This is the card in the series
that presents the group scene and gives
information relating to how the individual deals
with the challenge of people living together.
Personality characteristics: As per description of
the subject following traits may be traced –
Imagination power – Nature loving – Aesthetic
sense – Attitude towards life of different workers
Picture 3: An older man is looking at a younger
man.
General Discussion: This card is extremely useful in
obtaining information about the authority figures
and, more specifically the subjects own father.
The picture deals with hierarchical Personal
relationships and usually takes the form of an
older, more experienced man interacting with
the younger, less experienced one.. Thus, the
card can clearly show how the subject deals with
external demands and attitudes toward authority.
Picture 4 : A young girl is seated on a couch and is holding
a doll in her hands. Behind her is an older woman.
General Discussion: The intention here is to bring out the
style and manner of mother-child interaction. When
the older women are the subjects, the picture often
elicits feelings and attitudes toward children. Because
both figures are looking away, either figure is
sometimes perceived as rejecting the other. This, the
card draws out negative feeling and interactions, and it
is important to note how these feelings are resolved,
expressed, or avoided. Sometimes the older woman is
described as reading a fairy story to the younger girl.
Picture 5 : A woman is standing in front of a man.
General Discussion: This picture typically elicits a
good deal of information relating to the feelings
and attitudes surrounding male-female
relationship.
Personality characteristics:
Attitude towards male – female relationship.
Attitude of male towards female and vice versa
Capacity for mutual respect
Picture 6 : An woman is standing in front of a
man in opposite face
Attitude towards male – female relationship
Information about Emotional aspects
Information about Social relationship
Picture 7: A woman has her hands around the
throat of another woman. In the background is a
flight of stairs.
General Discussion: The manner in which the
subject handles aggressive, hostile relationships
with the other women is primary type of
information this picture elicits.
Particular note should be made of what types of
events trigger this aggressiveness, and of the
manner in which the conflict is or is not resolved
Picture 8 : A beautiful scenario of the village. No
human figures are present.
The picture is describing the nature and so it is
good test of the subjects’ imaginative abilities.
Picture 9 : One person is holding his or her head
against another person’s shoulder. One
woman is looking from window.
Picture 10: One Young man is a close relation with
one women. Another woman watching this.
• General Discussion: This card often gives useful
information regarding how the subject perceives
male-female relationship, particularly those
involving some degree of closeness and intimacy.
It might be helpful to notice the relative degree
of comfort or discomfort evoked by emotional
closeness. A story of departure or of termination
of the relationship may be reflective of either
overt or denied hostility on the part of the
subject.
These card also deals with female peer
relations and is important in elaborating
on the issues such as conflict resolution,
jealousy, sibling rivalry, and
competitiveness.
Picture 11 : A Woman in front of a broken house
General Discussion: The picture often elicits
information regarding a subject’s attitudes
toward loneliness, darkness, and uncertainty.
Fears may be stated explicitly through gangster
stories.
As with Picture, the method of handling these
fears and the examinee’s response to physical
danger should be noted.
Picture 12: A young man is standing in the foreground
with his head in his arms. In the background is a
woman lying in a bed.
General Discussion: This picture is often helpful in
revealing sexual conflicts. In a general way, it
provides information on the subject’s attitudes and
feelings toward his or her partner, in particularly
attitudes just before and immediately following the
sexual relation. Stories in which there are overt
expressions of aggression or revulsion are
significant variations and should be noted as
relatively unusual. In particular, the relation
between a subject’s aggressive and sexual feelings
is frequently portrayed.
Picture 13: A person is standing against a window.
General Discussion: If a subject’s presenting problem is
depression, especially if there is evidence of suicidal
ideation, this card along with Picture.
This type of subject often describes the figure in the
picture and, more importantly discusses the events,
feeling, and attitudes that led up to the current self-
destructive behavior. It becomes important to
investigate, during the inquiry phase of examination,
the particular methods and styles of problem solving
that the story character has attempted or is attempting
This picture may also reveal the subject’s aesthetics
interest and personal philosophical beliefs or wish
fulfillments.
Thank you
