ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC: THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST: HISTORY AND

DEVELOPMENT, THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES, DESCRIPTION OF
THE CARDS, CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Submitted by:
Rituparna Gupta
MPhil Clinical Psychology Part-1
Roll No-13

Submitted to:
Ms. Anwesa Purkait, Asst. Professor
PGIBAMS, Raipur
 1) INTRODUCTION
Unlike paper-and-pencil tests, in which test takers are asked to select from among a set of
alternatives (such as yes, no or “cannot say”), some personality tests are deliberately designed
to evoke highly individual responses. Most of the tests in this latter group are called
projective methods. They call for the test taker to respond to stimuli such as inkblots or
pictures but provide few guidelines as to what the response should be. The scoring
procedures for projective-method tests are also generally less structured than are those for
paper-and-pencil measures; the interpreter must often rely heavily on a subjective evaluation
of the responses.
Projective techniques which originated in a clinical setting are the indirect measures of
personality. The history of projective assessment goes back to the 1400s when Leonardo da
Vinci is said to have selected pupils on the basis of their attempt to find shapes and patterns in
ambiguous form (Piotrowski 1972). In modern time Galton developed the first projective
technique, a word association test, in 1879. This procedure was adapted by Kent and
Rosanoff into testing in 1910 and it was frequently used by Jung in therapy. These informal
projective techniques gradually evolved into projective tests. In fact, Frank (1939) had
introduced the term projective method for describing a category of tests for studying
personality with unstructured stimuli. In projective tests, the individual is given an
unstructured situation to which he responds. By an unstructured situation, we mean a
situation whose meaning and interpretation vary from individual to individual. Such
situations have no right or wrong answers and are capable of evoking fantasy material from
the test takers (Lindzey 1961). The most important assumption of projective techniques is
that while responding to an unstructured situation, an individual projects his own feelings,
needs, emotions, motives, etc., (which are mostly latent and unconscious) without being
aware of doing so. Since the individual is not aware of these revelations, he doesn’t resort to
any defensive reactions. Thus, in a projective test, the individual has ample opportunity to
project his own personality attributes that are mostly latent and unconscious in the
interpretation of an unstructured situation. Such latent and concealed experiences are
generally incapable of exposure by the questionnaire type of test.
Projective methods are based on the projective hypothesis, derived from Freud’s personality
theory. The basic idea is that the way people respond to a vague or ambiguous situation is
often a projection of their underlying feelings and motives. A related assumption about
projective tests is that the test taker responds to the relatively unstructured test stimuli in
ways that give meaning to the stimuli, and that much of that meaning comes from within the
person responding.
Projective methods are many and varied. Some are completion techniques, tests that call for
subjects to finish some product- perhaps a sentence or story- presented to them in
fragmentary form. Others are expressive techniques, tests that call on subjects to express
themselves via play, drawing, or drama.
Pictorial techniques include all those situations where the unstructured situation consists of
vague and ambiguous pictures and the examinee is to respond towards those pictures. This
response may be in terms of words or a series of sentences. The Rorschach Inkblot test,
Holtzman Inkblot test and the Thematic Apperception Test are the best examples of pictorial
techniques.

1.1) Overview of the Thematic Apperception Test

The TAT a projective test commonly used in clinical and non-clinical settings was first
published by Murray in 1935, under the head “A Method for Investigating Fantasies: The
Thematic Apperception Test” in “Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry”. Later on, Murray
and Morgan (1938) working at the Harvard Psychological Clinic published a book,
“Exploration in Personality”, in which the details of analysis of TAT appeared. As compared
to the Rorschach test, the TAT has less vague and ambiguous pictures to which the examinee
responds and provide complementary information, a combination of these two has proved to
be very effective, though the latter has been found to be much more effective in the
comprehensive study of personality and in the interpretation of neurosis, psychosis, behavior
disorders and psychosomatic diseases. According to Murray (1971) the purpose of the TAT is
to reveal “some of the dominant drives, emotions, sentiments, complexes, and conflicts of
personality. Special value resides in its power to expose the underlying inhibited tendencies
which the subject or the patient, is not willing to admit or cannot admit because he is
unconscious of them”.
In the TAT, two terms are worth mentioning, namely, thematic and apperception. The term
thematic has been derived from the term thema which refers to a subject or topic on which a
person thinks, speaks or writes. Murray has defined thema in a much broader sense which, of
course, includes the above meaning. According to him, thema is defined as an interaction of
the need and press variable. Murray has defined need as a hypothetical process within the
organism, press as a force in the environment, which may facilitate or interfere in the
satisfaction of the need of the organism. The concept of thema is, thus, based upon this
“need-press” theory and simply represents a patterning of these two basic variables, that is,
need and press. The second term of the test “apperception”, refers to a clear perception
involving definite recognition or identification. Thus, apperception is different from
perception in the sense that the latter may sometimes be vague or indistinct. The inclusion of
the term makes justification for the fact that thema is apperceived, that is, the examinees not
only perceive but also recognize the implications of the stimulus situation of the card.
The standard TAT consists of 19 cards containing vague or ambiguous pictures in black and
white plus one blank card. There are thirty-one cards (30 pictured plus one blank card) in a
series and these cards are used in various combinations depending upon sex and age. The
maximum number of cards to be administered to any one individual is 20. Murray
recommends that TAT has no utility for children below four years of age. Cards for a specific
sex group or age group are distinguished by letter symbols: F for adult females, M for adult
males, B for boys under 14, and G for girls under 14, BM for both boys under 14 as well as
adult males, Gf for both girls under 14 as well as adult women, BG for both boys and girls
under 14. Cards having none of these symbols are meant for both sexes and all ages. All the
20 cards are usually administered in two one-hour sessions, 10 cards in each session. The
more unusual, dramatic and bizarre type of cards are usually selected for the second session,
that is, pictures selected for the second session are less like everyday life situations. Murray
recommends an interval of at least 24 hours between the two sessions. Cards to be used in the
first session are -1,2,3BM,3GF,4,5,6BM,6GF,7BM,7GF,8BM,8GF,9BM,9GF, and 10 whereas
the cards to be used in the second session are 11,12M,12F,12BG,13MF,13B,13G,14,15,16
(blank card),17BM,17GF,18BM,18GF,19 and 20. In a clinical setting, most clinicians use
only 10 cards selected according to the purposes at hand.
2) HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION
TEST
The TAT was first conceptualized in a 1935 article by Christina Morgan and Henry Murray
but was more fully elaborated in 1938 and 1943 (Gieser & Stein, 1999). Administrators were
instructed to give all 20 cards in a given sequence in two separate sessions, which, in total,
could last up to two hours. The basic assumption was that unconscious fantasies could be
revealed by interpreting the stories subjects told regarding ambiguous pictures. Examiners
potentially gained access to things that a client was either unwilling to tell or unconscious of.
Initially, it was believed that the material derived from the test could serve as an “X ray” of
personality and would reveal basic themes that might otherwise take months of
psychoanalysis to understand. The test immediately had an enthusiastic reception and quickly
became used as both a clinical instrument and a research tool. By 1950, several books and
more than 100 articles were published either about or using the TAT. The early research
studies using the TAT investigated areas such as social attitudes, delinquency, abnormal
personality, and variations in the use of language. By the late 1940s, many clinicians were
using a limited number of cards and abbreviated scoring systems to reduce the time for
administration and scoring. These different TAT systems were elaborated in Shneidman’s
(1951) Thematic Test Analysis. By 1971, more than 1,800 articles had been written based on
the TAT. Despite continuing extensive research, the test is still not considered to have
achieved a degree of standardization comparable to the MMPI/MMPI-2 or WAIS-III.

There is no clear, agreed-on scoring and interpretive system, and controversy regarding the
adequacy of its reliability and validity is ongoing. Most clinicians vary the methods of
administration, especially regarding the number, sequence, and types of cards that are given
(Gieser & Stein, 1999). As a result, the TAT is considered a highly impressionistic tool, with
interpretation frequently coming from a combination of intuition and clinical experience. Yet,
the TAT continues to be extremely popular and currently ranks as the sixth most frequently
used test by clinical psychologists (Camara et al., 2000). Fully 63% of psychologists reported
using it with adolescent clients (Archer et al., 1991). Clinical psychologists have made it the
second most frequently recommended projective test for clinical psychology trainees’
competence (Watkins et al., 1995). Furthermore, it has been used in all the European
countries, India, South Africa, China, South America, Asia, and the Soviet Union (see Bellak
& Abrams, 1997). The TAT (or TAT-type tests) has also been found to be the most frequently
used assessment device for cross-cultural research (Dana, 1999; Retief, 1987). A number of
researchers were dissatisfied with the TAT because they wanted to study different populations
(children, the elderly, minorities) and specific problem areas (frustration, stress, social
judgment), or because they felt that the TAT produced negative, low-energy stories. These
concerns stimulated numerous variations. The most common is the Children’s Apperception
Test (CAT; Bellak, 1954, 1986, 1993; Bellak & Abrams, 1997) designed for children between
the ages of 3 and 10. Only 10 cards are given, and animals are depicted instead of humans.
The rationale was that because children have shorter attention spans, they need fewer cards. It
was also believed that they could more easily identify with pictures of animals than with
pictures of humans. Subsequently, another version of the CAT was developed depicting
humans instead of animals (CAT Human or CAT-H). The Gerontological Apperception Test
(Wolk & Wolk, 1971) and the more frequently used Senior Apperception Test (SAT; Bellak,
1975, 1986, 1993; Bellak & Abrams; 1997, Bellak & Bellak, 1973) are designed for elderly
populations and show
pictures of elderly people involved in scenes more likely to concern them, such as depictions
of loneliness and family conflicts. The Tell Me A Story Test (TEMAS; Costantino &
Malgady, 1999; Costantino, Malgady, & Rogler, 1988), designed for use with child and
adolescent minorities, includes 23 cards depicting Hispanic, African American, and Asian
American characters in situations of interpersonal conflict (Costantino & Malgady, 1999).
There is also a parallel version for non-minorities. Scoring is made for nine different
personality functions (aggression, anxiety, and so on), and the scores have been found to
effectively discriminate between minority outpatients and minority normal school children
(Costantino, Malgady, Casullo, & Castillo, 1991; Costantino, Malgady, Rogler, & Tsui, 1988;
R. Flanagan & Guiseppe, 1999) as well as nonminority normal and clinical groups
(Costantino, Malgady, Colon-Malgady, & Bailey, 1992). The TEMAS is probably the best
constructed and most psychometrically sound TAT variation to date (see R. Flanagan &
Giuseppe, 1999). Several TAT-type tests have been designed to study specific problem areas.
The Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study (Rosenzweig, 1976, 1977, 1978) was designed to
more fully understand how persons perceive and deal with frustration. The Stress Tolerance
Test is an older test that may begin to be used more frequently again in understanding how a
subject responds to stressful scenes of combat (Harrower, 1986). More recently, K. Caruso
(1988) developed a series of TAT-type cards to study the presence of and dynamics involved
in child abuse. Three sets of cards are available: (a) the basic set of 25 cards depicting scenes
pulling for possible child abuse; (b) a 10-card set for neglect; and (c) 5 cards to assess
attitudes toward different courtroom themes. The Family Apperception Test, composed of 21
pictures of family interactions, is designed to assess family dynamics (Julian, Sotile, Henry,
& Sotile, 1991). The Blacky Pictures Test (G. Blum, 1950, 1962, 1968) is another thematic-
type test that is closely aligned to psychoanalytic theory. It presents children with pictures of
a dog, Blacky, that is involved in situations consistent with psychoanalytic theory, such as
themes surrounding oral, anal, and phallic stages of development. Ritzler, Sharkey, and
Chudy (1980) have criticized the TAT for producing negative, low-energy stories and for
containing outdated pictures that are difficult for persons to identify with. To counter this,
they developed the Southern Mississippi TAT (SM-TAT) using pictures derived from the
Family of Man (Steichen, 1955) photo collection. They report that using the SM-TAT pictures
produces stories with more activity, greater emotional tone, and relatively few variations in
thematic content (Sharkey & Ritzler, 1985). More importantly, the results derived from the
SM-TAT were more effective in discriminating different pathological groups than the TAT.
Depressives produced gloomy stories, and psychotics demonstrated more perceptual
distortions when compared with normals. A more recent but similar attempt is the eight-card
Apperceptive Personality Test (APT), which has the advantages of an objective scoring
system, a set sequence of card presentations, multiethnic pictures, and initial positive validity
outcomes (Holmstrom, Karp, & Silber, 1994; Karp, Holmstrom, & Silber, 1989; Karp, Silber,
Holmstrom, Banks, & Karp, 1992). Although the SM-TAT and APT are more modern, are
based on a more rigorous methodology, and demonstrate greater diagnostic validity, the long
tradition and extensive research associated with the TAT may make it difficult to supplant,
even with potentially better instruments.

In addition to the TAT’s derivatives, a number of different approaches to scoring and

interpreting the TAT itself have been developed. The original approach by Murray involves
assessing which character in the story is the “hero” or focal figure, and then quantifying the
relative intensity of each expressed need on a five-point scale. Murray also includes
measuring the forces of the hero/heroine’s environment (press), types of outcomes, basic
themes (themas), and interests and sentiments of the hero/heroine. In addition to Murray’s
system, many variations have been developed by authors such as Arnold (1962), Bellak
(1975, 1986, 1993; Bellak & Abrams, 1997), Chusmir (1985), Dana (1955), Eron (1950),
McClelland (1971), Sokolowski, Schmalt, Langens, and Puca (2000), A. Thomas and Dudek
(1985), Weston (1995), and Wyatt (1947). The extensive diversity of different systems led
Murstein, in his 1963 review of the TAT, to remark: “There would seem to be as many
thematic scoring systems as there were hairs in the beard of Rasputin” (p. 23). The most
frequently used and updated system has been Bellak’s (1975, 1986, 1993; Bellak & Abrams,
1997). His book on the TAT (The TAT, CAT, and SAT in Clinical Use) has undergone six
editions and is perhaps the simplest and most frequently used of the available systems
(Rossini & Moretti, 1997). As a result, his scoring method and interpretive approach have
been included in this chapter. Although the TAT is still relatively popular, there are signs that
its use is decreasing for a variety of reasons (C. Piotrowski, 1999). Managed care
organizations are increasingly requiring clinicians to use brief, focused, time-efficient and
cost-effective instruments (see Chapter 13; Groth-Marnat, 1999, 2000b). In contrast, the TAT
takes considerable time to administer, score, and interpret. Instruments that are far more
focused on, and more empirically connected to, treatment planning has also been developed
(see Chapter 14). In addition, professional psychologists are being expected to be proficient
in an increasingly wider variety of instruments (i.e., neuropsychological assessment,
behavioral assessment), leaving less time for the time-consuming training required for
projectives. Alternative instruments, such as the rapid proliferation of rating scales during the
last half of the 1990s, have helped to supplant the TAT/CAT’s use with children and
adolescents (Kamphaus et al., 2000). Finally, controversy regarding the psychometric
properties of projectives have increased over the past few years (Garb, 1998b, 1999). Despite
these trends, there are a number of noteworthy developments relevant to the TAT and its
future. A number of more recent scoring systems that have made useful and valid predictions
have been researched (see Cramer, 1999). For example, Weston et al.’s (1995) Social
Cognition and Object Relations Scale has predicted relevant dimensions of personality
disorders (S. Ackerman, Clemence, Weatherill, & Hilsenroth, 1999). In general, the object
relations school has placed considerable interest in extending the knowledge and usefulness
of the TAT. There has also been considerable interest in better understanding client narratives
as they relate to therapeutic techniques, health outcomes, and the structure of personality (see
Special Series in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1999, pp. 1175–1270). This has also
helped to extend and better understand the meanings of TAT narratives (i.e., Cramer, 1996;
Pennebaker & King, 1999). One possible future for the TAT (and its derivatives) might be
that a combination of voice recognition technology and rapid computer analysis and
interpretation of word clusters and sequences may make it a more practical, time-efficient
technique, as well as allow the most validated interpretations to be selected and used.
 3) THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
The TAT was originally developed based on Murray’s concepts of personality. At the
core of his concepts was a focus on how individuals interact with their environments—
how people are affected by external forces and how their unique sets of needs, attitudes,
and values influence their reaction to the world around them. Perhaps more than any other
theorist, he has analysed and clarified the concept of needs. The TAT itself was originally
conceptualized as a means of measuring the strengths of various needs as expressed by the
designated hero in the story. A need can be either provoked by internal processes or, more
frequently, the result of specific environmental forces. Murray developed a list of 28 needs
that helped to specify the total possible needs that might be expressed in an individual’s life
(or reflected in TAT stories). To balance and complement the presence of needs, Murray also
developed a list of possible forces in a person’s environment, which he termed press. A total
of 24 press were identified, and the relative strength of these press could also be scored on the
TAT. As a result, Murray’s theory is oftentimes referred to as needs-press theory. To
conceptualize units of behavior that result from the interaction between needs and press,
Murray developed the term thema. A thema is a small unit of behavior that can combine with
other thema to form serial thema. An individual’s unity thema is the pattern of related needs
and press that gives meaning to the largest portion of his or her behavior. For example, a core
and overriding feature of an individual might be rebelliousness or martyrdom. This may be
sufficiently well organized and powerful to override even primary (biological) needs, as
amply demonstrated in the case of a martyr who is willing to die for his or her beliefs. A unity
thema is derived from early infantile experiences and, once developed, repeats itself in many
forms during an individual’s later life. It operates largely as an unconscious force, and
Murray (1938) described it as “a compound of interrelated-collaborating or conflicting-
dominant needs that are linked to press to which the individual was exposed on one or more
particular occasions, gratifying or traumatic, in early childhood” (pp. 604–605). The TAT was
designed to assess both small units of thema and the larger, core aspects of an individual’s
unity themas.
Murray’s theories of personality were obviously the main influence on the early development
and use of the TAT. However, psychoanalytic, object relations, and theories of understanding
narratives have also had a significant influence on conceptualizing, scoring, and interpreting
the TAT. Psychoanalytic conceptualizations easily lend themselves to the interpretation of
TAT stories. The cards themselves depict many images that are highly relevant to a
psychodynamic perspective such as possible superego conflicts in Card 1 (boy sitting at a
table with a violin in front of him) or castration anxiety related to Card 8BM (a boy in the
foreground staring into space with two men in the background performing surgery on a
patient lying down). Stories often relate to internal conflict and how the person deals with this
conflict. The Bellak scoring system (Bellak & Abrams, 1997) is organized around classic
psychodynamic domains such as the client’s conceptualization of parental figures, main
defenses against conflicts and fears, adequacy of the superego, and the main drives of the
hero. Cramer’s (1996) scoring system specifically includes scoring for the defense
mechanisms of denial, projection, and identification. TAT stories can also be understood as
depicting the quality of a client’s object relations. This is reflected in Weston’s coding system
(Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale; Weston, 1995) that focuses on understanding
the following crucial areas of psychological functioning: (a) the client’s internal
representation of significant others, (b) quality of affect in relationships, (c) capacity for
emotional investments and moral integrity, and (d) understanding the extent to which a
person can understand interpersonal motivation. The themes surrounding TAT stories can be
seen as ideal sources of 482 Thematic Apperception Test data to extract and elaborate on
these areas of client functioning. As would be expected, researchers have used the TAT to
better understand those disorders that lend themselves to poor object relations, such as
narcissistic, borderline, and antisocial personalities (Ackerman et al., 1999; Cramer, 1999).
One of the core activities of being human seems to be the importance of constructing a
coherent story. Much of therapy can be considered an interaction that helps the client to
recreate the story of his or her life in a way that he or she can more easily live with. Thus,
narrative can both reflect a person’s current condition and be used as a means of creating
change (Burns, 2001; Groth-Marnat, 1992). Certain patterns of narrative (reflecting on self-
versus describing external experiences) have been associated with better therapeutic
outcomes (Angus, Levitt, & Hardtke, 1999). Research has also found that the word patterns
that people use over time are quite reliable, and reflect not only how people cognitively
organize their world, but also relevant dimensions of personality (Pennebaker & King, 1999).
Having people write emotionally laden stories for as little as 15 minutes a day for four
consecutive days has been found to result in less illness, positive increases in markers of
immune system, higher grades, and lower reported pain levels (Pennebaker & King, 1999). It
also seems that after people have been able to adequately understand how and why an event
occurred, they are more able to deal with it the next time it occurs and can also move beyond
it. This area of research has had a direct impact on the TAT in the form of new coding
systems, greater understanding to how everyday narrative relates to TAT stories, and the
factor structure of word patterns on the TAT (Pennebaker & King, 1999).
 4) DESCRIPTION AND INDICATORS OF THE TAT CARDS
Picture 1:
A young boy is contemplating a violin which rests on a table in front of him.

This is the single most valuable picture in the T.A.T., insofar as such a statement can be
made. If I were to be permitted only one picture, this would be my choice for an attempt to
make statements about the total personality. One great value of this picture lies in the fact that
it is a good start to the testing situation. It is nonthreatening and induces a feeling of reverie
in adults and adolescents.

As to themes, this picture usually leads to an easy identification of the subject with the boy
and brings out the relationship toward the parental figures. That is, it usually becomes quite
apparent whether the parents were perceived as aggressive, domineering, helpful,
understanding, or protective. Aside from learning about the subject's relationship to his
parents, we also find out to which parent a certain kind of relationship existed. Frequently, we
get themes on the conflict between autonomy and compliance with authority in all its wide
variations and different patterns. For example, one subject may try to escape the parental
commands to practice the violin by playing in the street, but then he finally feels that he
ought to go in and play the violin; or he may run away from home; or the hero might be
described as not obeying his parents and doing what he wants. Later, he experiences failure
because he did not obey them. Thus, one subject may display guilt feelings about his
autonomy, while in other cases all may go well after he has broken away. Therefore, this card
is especially successfully employed with adolescents.
Another need this card frequently brings out is that of achievement. It is particularly
important to see. how the success is achieved, whether just on a fantasy level or on a reality
level.
Finally, we find that subjects give symbolic sexual responses to this card. The play on the
strings of the violin, the play with the fiddle, frequently becomes a symbolic story of
masturbation, and castration fears are often brought in when the subject insists that the strings
have been broken. The relationship between bow and violin often seen as that of a male and a
female. Mastery of the violin frequently constitutes a fusion of sexual and achievement
drives; to be able to fiddle like father did.

Aggression may be expressed, with and without sexual connotations, in breaking the violin or
bow. Superego anxiety may express itself in stories in which the boy is said to be blind; this
is probably an expression of castration fears, related to voyeuristic wishes.
The body image or, in a wider sense, the self-image is frequently significantly illuminated in
this picture. Most often the violin, and sometimes the bow, serves in this capacity, although
the image of the boy may do so too. There may be references to the violin's having a crack, or
being dead inside and mute, revealing a sense of not functioning well, of being muted.
Reference to "deadness" usually indicates feelings of very severe emotional impoverishment
to an extent that compels one to consider schizophrenia in the differential diagnosis. The
figure of the boy is sometimes seen as crippled, also suggesting a literally warped body
image.
Obsessive preoccupations may become apparent when the subject is much concerned with
the notepaper, or the mussiness of the hair, or a black speck present in most of the
reproductions of pictures I have seen. In these instances, it is referred to as dirt. Frequently
the violin, as lying beneath, is identified as a female and the bow as a male, and the whole
story about playing the violin may then be seen as sexual activity. Neuropsychologically,
picture 1 is particularly useful. For years it has been an amazing experience to find that there
are a good number of subjects with adequate eyesight, of average intelligence, and
nonpsychotic, who do not recognize the violin, to judge by their spontaneous stories. Inquiry
will often lead them to recognize it correctly.

Picture 2:
Country scene: In the foreground is a young woman with books in her hand; in the
background a man is working in the fields and an older woman is looking on.

This picture usually offers excellent indications of the subject's family relations. Even males
usually identify with the central figure of a young girl because it is so definitely the figure in
the foreground. Again, varying themes of autonomy from the family versus compliance with
the conservative, backward existence are extremely frequent. These themes show the type of
divergence between the subject and the family. Oedipal themes and sibling rivalry also appear
in full bloom.

Most useful for our purposes is the subject's handling of the woman leaning against the tree,
who is often seen as pregnant. A great deal of information can be obtained from the manner in
which the subject handles apperception of pregnancy. It may be completely ignored or it may
lead to highly informative notions about it in all ages.

The figure of the man may illuminate heterosexual and homosexual attitudes: Men may
overly admire his musculature, for example. In this picture, which contains a relatively large
number of objects, obsessive-compulsive subjects will comment on small details such as the
lake in the background and the tiny figure in the background among others, in a way that
virtually permits the diagnosis of compulsive tendencies. Sometimes most of the remarks
concern the horse, possibly a regressive and avoidance phenomenon. Similarly defensive may
be obsessive preoccupation with the small details, or complaints that the furrows are- not
straight. Again, stories to this picture are frequently removed in time and place, as a form of
removal from one's own conflicts.

The way in which the relationship of the two women to the man is discussed- whether as a
farmhand run by the woman, or as a father, husband, or brother-adds a good deal of
information about the role of the sexes.

Picture 3BM:
On the floor against a couch is the huddled form of a boy with his head bowed on his
right arm. Beside him on the floor is a revolver.

This also belongs to the group of most useful pictures. As already mentioned, this card may
be used for females too-the3/ identify with the figure readily enough, manifestly seeing a
woman, or identifying latently. Normative data on the percentage of men seeing it as a man
may be most useful for future research. Empirically speaking, most men see the huddled
figure as a man; if it is seen by men as a female figure, this may be considered a point to keep
in mind-not to make the diagnosis but to keep in mind factors of possible latent
homosexuality, which may be confirmed if more suggestive evidence appears in other
pictures. How the object on the left is perceived often gives a great deal of information about
the problems concerning aggression. Officially this object is described as a gun. Some
subjects may recognize it as a gun; it is interesting to observe the manner of handling the
aggression-whether it is used as extra-aggression (e.g., somebody else is being shot by the
hero), or whether it is used as intra-aggression (the hero is being shot or he commits suicide).
If it leads to extra-aggression, it will be interesting to see what happens to the hero. Whether
he is punished severely or whether he escapes is a kind of protocol that gives us a notion of
the strength of the superego of the subject. On the other hand, we want to get some clue as to
what leads to the depressive pattern that finally results in suicide. It is obvious that this
picture is a must with depressed patients. The pistol may be turned into a toy pistol and thus
rendered harmless. This might indicate denial, but it is important to find out by checking the
consistency with other stories whether it is a superficial escape from really entering into the
story or whether this corresponds to the fact that one is simply dealing with a healthy subject
who has neither excessive intra- nor extra-aggression. Again, a subject who has to repress his
latent aggressiveness may completely deny the presence of the gun by omitting reference to
it, seeing it as a hole in the floor, as a cigarette case, or not at all. Sometimes a great conflict
around aggression, particularly when it has led to a compulsive pattern, will manifest itself by
the subject's hemming and hawing for a considerable time over what the object might be.
Here, again, the body image may become illuminated: The figure may be seen as crippled,
extremely ill, and so on. The mere fact that a story concerns suicide has, in itself, no
prognostic significance. Aggression, a severe superego, and a great deal of aggression should
suicide be considered as a serious possibility.

Picture 3GF:
A young woman is standing with downcast head, her face covered with her right
hand.

Her left arm is stretched forward against a wooden door.

This is a picture that may also bring out depressive feelings. Frequently,
however, it has been found more useful with females to use 3BM, with which they
can easily identify, as stated above.

Picture 4:
A woman is clutching the shoulders of a man whose face and body are averted as if
he was trying to pull away from hero.

This picture elicits a great variety of needs and sentiments in regard to male-female
relationships. Themes of infidelity are often found, and the male attitude toward the role of
women may appear. She may be a protector who tries to keep him from rushing into
something poorly thought out or one who tries to hold onto him for evil purposes. Similarly, a
woman's attitude toward men as persons who may have been aggressive toward her becomes
apparent. Since the woman looks somewhat unusual, she is often made the member of a
minority group, and sentiments concerning these are displayed.
Another object of interest is the picture of the seminude in the background, which is
perceived by more than two-thirds of the subjects. If it is not perceived or discussed at all, it
may be a clue to the fact that there is a sexual problem. On the other hand, it may be seen as
a poster or as an actual figure in the background, prompting themes of triangular jealousy.
Whether the difference in depth perception involved in seeing it as a poster or as a living
person can be considered a differential criterion of value is not clear thus far. There is a
possibility that there is a defensive element in seeing it as a poster.

Picture 5:
A middle-aged woman is standing on the threshold of a half-opened door looking
into a room.

This is often interpreted as the mother who may be watching different activities.
At times this becomes a symbolic story of fear of observed masturbation, or the
mother appears as benevolently interested in how the child is, or she may be seen
as reprimanding the subject for being up late. Voyeuristic material is quite frequent
and may actually lead to disguised stories of the primal scene. Again, fear of attach,
particularly in female subjects, is often reflected in a story of burglary, whereas in
males it may lead to "rescue fantasies," in the psychoanalytic sense.

Picture 6GF:
A young woman sitting on the edge of a sofa looks back over her shoulder at an older
man with a pipe in his mouth who seems to be addressing her.

This is really meant to be a counterpart of 6BM to reflect the relationship of

females to the father. Probably because of the apparently relatively slight age difference,
however, the man is usually, at least manifestly, not seen as the father image
but rather as a contemporary, who may thereupon be invested with any number
of qualities, from those of an aggressor, a seducer, to someone who proposes
marriage. Frequently this man is made into an uncle, who probably represents the
picture of an idealized father, as is so often done in folklore-for instance, Uncle
Sam and Uncle Czar. All in all, the picture is not a very useful one, but the best we
have on this subject at present.

Picture 7BM:
A grey-haired man is looking at a younger man who is sullenly staring into space.

This picture of an old man and a young man is indispensable in bringing out
the father-son relationships and all its derivatives (in males) in the form of attitudes
to male authority.

Picture 7GF:
An older woman is sitting on a sofa close beside a girl, speaking or reading to her.
The girl, who holds a doll on her lap, is looking away.
This picture will bring out the relationship between mother and child in
females. It seems to encourage negative attitudes toward the mother because of the
fact that the girl is looking off into the distance rather than at the mother. The
doll, in turn, may reflect the subject's attitude toward expectancy of children. Frequently
the theme concerns the mother telling a fairy tale, and the most instructive
data may be in this theme within a theme.

Picture 8BM:
An adolescent boy looks straight out of the picture. The barrel of a rifle is visible at
one side, and in the background is the dim scene of a surgical operation, like a reverie
image.

This is a very useful picture. Male subjects usually identify with the boy in
the foreground. The essential themes that may be developed center on either
aggression-somebody was shot and is now being operated upon in the background-
or upon stories of ambition-the dream of a boy of becoming a doctor,
for example. The operation scene may elicit a fear of being mutilated while
passive. Whether the rifle at the left is recognized or not, and what is made of it,
are problems similar to those of the pistol in 3BM. The way in which the figures
are described-for example, the attitude toward the doctor as an older person or
toward the person being operated upon-if seen as a paternal figure frequently
gives clues as to the oedipal relationship.
This picture can be fairly difficult to cope with for the subject. It taxes the
synthetic integrative capacity. Most often it is made into a dream or a daydream of
success as a surgeon or of the perpetrator of a shooting. One way of distancing
oneself is to ascribe the scene to something that happened long ago. Also, the
event may be described as an accident-of someone else's. In people denying
aggression, the gun is at times simply ignored.

Picture 8GF:
A young woman sits with her chin in her hand looking off into space.

Almost any theme may be produced to this picture, usually of a shallow,

contemplative nature. I rarely find it useful.

Picture 9BM:
Four men in overalls are lying on the grass taking it easy.

This is another important picture for disclosing contemporary, man-to-man

relationships. It may, for one thing, off er a general indication of social relationships-
namely, which of the figures the subject identifies with. In extremes,
the subject may identify with someone outside the group who looks askance at the
group, or he may be part of it or even the centre. Again, homosexual drives and fears
may become quite apparent in stories to this picture. Social prejudices may be
brought to light here-for example, stories of hoboes.
Picture 9GF:
A young woman with a magazine and a purse in her hand looks from behind a tree at
another young woman in a party dress running along a beach.

This is an invaluable picture in getting a notion of the woman-to-woman

feeling, particularly for bringing out sister rivalry or daughter-mother hostility. It
is very important in cases in which one suspects depression and suicidal tendencies,
since not infrequently in such circumstances the girl below is made into someone
who, in a panic, runs into the sea. Again, suspiciousness, at the least, may be
brought out by the fact that stories sometimes raise discussions of how this one
person is watching the other maliciously. This factor may at times be strong
enough to warrant the consideration of paranoia. Men are frequently introduced in
stories of this picture, in romantic or aggressive connotations. A male is frequently
introduced into the story as a "sexual" attacker from whom one woman
flees while the other comes to her rescue. Sometimes, on the other hand, one gets
stories of one woman or the other or both running to greet a long-lost lover
arriving by ship.

Picture 10:
A young woman's head against a man's shoulder.
This will bring out much about the relation of men to women. If this is interpreted
as an embrace between males by a male subject, it is a strong clue to latent
homosexuality or even manifest problems of this nature. If it is described as a man
and a woman by either males or females, it will be interesting to observe whether it
is made a story of arrival or departure, reflecting in the departure theme latent
hostile needs.

Picture 11:
A road skirting a deep chasm between high cliffs. On the road in the distance are
obscure figures. Protruding from the rocky wall on one side are the long head and neck of a
dragon.

Picture 11 is particularly useful because it operates on a more disguised

plane and puts many people more off guard, although it frightens others. Here
are brought out many infantile or primitive fears, since the animals permit projection
of such emotions. If a patient has fears of attack, this is a most useful picture since it
will expose the fine features of the fears of being attacked-for example, by the
phallic symbol of the dragon. Stories of oral aggression are frequent. This picture
offers good clues to the mood of the patient, whether or not he escapes and, if
so, how.
Anxiety, in common with other psychopathologic symptoms; is often expressed
in content changing with cultural factors. For example, in the Middle
Ages, hallucinations were primarily thought of as the undue influence of the devil and other
supernatural forces. In the early twentieth century, electricity and,
later, radio waves entered into hallucinatory and delusional content, and I can
vividly recall the first paranoid I encountered who felt that radar was being used
on him. Similarly, fear of destruction is frequently elicited by this picture in
stories about an atomic holocaust leaving everything desolate in its wake. When
such stories ref er to everything being dead, it may indicate an intra psychic state
consistent with very severe emotional impoverishment.

Picture 12M:
A young man is lying on a couch with his eyes closed. Leaning over him is the gaunt
form of an elderly man, his hand stretched out above the face of the reclining figure.

This is a most important picture for indicating the qualities of the relationship
of a younger man to an older man, particularly regarding passive homosexual fears and
fears of being under the domination of superior figures.
Stories to this picture may reveal whether passivity is ego syntonic or greatly
feared; sometimes the man in the upright position is seen as helpful, administering
aid, giving comfort, and no anxiety is expressed. At other times he is seen
as exerting an evil influence (e.g.- by hypnosis) or as attacking or having attacked a
helpless victim.
Rapaport (1946) has stated that this picture may prognosticate therapeutic
success. Insofar as complete, unthreatening passivity may make therapy much
more difficult, this may be correct. As to the stories revealing positive or negative
feelings toward the therapist, it must be remembered that the mere fact of an
initial positive or negative transference is of no therapeutic significance.
Stories to this picture may indeed nicely reflect the relationship to the
therapist, inasmuch as the couch and supine position may be unconsciously
related to the psychoanalytic situation or the generally dependent attitude of the
patient. Such stories lend themselves particularly well to direct use in therapy, as
vehicles for insight and interpretation

Picture 12F:
A portrait of a young woman. A weird old woman with a shawl over her head is
grimacing in the background.

This may bring out conceptions of mother figures, but, in all, it is not a picture
that I have found to be notably useful. Frequently the evil mother figure is made
the hero of a story in the guise of a mother-in-law. To appreciate this tendency, it
must be understood that mothers-in-law are often the recipients of the negative
emotions felt toward one's own mother. The subject may be aware only of positive
feelings toward his mother and readily projects all the negative ones onto the less
holy figure of the mother-in-law. This, I believe, is responsible for the position of
the mother-in-law in so many cartoons and jokes.

Picture 12BG:
A rowboat is drawn up on the bank of a woodland stream. There are no human
figures in the picture.

This picture is meant, as the initials indicate, for boys and girls, and has not
proven very useful in my experience. The fact that none of the T.A.T. pictures
were really useful often enough with children below the age of 10 prompted my
development of the Children's Apperception Test.
This picture has not been found too helpful in any specific case except in
suicidal or very depressed subjects. It will, then, often elicit stories of someone's
having jumped or fallen out of the boat.

Picture 13MF:
A young man is standing with downcast head buried in his arm. Behind him is the
figure of a woman lying in bed.

This is an excellent picture for disclosing sexual conflicts in both men and
women. In very inhibited subjects this may virtually lead to "sex shock," which will
find expression in the stories. In females it may elicit fears of being raped,
attacked, or otherwise abused by men. In males it will often bring out guilt
feelings about sexual activity and will easily show the disgust of homosexuals.
Feeling between husband and wife may be projected. Not unusual are stories of
economic deprivation in response to this picture, and oral tendencies will frequently
appear in discussion of the breasts. Again, since this is one of the pictures
containing a relatively great amount of detail, obsessive-compulsives will easily be
recognized by their concern with details.

Picture 13B:
A little boy is sitting on the doorstep of a log cabin.

To a lesser degree, this is not unlike the violin picture in prompting stories of
childhood and is of some use with young boys, although not markedly. It may
induce reverie in adults in much the same way as the violin picture.

Picture 13G:
A little girl is climbing a winding flight of stairs.

This picture has not been found to be especially useful thus far in experience.

Picture 14:
The silhouette of a man (or woman) against a bright window. The rest of the picture
is totally black.

This silhouette can be a most useful figure. For one thing, it will be interesting
to note the sexual identification of the figure. It will often bring out childhood
fears in relation to darkness. Again, it is an absolute must when one suspects suicidal
tendencies, which may be expressed in a story of jumping out of the window.
Frequently it will induce themes of simple contemplation and reveal much of the
philosophical rationalization of the subject. Sometimes it may reveal aesthetic interests,
and wish-fulfilment stories may be offered. It may result in burglary stories if
someone is seen as coming into the window.

Picture 15:
A gaunt man with clenched hands is standing among gravestones.

This picture of a figure in a graveyard is especially important if the subject

has had a death in the immediate family and the clinician wants to discover his
sentiments regarding that death. It is also very useful in that it may disclose
notions and fears of death in any subject. Depressive tendencies manifest themselves
clearly. What is clinically particularly interesting and important, and may appear
in response to this picture, is the fact that there are many conceptions of death.
Psychopathology may differ according to whether the idea of death is one of
being violently hurt (castrated or anally hurt) or devoured; or whether the idea is
concerned with being dead, as an acceptable or unacceptable fantasy of passivity
of an oral nature, as Lewin (1950) in particular has pointed out. The most specific
and unusual fear of death I have encountered existed in an agoraphobic patient
where the exhibitionistic fantasy of lying stark naked on the undertaker's slab was
particularly fear arousing. The aggressive and passive fantasies of death are
probably represented in the religious dichotomy of heaven and hell. All these
considerations are particularly important in those pictures concerned with suicidal
possibilities.
Picture 16:
This blank card is of extreme value with verbally gifted subjects, who may really let
loose and project freely. If the subject has given previous indications that he has
difficulty in expressing fantasy material, however, the blank card is often of no
value.
The instructions here are first to imagine a picture and then tell a story
about it, producing something like super projection. One of my initial T.A.T.
experiences were with engineering students and students majoring in English.
The experience has stayed with me vividly, to the extent that I almost categorically
speak of subjects giving meagre stories as engineers and of those with lively
imaginations as English majors. My experience with the blank card is that it does
not help the engineers and is unnecessary for the English majors.

Picture l 7BM:
A naked man is clinging to a rope. He is in the act of climbing up or down.

There are many useful aspects to this picture. There may be revelations of
fears in the stories of escape from physical trauma, such as fire, or fleeing from
man. The latter often leads to disclosures concerning oedipal fears, particularly in
children, where this picture may actually be seen as someone fleeing from the
"king" or the "prince." Again, homosexual feelings are easily brought out even by
descriptive details. Not unusual are stories of a competitive nature, making this an
athletic meet or the like. In males there will often be an indication of their body
image-whether or not they feel themselves to be muscular, for example.
It has been suggested that outgoing, active people tell stories of people
climbing up, in distinction to others. This makes sense in terms of Mira's (1940)
observations and those of other expressive studies, but my sample did not permit
me a definite impression.

Picture 17GF:
A bridge over water. A female figure leans over the railing. In the background are
tall buildings and small figures of men.

Here is another useful card when one suspects suicidal tendencies in women
since it opens the way for stories about jumping from a bridge. Otherwise, a great
variety of stories may be told to l 7GF, which I do not consider one of the more
useful cards except for the one purpose just stated.

Picture 18BM:
A man is clutched from behind by three hands. The figures of his antagonists are
invisible.

This is another of the more important pictures for learning about, or

verifying, any anxiety in males. Fears of attack, particularly of a homosexual
nature, become most apparent. If a subject has any anxiety at all, it is bound to
come out in response to this picture. On the other hand, it can be made into
something innocuous, such as a story of support, for example, of a man in an
intoxicated condition being brought home by his friends. How the problem of
supernumerary hands are handled is frequently of great interest insofar as the
thought processes of the subject are concerned. Sometimes the story is made
innocuous in somewhat the following way: A man was out at a stag dinner and
now, inebriated, is being helped home by his companions who have ducked
behind him to push him up the stairs. Viribus unitis!
Hard-1uck stories are often related, and of course we want to know what a
particular person thinks of or fears as hard lurk.

Picture 18GF:
A woman has her hands squeezed around the throat of another woman whom she
appears to be pushing backwards across the banister of a stairway.

This picture gives an excellent indication of how aggression is handled by

women. It may be completely evaded by the denial that any aggressive act is taking
place. Sometimes stories of how one woman is helping another up the stairs or up
from the floor are told in attempts to evade aggressive implications. Mother-daughter
conflicts may be highlighted.

Picture 19:
A weird picture of cloud formations overhanging a snow-covered cabin in the
country.

A picture sometimes useful with children, but otherwise not notable.

Picture 20:
A dimly illuminated figure of a man (or woman) in the dead of night leaning against
a lamppost.

The figure may be seen either as a man or as a woman; We do not have any
definite indication of the differential implications of such sexual identification.
Females may present stories of fear of men or of the dark. Otherwise, fears may
be brought out by either sex in making it a gangster story. Again, it may be made
an entirely innocuous theme by a story of an evening's date.

5) CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE TAT

The T.A.T. is-a complex test which, even in the hands of the most experienced practitioner
and when used in an abbreviated form, takes not inconsiderable time and effort in
administration and interpretation. Even though the test can be group or self-administered, any
systematic interpretation will still take at least half an hour per record, and often longer.
Aside from the economic aspects, it is in the nature of the T.A.T. to deal with the subtle,
dynamic factors of the personality that will be the subject of investigation only under specific
circumstances. Perhaps we can gain from a comparison of the psychological examination and
the physical examination. There are routine physical examinations by inspection,
auscultation, and percussion, possibly by taking the blood pressure. A more complex
examination may include urine examination, fluoroscopy, and a blood count. Chest x-rays
have become routine, but x-rays of other parts of the body, tests of body chemistry, basal
metabolism, and the like, are requested only when there are stringent differential diagnostic
reasons, or a particularly careful evaluation is necessary for especially stressful tasks or prior
to undergoing major surgery.

Similarly, for ordinary purposes, paper and pencil tests of ability, intelligence, and
achievement may suffice for routine examinations of students, employees, and so on.
However, if we are called on to do a special selection for highly demanding tasks, such as
those of pilots, special government personnel, or chief executives, if differential diagnosis is ·
indicated, or if the patient is about to undergo a major form of psychotherapy, then more
complex procedures such as a T.A.T. are indicated, and deserve the time and effort
investigated.

Study of Character and Defenses in the TAT

The word character in the English language can be roughly equated with moral traits: One
speaks of a good character and a bad character, and of "character witnesses" (who testify to
one's good moral character). The word character in German is not exactly identical with but
roughly corresponds to the American usage of the term personality. However, in U.S.
psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and psychology, the term character neurosis is generally
accepted and does not clearly relate either to character or neurosis. A character neurosis is a
disorder of which the afflicted is usually unaware, although it is apparent to persons in his
environment. It consists of character traits that are ego syntonic for the person having them.
They usually cause him no complaint or concern, and are often the object of pride and
affection on the part of their owner. However, by directly bringing him into conflict or
unpleasant contact with environmental forces, they may produce hardship and discomfort.
Probably the most frequently mentioned subspecialty of this disorder is the obsessive-
compulsive character neurosis in which a person isolates his emotions very well (too well), is
apparently unaffected by what goes on around him or manages to appear well controlled and
smooth, and is often thought of as machine-like in efficiency, orderliness, lack of spontaneity
and real warmth, and so forth. The diagnostic counterpart of a character neurosis is the
psychoneurosis, in which the person suffers from subjective symptoms that appear more or
less ego alien. It has become axiomatic that there is scarcely a psycho-neurosis without some
character neurosis, and that there is hardly a character neurosis that does not show some
psychoneurotic features under pressure or under some psychoanalytic scrutiny. Nevertheless,
the distinction is a very useful one, although it may be only quantitative. Having neurotic
character traits can probably most easily be conceptualized as a syndrome of defenses
functioning well enough to avoid direct and open drive conflict at the cost of impoverishment
of other ego functions. The impoverished ego functions may be those of spontaneity (e.g., in
the case of obsessive rigidity) or those of reality testing (as in the case of extensive
rationalizations, such as are involved in systematic political, ethnic, or scientific bias) or in
the inability to learn from past experiences, as in the "success neurosis," which we will want
to discuss further below. The justification for this discussion of psychopathology lies in the
fact that the T.A.T. may be an excellent means for the analysis of such character problems.
Not infrequently a single story may clearly set forth the central theme of a person's life-an
often, pernicious theme and one of which the one afflicted may be entirely unconscious.

Coping
A concept broader than the one of defense is the concept of coping. It offers a useful way of
viewing the evaluation of the T.A.T. (and C.A.T. and S.A.T.). Being asked to tell stories to
the pictures is to perform a task. How does the subject go about coping with this task? How
does she respond behaviourally? Is she confused, frightened, negativistic? Does the story
constitute a good coping effort? Does the subject achieve closure? Are there different ways in
which closure is being achieved? Is the first attempt at a story the most successful and the
following
two increasingly disorganized by uncontrolled drives? Or is it the other way around and the
stories show proved coping effort, suggesting a potential of dealing with problems that were
found overtaxing initially. In a broad sense all of human behavior, including dreams, neurotic
and psychotic symptoms, and "normal" behavior, can be usefully viewed as attempts at
coping.

Special Therapeutic Uses of the TAT

Test responses are forms of behavior of the patient, like any other forms of behavior except
that the responses are made to standard stimuli and thus permit controlled comparisons from
one person to another. Furthermore, the content which appears in psychological tests may
demonstrate fantasies and psychodynamics which even a skilled psychoanalyst will not
anticipate or suspect after many months of psychoanalysis. Many years ago, a training analyst
permitted me to administer the T.A.T. to a patient of his who volunteered to participate in the
investigation. The analyst agreed that the T.A.T. pictures brought out important features that
had not become clear during almost a year of psychoanalysis. Ethel Tumen Kardiner, in an
unpublished study, was able to demonstrate experimentally with the cooperation of a number
of psychoanalysts and their patients that the T.A.T. could successfully illustrate the
psychodynamics which had become clear only after prolonged analysis. From the standpoint
of planning treatment, it is useful to obtain as much advance information as possible.

The TAT is of particular value as a vehicle of the psychotherapeutic process itself, especially
in cases where therapy must of necessity be short term, in emergency situations (self-
endangering or extremely crippling depressions, or acute anxiety), or in social agency
settings, clinics, and the like. The type of patient encountered in any of the above situations is
frequently
quite naive about psychotherapy and entirely unaccustomed to the thought processes involved
in it. He considers his complaints to be organic or environmentally caused, since he is quite
unused to any degree of objective introspection. In such cases, one very important use of the
TAT is to help the patient to gain some "distance" from himself and to establish the
psychotherapeutic attitude. An adolescent may come, for instance, completely isolating all
feeling, intellectualizing, and-in essence-saying that he is coming only because his mother
wants him to. After he has produced T.A.T. stories, I ask him what he thinks of them. He
often
replies that these are stories about the pictures and have nothing to do with him. My first step,
then, is to tell him that I have heard very many stories about these pictures and that his
responses differ from others I have heard before. To illustrate this to him I proceed to give_
him a number of themes, quite different from his own, to several pictures. This fact of being
different often makes a strong impression; the entering wedge has been supplied. Part of his
behavior has become ego alien instead of ego syntonic.

References:

Singh, A.K. (2019). Tests, Measurements and Research Methods in Behavioural Sciences.
Bharati Bhawan

Morgan, King, Weisz, Schopler. (2017). Introduction to Psychology. McGraw Hill

Groth-Marnat. (2003). Handbook of Psychological Assessment. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Bellack, L. (1993). The Thematic Apperception Test, The Children's Apperception Test, and
The Senior Apperception Technique in Clinical Use. Allyn and Bacon.