TAT and Sentence

Completion Tests
Strengths of Sentence
Completion Tests
Open-ended, free
response
Easily administered, brief
Engaging for client
Purpose disguised, some
projection
Can develop special
purpose tests
Can become part of
clinical interview (maybe
most common use)
Limitations of Sentence
Completion Tests
Low reliability, validity
(ISB is a possible
exception)
Response styles play a
strong role
Interpretation may be
time-consuming
Requires literate client
Limited incremental
validity of screener
Rotters Incomplete
Sentences Blank (ISB)
40 items with short stems
Takes about 20 minutes,
easy to administer
Has a scoring manual with
scoring criteria
Acceptable reliability
Cutoff of 135 for
maladjustment

Scoring the ISB
6. Severe conflict: suicidal, severe
family probs, strong neg attitudes,
bizarre
5. Moderate conflict: inferiority,
generalized social difficulty,
psychosomatic complaints, concern
over failure.
4. Mild conflict: specific c., not deep-
seated or incapacitating.
3. Neutral: neither + or -. Lacking
emotion or personal reference.
2. Specific positive: + attitude
toward spec. things (e.g., school,
hobbies) and general warm feelings
toward others.
1. General positive: gen + feelings,
optimism, humor, social adjustment
0. Very positive: clear and intense
humor, optimism, acceptance of
others.
TAT: Description and
Administration
A set of 31 somewhat
ambiguous black-and white
illustrations
Up to 20 cards are selected for
presentation, based on clients
age and gender
Client is instructed to create a
story that describes:
What are they doing?
What happened before?
What are they thinking and
feeling?
What will be the outcome?
Clients stories are recorded
verbatim
TAT: Strengths
Richness of personality
description
Reflects current concerns
Describes interpersonal
issues, patterns,
motivations
Taps unconscious material
TAT: Limitations
Questionable reliability
and validity
No standardization
Multiple scoring systems
Time-consuming
Relies on clinical intuition
Little known cross-
culturally
TAT Stories: Some
Assumptions
Storyteller ordinarily identifies
with a person in the story.
The storytellers dispositions,
strivings and conflicts are
sometimes represented
symbolically.
All stories are not of equal
importance.
Themes that arise directly out
of card are less significant
than those which are more
indirect.
Recurrent themes are most
important.
TAT Interpretation
Multiple scoring systems, none
standard (Murrays is too
cumbersome)
Interpretation relies on clinical
skill and intuition of the tester.
Considerations:
Do stories coincide with typical
themes?
Conformity with instructions
Repetition/intensity of themes
Sequence of themes
(perseveration)
Psychodynamic content
Conflicts
TAT: Lilienfeld et al
Critique
Different stimulus sets
limit generalizability
Multiple scoring systems
Limited incremental
validity
Validity results from
different systems are
equivocal
No norms available
It doesnt matter:
clinicians use intuitive
systems anyway