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TAT and Sentence Completion Tests

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).

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TAT and Sentence Completion Tests

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  1. TAT and Sentence Completion Tests

  2. 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)

  3. 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

  4. Rotter’s 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

  5. 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.

  6. TAT: Description and Administration • A set of 31 somewhat ambiguous black-and white illustrations • Up to 20 cards are selected for presentation, based on client’s 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? • Client’s stories are recorded verbatim

  7. TAT: Strengths • Richness of personality description • Reflects current concerns • Describes interpersonal issues, patterns, motivations • Taps unconscious material

  8. TAT: Limitations • Questionable reliability and validity • No standardization • Multiple scoring systems • Time-consuming • Relies on clinical intuition • Little known cross-culturally

  9. TAT Stories: Some Assumptions • Storyteller ordinarily identifies with a person in the story. • The storyteller’s 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.

  10. TAT Interpretation • Multiple scoring systems, none standard (Murray’s 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

  11. 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 doesn’t matter: clinicians use intuitive systems anyway

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