MEP - Measuring Personality Lesson

Learning Target:

• Identify frequently used assessment strategies and evaluate relative test quality based on the reliability and validity of the instruments. 

AP psychology course and exam description, effective fall 2020. (n.d.). https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-psychology-course-and-exam-description.pdf

Exploring the Unconscious

Freud's Methods

Initially, Sigmund Freud utilized hypnosis as a method to delve into the unconscious. He would later move away from the use of hypnosis in lieu of a method called free association. Free association is a therapy method in which you just lay down on a couch and talk for hours on end. The thinking behind it is that the more comfortable you become the more likely you are to allow your unconscious to rise. Freud would sit by quietly and take notes to review later.

Projective Tests

Projective tests are another way to enter the unconscious.

They are particularly useful if they achieve two goals:

1) They accurately and consistently reflect the person's characteristics.

2) They predict future behavior.

Psychoanalysts often dismiss objective tests because they merely tap into the surface. A projective personality test is a type of test that provides insight into the unconscious using ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger one's inner dynamics. The response is a projection of unconscious conflicts, motives, psychological defenses, and personality traits. The stimulus in a projective personality test has no inherent significance, so the meaning is derived by the psychologist. The two most popular projective personality tests are the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and the Rorschach Inkblot Test.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Developed by Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray in the 1930s, the TAT is used to evaluate patterns of thought, attitudes, emotional responses, and achievement. The subject is given a set of ambiguous pictures portraying human figures in a variety of settings. They are then asked what is going on in the picture and how the person in the picture feels. The subject's answers to the questions are the manifest content, and the interpretation by the psychologist is the latent content. The analysis reveals expectations on relationships at work, with peers, parents or other authority figures, subordinates, or romantic partners.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

The most loved and widely used projective test is the Rorschach Inkblot test. Developed in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach, it includes a set of ten inkblots designed to identify people's feelings when they are asked to interpret the inkblots. As with the TAT, the subject's descriptions are the manifest content, and the therapist's interpretation is the latent content. The inkblot test can be used to understand and describe personality as well as diagnose a disorder. However, some question its reliability and validity as there is no true system for scoring and interpreting the test that could lead to overdiagnosis.

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