Understanding Personality through Projective Testing

By (author) Steven Tuber

Publication date:

09 March 2012

Length of book:

254 pages

Publisher

Jason Aronson, Inc.

ISBN-13: 9780765709233

The past forty years have revealed a myriad of theoretical advances to Freud’s original conceptions of the personality. It has also witnessed the continued use of projective methods as a vital means of understanding the what and the how of mental health and psychopathology. Understanding Personality Through Projective Testing provides the reader with a comprehensive framework for linking these revitalized key domains of personality functioning to the quality of responses to projective testing in both children and adults. Six core aspects of personality: two facets of object relations (moving towards and away from self and others); the quality of defense mechanisms; the nature of affect maturity; the integrity of autonomous ego functioning and the capacity for playfulness are defined, articulated, and linked to one another in a reciprocal manner. Four commonly used projective testing methods: the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM); the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Sentence Completion Test (SCT), and the Animal Preference Test (APT) are then described in detail. Each of these projective methods is in turn presented as dynamically-based tools to indicate the relative performance of the patient across the six core personality domains. Clinical case examples provide both the beginning and more seasoned clinician with a comprehensive psychodynamic paradigm with which to view each of the testing methods, as well as enhanced methods with which to use each of the tests more subtly and hence with greater clinical acumen. A comprehensive battery of projective testing is then assessed through the protocol of a single adult patient, allowing the reader to integrate the value of each of the individual projective methods into a comprehensive assessment of the whole person. Readers will find the book a vital complement to both standard reference works on projective methods as well as books that describe personality along developmental and psychodynamic lines.

Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Chapter 1: A Story
Chapter 2: A Conceptual Framework for Personality Assessment: The Domains of Negative and Positive Object Relations
Chapter 3: Affects, Defenses, Ego Functions and the Capacity to Play
Chapter 4: The Rorschach: Translating The RIM to our Personality Domains
Chapter 5: Linking RIM Movement, Shading And Color Responses to our Personality Domains
Chapter 6: A RIM Case Example
Chapter 7: The TAT
Chapter 8: The Clinical Application Of the TAT
Chapter 9: The Sentence Completion and Animal Preference Tasks
Chapter 10: The Case of Nicholas: His RIM
Chapter 11: The Case of Nicholas: His SCT and APT
Chapter 12: The Case of Nicholas: His TAT, and a Case Summary
Chapter 13: Epilogue: Some Concluding Remarks
References
Figures
Index
About the Author

Projective methods, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, are valued by some and questioned by others for their use in allowing patients to project on ambiguous stimuli aspects of the self they either cannot or do not wish to reveal to others. Tuber (CUNY City College) describes the value of four projective techniques for uncovering patients' psychodynamic issues: the Rorschach test ("Tell me what this ink blot could be"), the sentence completion task (fill in the blank, e.g., "I miss so much _____"), the animal preference task ("What animal would you like to be?"), and the Thematic Apperception Test ("Tell me a story about this card"). Several detailed case examples are given, including a complete analysis of "Nicholas." The author presumes a fair amount of familiarity with the projective techniques mentioned, including the administration and scoring protocols. Written in a semi-conversational manner (complete with grammatical errors), the study is richly interesting, thought provoking, and detailed in procedural and interpretive recommendations. Overall, Tuber models a thoughtful reverence for patients and for the process of identifying and working through their emergent problems. Summing Up: Recommended.