Test name

Projective psychodiagnostic technique "TAT: Happiness"

Short name

TAT-S

purpose

This projective psychodiagnostic technique is based on the stimulus material TAT (Thematic Apperception Test). It is aimed at a preliminary study of the personality of the subject, the definition of his main terminal values ​​(values-goals).

Designed for professional psychological diagnostics. It can be used in psychological consultation, when drawing up a psychological portrait.

The test is carried out individually.

Assessed qualities

Age category

16+

Order of conduct

The psychologist-diagnostician prepares a notebook in which he will record the results. For beginners, it can be advised to record the dialogue with the subject on a voice recorder (which, of course, you need to ask permission for).

In random order, the subject is shown cards of the TAT stimulus material (in the amount of 30 units). For each card, two questions are asked:

- "What kind of people do you see in the picture?"

- "What do you think, happy or not? Why?"

The second question is asked in relation to each person or group of people found by the test subjects. If he did not find people, then the second question is not asked, the psychologist silently lays out the next card.

Directly in the course of the subject's answers, the psychologist classifies each answer into "Why?", placing it in one of the following three categories:

1. Vital. The character experiences happiness/unhappiness due to the fact that his vital (basic life) needs are satisfied or not: food, drink, sex, health, sleep, etc.

2. Debt. Happiness / unhappiness is associated with a sense of duty (mainly to other people).

3. Achievements. Happiness/unhappiness is connected with the achievements of the character: with that he strives for some kind of achievements (intellectual, sports, career, etc.) or is apathetic, whether he succeeds or not.

Instruction

Now you will be offered a series of cards on which something is depicted. For each card, I will ask you a few questions.

Tasks

Results processing

The number of hits in the category "Vital", "Debt", "Achievements" is counted. In accordance with the distribution of these categories, conclusions are drawn: what terminal values ​​prevail? how strong? which ones are suppressed? By projecting his ideas about happiness and unhappiness onto the characters of the pictures, the subject with his answers, thus, shows the importance or secondary importance of this or that source of happiness for himself. Please note that in this technique it does not matter whether the characters experience happiness or unhappiness from something. The key is what matters and what doesn't.

Year of test development

2012

Version number

1.0

Permalink

Bibliographic link

1. Projective psychodiagnostic technique "TAT: Happiness" [Electronic resource] // A. Ya.. 14.09.2012..html (14.09.2012).

Developer

Laboratory site

License

Text content is available according to Home > Document

Thematic apperceptive test Henry A. Murray

1. This is a projective technique for characterizing the methodological principle that underlies this technique (Bodalev A.A., 2000). TAT refers in quality to standardized psychodiagnostic methods (Gaida V.K., Zakharov V.P., 1982). TAT can be spoken of in at least two ways. In a narrow sense, this is a specific diagnostic technique developed by G. Murray, in a broad sense, it is a method of personal diagnostics, the embodiment of which is not only the Murray test, but also a number of its variants and modifications developed later, as a rule, for more private and narrow diagnostic or research tasks. 2. Equipment. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a set of 31 tables with black and white photographic images on thin white matte cardboard. One of the tables is a blank white sheet. The subject is presented in a certain order with 20 tables from this set (their choice is determined by the gender and age of the subject). His task is to compose plot stories based on the situation depicted on each table. Adaptations and modifications of the methodology.

TAT options for different age groups: Children

the apperceptive test (CAT) by L. Bellac was designed for children aged 3-10 and was based on the assumption that it is easier for children of this age to identify with animals than with human figures; The Michigan Drawing Test (MRI), designed for children aged 8-14, identifies nine problem areas, such as conflicts in the family, at school, conflicts with authorities, problems of aggression, etc.; The P. Simonds Picture Story Test (SPST) is intended for testing adolescents from 12 to 18 years old, includes 20 tables with images of relevant situations, has not been widely used; The TAT for older adults: the Gerontological Apperception Test (GAT) by Walk and Walk and the Senior Apperception Test (SAT) by L. Bellak and S. Bellak, both of these tests generally failed to meet expectations.

Variants of TAT for different ethno-cultural groups:TAT

S. Thompson for Negroes (T-TAT) - a parallel version of Murray's TAT, designed to survey Black Americans, based on the assumption that it will be easier for them to identify with Negroid characters, but the data do not support the hypothesis about the advantages of this option when working with blacks, however, the test is useful for studying racist attitudes and stereotypes; TAT for Africans differs from T-TAT in the content of the paintings, focused on traditional African culture, has been subject to criticism; The South African Drawing Analysis Test (SAPAT) is designed for children from 5 to 13 years old, by P. Nel and A. Pelser; there is information about versions of TAT developed for the American Indians, residents of Cuba, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, etc.

Variants of TAT for solving various applied problems:

The professional apperception test (VAT) reveals motives and attitudes relevant to five professional areas, has satisfactory psychometric characteristics; The group projection test (TGP) is designed to assess group dynamics and does not have any empirical support; L.Jackson family attitudes test (TFA) is intended for children from 6 to 12 years old, has images of critical family situations, the interpretation of the results is quite free, there is no formalized processing system, as well as data on validity and reliability; The Family Relationship Indicator (FRI) gives a more complete description of family relationships, data on reliability and validity are insufficient; The school apperceptive method (SAM) has images of typical school situations and is intended for school psychologists, data on reliability and validity are not available; The Educational Apperception Test (EAT) differs from the previous one in that it uses naturalistic photographs; The School Anxiety Test (SAT) covers five possible classes of anxiety in school situations, the author of the test, E. Huslein, positively assesses its reliability and validity, but additional confirmation is needed.

TAT options for measuring individual motives are the most

standardized variants of TAT, developed in line with the interactionist paradigm and designed to measure the severity of individual motivational dispositions, have higher rates of validity and reliability: TAT for diagnosing achievement motivation by D. McCleland has an achievement theme; H. Heckhausen's TAT ​​for diagnostics of achievement motivation is divided into two independent tendencies in achievement motivation: hope for success and fear of failure; a scheme for diagnosing altruistic attitudes of a person based on the standard TAT; formalized versions of TAT for diagnosing the motivation of power (D.Winter), affiliation (J.Atkinson). 3. The history of the creation of the technique. The thematic apperceptive test was developed at the Harvard Psychological Clinic by Henry Murray and co-workers in the second half of the 1930s and was first described in an article by K. Morgan and G. Murray in 1935. In this publication, the TAT was presented as a method of studying the imagination, which makes it possible to characterize the personality of the subject due to the fact that the task of interpreting the depicted situations, which was set before the subject, allowed him to fantasize without visible restrictions and contributed to the weakening of the mechanisms psychological protection. Theoretical substantiation and standardized scheme of processing and interpretation of TAT was received a little later, in the monograph "Study of Personality" by G. Murray. The final scheme for interpreting the TAT and the final (third) edition of the stimulus material were published in 1943. 4. Appointment. TAT is a method by which one can identify dominant urges, emotions, attitudes, complexes and conflicts of a person. Helps to determine the level of hidden tendencies that the subject, or patient, hides or cannot show due to their unawareness. Since the TAT and Rorschach provide complementary information, the combination of the two tests, as Harrison and others have done, is extremely effective. The technique is recommended to be used as a preparation for psychotherapy or brief psychoanalysis. In ordinary situations, a relatively massive psychodiagnostic examination of the TAT, as a rule, does not justify the effort expended. It is recommended to be used in cases of doubt, requiring fine differential diagnosis, as well as in situations of maximum responsibility, as in the selection of candidates for leadership positions, astronauts, pilots, etc. It is recommended to be used at the initial stages of individual psychotherapy, since it allows you to immediately identify psychodynamics, which in ordinary psychotherapeutic work becomes visible only after a fair amount of time. TAT is especially useful in a psychotherapeutic context in cases requiring acute and short-term therapy (eg, depression with suicidal risk). 5. Theoretical foundations The procedure consists in simply presenting a series of pictures to the subject and prompting them to compose a story for each plot. The course of history, which reveals significant personal components, depends on the severity of two psychological tendencies, firstly, the desire of people to explain unclear situations in human relationships in accordance with their own life experience and real desires; and, secondly, the tendency to add to what is already there one's experience, one's worries and needs, consciously or unconsciously. If the pictures are presented as a test of imagination (the interest of the subject, together with his need for approval, so involve him that he forgets about caution and the need to defend himself and resist the experimenter), then without realizing, he talks about what traits of his character he gave the hero and something about which he would never have said with a direct question. Typically, the subject ends the test blissfully unaware that their self is illuminated almost as well as X-rays.

7. Scope of the test.

TAT can be used from the age of 14, however, when working with people aged 14 to 18, the set of tables will be slightly different from regular set for working with people over 18 years old - tables that most directly actualize the topics of aggression and sex are excluded from it and replaced by others. The distinction between "male" and "female" pictures goes back to the concept of identification, which Murray relied on, who believed that the similarity of the subject to the character of the picture (story) in terms of gender, age, and other parameters is a condition for the effectiveness of the projection.

9. Psychometric check.

The reliability of the technique has been repeatedly studied by various researchers. Most of the works discuss the problem of recurrence of themes of stories after a certain period of time. According to S. Tomkins, the correlation when repeating the test after two months was 0.80, after six months - 0.60, and after ten months was 0.50. The validity of the test, despite the fact that in the case of projective methods this issue cannot be resolved traditionally psychometrically, is confirmed by numerous studies.

13. Procedure.

14. Application.

The instruction consists of two parts. The text of the first part of the instruction: “I will show you pictures, you look at the picture and, starting from it, compose a story, plot, story. Try to remember what you need to mention in this story. You will say what, in your opinion, is this situation, what moment is depicted in the picture, what is happening to people. In addition, say what happened before this moment, in the past in relation to him, what happened before. Then you will say what will happen after this situation, in the future in relation to it, what will happen later. In addition, it must be said that the people depicted in the picture or one of them feel, their experiences, emotions, feelings. And also say what the people depicted in the picture think, their reasoning, memories, thoughts, decisions. The second part of the instruction: there are no “right” or “wrong” options, any story that corresponds to the instruction is good; You can tell in any order. It is better not to think over the whole story in advance, but to start immediately saying the first thing that comes to mind, and changes or amendments can be introduced later if there is a need for it; literary processing is not required, the literary merits of the stories will not be evaluated. The main thing is to be clear about what in question. Some private questions can be asked along the way. The table gives short description all pictures. VM symbols denote paintings used when working with men from 14 years old, GF symbols - with girls and women from 14 years old, BG symbols - with teenagers from 14 to 18 years old of both sexes, MF - with men and women over 18 years old. The rest of the pictures are suitable for all subjects. The number of the picture fixes its ordinal place in the set.

Table code	Image Description	Typical themes and features that appear in the story
1	The boy looks at the violin lying on the table in front of him.	Attitude towards parents, correlation of autonomy and submission to external requirements, achievement motivation and its frustration, symbolically expressed sexual conflicts.
2	Village scene: in the foreground a girl with a book, in the background a man working in the field, an older woman looking at him.	Family relations, conflicts with the family environment in the context of the problem of autonomy-subordination. Love triangle. The conflict of striving for personal growth and a conservative environment. The woman in the background is often perceived as pregnant, which provokes the appropriate theme. The muscular figure of a man can provoke homosexual reactions. Sexual stereotypes. In the Russian context, there are often stories related to national history and professional self-assertion.
3BM	On the floor next to the couch is a crouching figure, most likely a boy, next to it is a revolver on the floor.	The perceived gender of the character may indicate hidden homosexual attitudes. Problems of aggression, in particular, auto-aggression, as well as depression, suicidal intentions.
3GF	A young woman is standing near the door, holding out her hand; the other hand covers the face.	Depressive feelings.
4	The woman hugs the man by the shoulders; The man seems to be trying to escape.	A wide range of feelings and problems in the intimate sphere: themes of autonomy and infidelity, the image of men and women in general. A semi-naked female figure in the background, when she is perceived as a third character, and not as a picture on the wall, provokes plots related to jealousy, a love triangle, conflicts in the field of sexuality.
5	A middle-aged woman peers through a half-open door into an old-fashioned room.	Reveals the range of feelings associated with the image of the mother. In the Russian context, however, social themes associated with personal intimacy, security, and the insecurity of personal life from prying eyes often appear.
6VM	low elderly woman stands with his back to a tall young man who lowered his eyes guiltily.	A wide range of feelings and problems in the mother-son relationship.
6GF	A young woman sitting on the edge of a sofa turns around and looks at a middle-aged man standing behind her with a pipe in his mouth.	The picture was conceived as symmetrical to the previous one, reflecting the father-daughter relationship. However, it is perceived by no means so unambiguously and can actualize quite different variants of relations between the sexes.
7VM	A gray-haired man looks at a young man who is looking into space.	It reveals the father-son relationship and the relationship to male authorities derived from them.
7GF	The woman is sitting on the couch next to the girl, talking or reading something to her. A girl with a doll in her hands looks away.	Reveals the relationship between mother and daughter, and (sometimes) future motherhood when the doll is perceived as a baby. Sometimes the plot of a fairy tale is inserted into the story, which the mother tells or reads to her daughter, and, as Bellak notes, this fairy tale is the most informative.
8VM	A teenage boy in the foreground, the barrel of a gun is visible from the side, in the background a fuzzy scene of a surgical operation	Effectively updates topics related to aggression and ambition. Not recognizing the gun indicates problems with aggression control.
8GF	A young woman sits leaning on her arm and looks into space.	May reveal dreams about the future or current emotional background. Bellak considers all the stories on this chart to be superficial, with a few exceptions.
9VM	Four men in overalls lie side by side on the grass.	It characterizes relationships between peers, social contacts, relationships with a reference group, sometimes homosexual tendencies or fears, social prejudices.
9GF	A young woman with a magazine and a purse in her hands looks out from behind a tree at another smartly dressed woman, even younger, running along the beach.	Reveals relationships with peers, often rivalry between sisters or mother-daughter conflict. It can reveal depressive and suicidal tendencies, suspiciousness and latent aggressiveness, up to paranoia.
10	A woman's head on a man's shoulder.	Relationships between a man and a woman, sometimes hidden hostility towards a partner (if the story has a theme of parting). The perception of the two men in the painting suggests homosexual tendencies.
11	The road going through the gorge between the rocks. On the road - obscure figures. The head and neck of a dragon protrudes from the rock.	Actualizes infantile and primitive fears, anxieties, fear of attack, general emotional background.
12M	A young man lies on a couch eyes closed, an elderly man leaned over him, his hand outstretched to the face of the recumbent.	Attitude towards elders, towards authorities, fear of dependence, passive homosexual fears, attitude towards a psychotherapist.
12F	Portrait of a young woman, behind her an elderly woman in a headscarf with a strange grimace.	Relationship to mother, although most often the woman in the background is described as the mother-in-law.
12BG	A boat tied to the bank of a river in a wooded environment. There are no people.	Bellak considers this table useful only in identifying depressive and suicidal tendencies.
13MF	A young man stands with his face in his hands, behind him on the bed is a half-naked female figure.	Effectively reveals sexual problems and conflicts in men and women, fear of sexual aggression (in women), feelings of guilt (in men).
13V	The boy is sitting on the threshold of the hut.	Much the same as Table 1, although less effective.
13G	The girl goes up the stairs.	Bellak considers this table of little use, like the rest of the purely adolescent TAT tables.
14	The silhouette of a man against the backdrop of an illuminated window opening.	Bellak believes that the figure can also be perceived as female, which indicates the gender identity of the subjects, but our experience does not confirm this - the figure is clearly perceived as male. The table actualizes children's fears (darkness), suicidal tendencies, general philosophical and aesthetic inclinations.
15	A middle-aged man with lowered hands stands among the graves.	Attitude towards the death of loved ones, own fears of death, depressive tendencies, hidden aggression, religious feelings.
16	Clean white table.	It provides rich versatile material, but only for the subjects who do not experience difficulties with the verbal expression of thoughts.
17VM	A naked man climbs or descends a rope.	Fears, tendency to flee from danger, homosexual feelings, body image.
17GF	A female figure on the bridge, leaning over the railing, behind tall buildings and small human figures.	Useful for detecting suicidal tendencies in women.
18VM	The man is grabbed from behind with three hands, the figures of his opponents are not visible.	Reveals anxiety, fear of attack, fear of homosexual aggression, need for support.
18GF	The woman clasped her hands around another woman's throat, seemingly pushing her down the stairs.	Aggressive tendencies in women, mother-daughter conflict.
19	A vague image of a hut covered in snow.	Benefit is questionable.
20	Lonely male figure by the lamp at night.	As in the case of Table 14, Bellak points out that the figure is often perceived as female, but our experience does not confirm this. Fears, a feeling of loneliness, sometimes evaluated positively.

Bibliography: 1. Bodalev A.A. Stolin V.V. Avanesov V.S. General psychodiagnostics. - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2000. - 440 p.2. Gaida V.K., Zakharov V.P. Psychological testing: tutorial. - L .: Publishing House of Leningrad State University, 1982. S. 13-18.3. Leontiev D.A. Thematic apperception test. 2nd ed., stereotypical. – M.: Meaning, 2000. – 254 p. 4. Sokolova E.T. Psychological research personality: projective techniques. - M.: TEIS, 2002. - 150 p.

This test is a necessary tool for a psychologist who counsels families, adolescents and people in difficult life situations. It is indicative in all respects: the orientation of the personality, actual intrapersonal conflicts, ways of responding to the conflict.

Drawn apperception test (PAT) G. Murray. Methods for studying conflict attitudes, B.I. Hassan (based on the RAT test).

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective psychodiagnostic technique developed in the 1930s at Harvard by Henry Murray and Christiane Morgan. The aim of the methodology was to study driving forces personality - internal conflicts, drives, interests and motives. The drawn apperception test (PAT) is a compact modified version of G. Murray's Thematic Apperception Test, which takes a little time for examination and is adapted to the working conditions of a practical psychologist. A completely new stimulus material has been developed for it, which is a contour plot pictures. They are schematic representations of human figures.

Applicable:

In family counseling

When providing socio-psychological assistance to presuicidal persons,

Diagnosis of internal conflicts and personality orientation,

In the clinic of neurosis and forensic psychiatric examination.

The technique can be used both in individual and group examinations, both with adults and adolescents from 12 years of age.

Progress:The client is given pictures and asked to write a story based on them.

Instruction.Carefully consider each drawing in turn and, without limiting your imagination, compose a short story for each of them, which will reflect the following aspects: What is happening at the moment? Who are these people? What are they thinking and feeling? What led to this situation and how will it end? Do not use famous stories taken from books, theatrical productions or movies - come up with something of your own. Use your imagination, the ability to invent, the wealth of fantasy. Test (stimulus material).

Processing of results.

The analysis of the subject's creative stories (oral or written) makes it possible to reveal his identification (as a rule, unconscious identification) with one of the "heroes" of the plot and the projection (transfer to the plot) of his own experiences.

The degree of identification with the character of the plot is judged by intensity, duration and frequency of attention paid to the description of this particular participant in the plot.

The signs, based on which one could conclude that the subject identifies himself with this hero to a greater extent, include the following:

One of the participants in the situation is credited with thoughts, feelings, actions that do not follow directly from the given plot presented in the picture;

One of the participants in the situation is given much more attention in the process of description than the other;

Against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one of them is given a name, and the other is not;

Against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one of them is described using more emotionally charged words than the other;

Against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one of them has direct speech, while the other does not;

Against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one is described first, and then the rest;

If the story is compiled orally, then the hero, with whom the subject identifies himself to a greater extent, manifests a more emotional attitude, manifested in the intonations of the voice, in facial expressions and gestures;

If the story is presented in writing, handwriting features can also give out those facts with which there is a greater identification - the presence of strikethroughs, blots, deterioration of handwriting, an increase in the slope of the lines up or down compared to ordinary handwriting, any other obvious deviations from ordinary handwriting, when the subject writes in a calm state.

It is not always easy to find more significant character in the picture description. Quite often, the experimenter finds himself in a situation where the volume of the written text does not allow him to confidently judge who is the hero and who is not. There are other difficulties as well. Some of them are described below.

Identification shifts from one character to another, that is, in all respects, both characters are considered approximately in the same volume, and, first, one person is completely described, and then completely another (B.I. Hasan sees this as a reflection of the instability of the subject's ideas about himself) .

The subject identifies himself simultaneously with two characters, for example, with “positive” and “negative” - in this case, in the description there is a constant “jumping” from one character to another (dialogue, or just a description), and it is precisely the opposite qualities of the participants in the plot that are emphasized (this may indicate the author's internal inconsistency, a tendency to internal conflicts).

The object of identification can be a character of the opposite sex or a sexless character (a person, creature, etc.), which in some cases, if there are additional confirmations in the text, can be regarded as various problems in the intersexual sphere of personality (the presence of fears, problems with self-identification, painful dependence on a subject of the opposite sex, etc.).

In the story, the author can emphasize the absence of his identification with any of the participants in the plot, taking the position of an outside observer, using statements like: "Here I am watching the following picture on the street ...". B.I.Hasan proposes to consider in this case the heroes as antipodes of the subject himself. At the same time, it can be assumed that this is not the only possible interpretation. So, for example, the position of an outside observer can be taken by a person whose system of defense mechanisms of his Ego does not allow him to realize in himself the presence of qualities that he attributes to others, or this may be the result of fear of such situations and the dissociation mechanism is triggered. One or another picture may be associated with the subject with his own life situation, causing frustration. In this case, the characters of the story realize the unrealized in real life the needs of the narrator. It happens and vice versa - the story describes the obstacles that prevent the realization of needs.

The intensity, frequency and duration of attention paid to the description of individual details of the situation, the duration of fixing the subject's attention on certain values ​​repeated in different stories, can give a general understanding of the problematic psychological zones (unsatisfied needs, stress factors, etc.) of the person being examined. The analysis of the data obtained is carried out mainly at a qualitative level, as well as through simple quantitative comparisons, which allow, among other things, to assess the balance between the emotional and intellectual spheres of the personality, the presence of external and internal conflicts, the sphere of disturbed relationships, the position of the subject's personality - passive or active, aggressive or passive (at the same time, 1:1, that is, 50% to 50% is considered a conditional norm, and a significant advantage in one direction or another is expressed in ratios of 2:1 or 1:2 or more).

Key.

Characteristics of each individual story (there should be 8 pieces in total):

1. The characters of the story (formal description - what is known from the story about each of the participants in the plot - gender, age, etc.);

2. Feelings, experiences, the physical state transmitted in the story (as a whole); leading motives, sphere of relations, values ​​(in general);

3. Conflicts and their scope (if any), obstacles and barriers on the way for the participants in this story to achieve their goals;

4. Ways to resolve conflicts;

5. The vector of the psychological orientation of the behavior of the participants in the plot;

6. Analysis of the reasons that do not allow a clear definition of the "hero" of the plot, with whom identification occurs to a greater extent (if any);

7. The presence in the plot of a hero with whom the subject identifies himself to a greater extent and a description of the features by which this particular character is recognized by the researcher as a “hero” (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);

8. The gender and age of the hero are indicated (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);

9. Determining the characteristics of the hero, his aspirations, feelings, desires, character traits (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);

10. Evaluation of the strength of the hero's need depending on its intensity, duration, frequency of appearance and development of the plot as a whole (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);

11. Description individual features the hero according to the scales: impulsiveness - self-control, infantilism - personal maturity (with a description of the criteria for this assessment) (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);

12. Correlation of the characteristics of the "hero" (motives of behavior, personal characteristics, etc.) with those characteristics (needs, motives, values, character traits, etc.) that the subject as a whole reflected in the process of describing this plot (if a certain “hero” is quite obvious in the plot);

13. Self-esteem of the subject, the ratio of his I-real and I-ideal, judging by this story; features of the style of presentation of the text, handwriting;

14. Features of the style of presentation of the text, handwriting;

15. What in this text especially attracted the attention of the researcher;

16. Assumptions about the characteristics of the personality and life situation of the subject with specific references to the details of the story, confirming these assumptions - a generalization of the conclusions on this story.

Further, with regard to the application of the Drawn Apperception Test (PAT) in the Methodology for the Study of Conflict Attitudes, the author Boris Iosifovich Khasan (highlighted in italics): Point 11 - “assessment of the strength of the hero’s need depending on its intensity, duration, frequency of occurrence and development of the plot as a whole” or, if there are difficulties with the definition of the “hero”, then this phrase should be understood as “an assessment of the strength of the need present in general in the description of the plot, depending on its intensity, duration, frequency of occurrence and development of the plot as a whole” deserves a separate description. In order to determine the dominant and possibly suppressed needs of the subject, it is proposed to introduce a ranking of the strength of a particular need in each of the descriptions, that is, in each of the proposed 8 stories. Thus, all needs from G. Murray's list of needs (the list is given above) receive a subjective assessment of the severity. B.I.Hasan proposes to determine the intensity of needs only for the “hero”, but it seems more logical to simply mark in points the strength of one or another need reflected in the description of the plot, regardless of which of the characters is given more attention, based on the assumption that all the story as a whole is a projection of certain characteristics of the personality of the subject, his image of the world. For evaluation, you can choose, for example, a five-point system.

In this case, the strength of such a need (according to Merey) as aggression can be expressed as follows:

Complete absence of aggression - 0 points

The tendency of one of the participants in the plot to be irritable - 1 point

Active verbal aggression on the part of one of the participants or indirect non-verbal aggression (broke some thing, etc.) - 2 points

A quarrel with expressed threats from both participants in the plot - 3 points

Real fight with physical strength– 4 points

Murder, mutilation, war, etc. - 5 points

There are only 22 items in the list of G. Murray's needs, given in this development. Therefore, it is the diagnostician's task to compile a table in which a certain number of points would be assigned in accordance with the intensity of each of the 22 needs in each of the descriptions (at least 8 plots).

Intensity of Expression of Needs
	need	1 fig.	2 fig.	3 fig.	4 fig.	5 fig.	6 fig.	7 fig.	8 fig.	sum
	In self-deprecation
	In reaching
	In affiliation
	In aggression
	In autonomy
	In opposition
	In respect
	In dominance
	In exhibition
	To avoid damage
	Avoiding shame
	In order
	in rejection
	In sensory impressions
	Close (libido)
	In support
	In understanding
	In narcissism
	In sociality (sociology)

After calculating the sum of points for each of the needs, the researcher puts forward an assumption that the subject has some dominant needs and, possibly, some suppressed, or not suppressed, but not actualized.

This is done by comparing the data and selecting a few needs that have received the maximum total score and needs with a minimum score. If several needs (according to G. Murray) received the same, large number of points, then the probability that a need that has a lot of points due to its reflection in almost every description with an average strength is more relevant than a need that received a high number of points for due to the fact that it is strongly expressed in 2-3 descriptions, but not in the rest. Of course, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the content of stories in which the strength of one or another need is high.

It is also proposed to separately consider the described behavior of the characters in each of the stories from the point of view of various types aggressiveness (in the theoretical part, 11 types of behavior are indicated - see below) and also summarize the results.

The intensity of the manifestation of aggressiveness.
	need
	antiaggressiveness
	intrusive aggression
	aggressiveness undifferentiated

After the Second World War, the test became widely used by psychoanalysts and clinicians to work with disorders in the emotional sphere of patients.

Henry Murray himself defines TAT ​​as follows:

"Thematic Apperception Test, better known as TAT, is a method by which dominant impulses, emotions, attitudes, complexes and conflicts of the personality can be identified and which helps to determine the level of hidden tendencies that the subject or patient hides or cannot show due to their unconsciousness"

- Henry A Murray. Thematic apperception test. - Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1943.

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Measuring Personality: Crash Course Psychology #22

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How would you describe your personality? Friendly, creative, weird? what about nervous, modest or outgoing? But has anyone called you sanguine? What about Kapha, or full of metal? The ancient Greek doctor Hippocrates believed that personality manifested through four different fluids, and you are a person through the balance between phlegm, blood, yellow and black bile. Following traditional Chinese medicine, our personalities depend on the balance of the five elements: earth, air, water, metal, and fire. Followers of traditional Hindu Ayurvedic medicine see everyone as a unique combination of three different mind-body principles called Doshas. Sigmund Freud believed that our personalities depend in part on who wins the impulse battle between id, ego, and superego. At the same time, the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslov suggested that the key to self-actualization lies in successfully climbing the hierarchy of more basic needs. And now there are BuzzFeed tests to determine what type of pirate, shift, sandwich, or Harry Potter character you are, but I wouldn't pay much attention to those. All this to the point that people have been trying to characterize each other for a long time, and whether you prefer blood, or bile, or ego, or id, or sandwiches, there are many ways to describe and measure personality. All of these theories, all of the years of research, smoking cigars, looking at ink blots, and fans arguing whether they're Luke or Leia, it all boils down to one big question. Who, or what, is the self? Introduction Last week we talked about how psychologists often study personality by looking at the differences between characteristics, and how these diverse characteristics come together to create a complete thinking and feeling person. Early psychoanalysts and humanistic theorists had many ideas about personality, but some psychologists question their lack of clearly measurable standards. for example, there is no way to really translate into numbers her response to inkblots, or how much they are orally fixed. This move towards more scientific approaches gave life to two of the better known twentieth-century theories known as perspectives. characteristic features and social-cognitive theory. Instead of attention to lingering influences of the subconscious or missed development opportunities, trait theory researchers attempt to describe personality in terms of stable and lasting patterns of behavior and conscious motivators. According to legend, it all started in 1919, when a young American psychologist, Gordon Allport, visited Freud himself. Allport was telling Freud about his journey here by train, and how there was a little boy there, obsessed with cleanliness and didn't want to sit next to anyone or touch anything. Allport wondered if the child's mother had a phobia of dirt that affected him. Blah blah blah, he tells his story and at the end Freud looks at him and says "Mmm... were you that little boy?" And Allport said, "No, man, it was just a kid on a train. Don't turn this into some subliminal episode from my repressed childhood." Allport thought that Freud dug too deep, and sometimes one only needs to look at the motives of the present time, not the past, to explain behavior. So Allport started his own club, describing personality in terms of fundamental traits, or characteristic behaviors and conscious motives. He wasn't as interested in explaining traits as he was in describing them. Modern trait researchers like Robert McCray and Paul Sost have since organized our fundamental traits into the famous Big Five: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, which you can remember from their OSEDN initials. Each of these characteristics exists on a spectrum, so for example your level of openness can range from total openness to new events and diversity on the one hand, or a preference for a strict and regular routine on the other hand. Your level of consciousness can reflect impulsiveness and carelessness, or caution and discipline. Someone with high extraversion will be outgoing, while those on the other side will be shy and quiet. A very friendly person is helpful and trusting, while someone on the opposite end is distrustful or unfriendly. And on the spectrum of neuroticism, an emotionally stable person will be calm and balanced, while a less stable person will be worried, unbalanced, and feel sorry for himself. Important here is the idea that these characteristics are considered to be able to predict behavior and attitudes. for example, an introvert may prefer to communicate via e-mail more than an extrovert, a benevolent person is more likely to help a neighbor move a couch than a suspect and watch others through the window. By maturity, these characteristics become quite stable, as the scientists would tell you, but that doesn't mean they can't flex a little in different situations. The same shy guy can start singing Elvis over karaoke in a packed room in a certain situation. So our personality traits are better at predicting our average behavior than our behavior in any situation, and research shows that some traits, like neuroticism, are better at predicting behavior than others. This flexibility that we all have leads to the fourth well-known personality theory, socio-cognitive perspective. First proposed by our Bobo-beating friend Alfred Bandura, the school of social-cognitive theory emphasizes the interactions between our traits and their social context. Bandura noted that we learn many of our behaviors by observing and imitating others. This is the social part of the equation. But we also think about how these social events affect our behavior, which is the cognitive part. In this way, people and their situations work together to create behavior. Bandura called this kind of interaction reciprocal determinism. For example, the kind of books you read, the music you listen to, your friends all say something about your personality because different people choose different environment and then these environments continue to influence the assertion of our personalities. So if Bernice has a disturbing-suspicious personality, and she has a strong and titanic crush on Sherlock Holmes, she will be especially careful in potentially dangerous or strange situations. The more she sees the world in this way, the more anxious and suspicious she becomes. thus, we are both the creators and results of the situations we surround ourselves with. That is why one of the key indicators of personality in this school of thought is the feeling of personal control - that is, how much you feel your ability to control your environment. Those who believe in their ability to control their own destiny or create their own luck have an internal locus of control, while those who feel they are being led by forces beyond their control have an external locus. Are we talking about control and helplessness, introversion and extraversion, calmness and anxiety? , or whatever, each of these varied perspectives on personality has its own methods of testing and measuring personality. We have already talked about how the psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach used the ink blot test to deduce information about a person's personality, and we know that Freud used dream analysis, and he and Jung were both fans of free association, but the more extended school of theorist, now known as a psycho-dynamic school coming from Freud and friends, other projective psychological tests , including the well-known Thematic Apperception Test. In this type of testing, you will be shown evocative but vague pictures and asked to explain them. You may also be asked to tell a story about the pictures, considering how the characters feel, what is happening, what happened before this event, or what will happen after. For example, does a woman cry because of the death of her brother or because of the sting of a bee? Or is it a maid laughing because some rich guy passed out drunk on his bed, or maybe the object of her fiery love just confessed his love to her in the heat, like Jane Austen, and she is panicking in the hallway?! that your answers will reveal something about your worries and motivations in real life, about how you see the world, about your subconscious processes that drive you. In contrast to this approach, modern personality researchers believe that personality can be measured with a set of questions. There are many so-called personality trait inventories. Some suggest a short reading of a particular stable trait, such as anxiety or self-esteem, while others measure a large number of traits, such as the Big Five. These tests, like the Myers Briggs you may have heard of, include many truth-false or agree-disagree questions such as "Do you enjoy being the center of attention?" "Is it easy for you to understand the pain of others?" "Is justice or forgiveness important to you?" But the classic Minnesota Multidimensional Personality Inventory is probably the most widely used personality test. The most recent version asks a set of 567 true or false questions ranging from "No one understands me" to "I like tech magazines" to "I loved my father" and is often used to identify emotional illness. There are also methods of Bandura's social cognitive school. Because this school of learning focuses on the interaction of environment and behavior, not just traits, they don't just ask questions. Instead, they can measure personality in different contexts, realizing that behavior in one situation is better predicted by how you behaved in a similar situation. for example, if Bernice got scared and tried to hide under the table during the last five thunderstorms, you can predict that she will do it again. And if we did a controlled laboratory experiment where we studied the effects of thunderstorm sounds on people's behavior, we might get a better idea of ​​the underlying psychological factors that can predict thunderstorm fear. and, finally, there are humanistic theorists like Maslov. They often completely reject standard testing. Instead, they measure your understanding of yourself through therapy, interviews, and questionnaires that ask people to describe what they would like to be and who they really are. The idea is that the closer the present and the ideal, the more positive self-image. Which brings us back to the most important question of all: what or who am I? All those books about self-esteem, self-help, self-understanding, self-control and the like, are built on the idea that the individual controls thoughts and feelings and behavior: and in general is the center of the person. But of course, this is a tricky problem. You can think of yourself as a concept of several personalities - the ideal self, perhaps the devastatingly beautiful and intelligent, successful and beloved, and maybe the frightening self - which can be left without a job and in loneliness and devastation. This balance of potential best and worst self motivates us through life. In the end, when you take into account the influence of the environment and childhood experiences, culture and all that, without mentioning biology, which we did not even talk about today, can we really describe ourselves? or even answer with certainty that we have a personality? this, my friend, is one of the most difficult questions in life, still without a universal answer. But you still learned a lot today, right? We have talked about character and social cognitive theories, and the many ways these and other schools measure and test personality have also been discussed. what I am, and how our self-esteem works. Thanks for watching, especially to all of our Subbable subscribers who keep this channel going. If you want to learn how to become a subscriber, visit subbable.com/crashcourse. This series was written by Kathleen Yale, edited by Blake de Pastino, and our consultant was Dr. Ranjit Bhagavat. Our director and editor is Nicholas Jenkins, the text supervisor is Michael Aranda, who is also our sound engineer and our graphics supervisor is Thought Café.

The history of the creation of the technique

Thematic apperceptive test was first described by K. Morgan and G. Murray in 1935. In this publication, TAT was presented as a method of studying the imagination, which makes it possible to characterize the personality of the subject due to the fact that the task of interpreting the depicted situations, which was set before the subject, allowed him to fantasize without visible restrictions and contributed to the weakening of psychological defense mechanisms. Theoretical substantiation and standardized scheme of processing and interpretation of TAT was received a little later, in the monograph "Study of Personality" by G. Murray and co-workers. The final scheme for interpreting the TAT and the final (third) edition of the stimulus material were published in 1943.

Testing process

The test-taker is offered black-and-white drawings, most of which depict people in everyday situations. Most TAT drawings depict human figures whose feelings and actions are expressed with varying degrees of clarity.

The TAT contains 30 paintings, some of which were drawn specifically at the direction of psychologists, others were reproductions of various paintings, illustrations or photographs. In addition, the subject is also presented with a white sheet, on which he can call up by imagination any picture he wants. From this series of 31 drawings, each subject is usually presented with 20 consecutively. Of these, 10 are offered to everyone, the rest are selected depending on the sex and age of the subject. This differentiation is determined by the possibility of the subject's greatest identification of himself with the character depicted in the figure, since such identification is easier if the picture includes characters close to the subject in gender and age.

The study is usually carried out in two sessions, separated by one or more days, in each of which 10 drawings are presented sequentially in a certain order. However, modification of the TAT procedure is allowed. Some psychologists believe that in clinical conditions it is more convenient to conduct the study entirely at one time with a 15-minute break, while others use part of the drawings and conduct the study in 1 hour.

The subject is asked to come up with a story for each picture, which would reflect the situation depicted, what the characters in the picture think and feel, what they want, which led to the situation depicted in the picture, and how it will end. Answers are recorded verbatim with fixation of pauses, intonations, exclamations, mimic and other expressive movements (shorthand, a tape recorder may be involved, less often the recording is entrusted to the subject himself). Since the subject is unaware of the meaning of his responses to seemingly foreign objects, he is expected to reveal certain aspects of his personality more freely and with less conscious control than with direct questioning.

Interpretation of TAT protocols should not be done in a vacuum, this material should be considered in relation to known facts the life of the individual being investigated. Great importance attached to the training and art of the psychologist. In addition to knowledge of personality psychology and the clinic, he must have considerable experience with the method, it is desirable to use this method in conditions where it is possible to compare the results of the TAT with detailed data on the same subjects obtained by other means.

Interpretation of results

G. Lindzi identifies a number of basic assumptions on which the interpretation of TAT is based. They wear enough general character and practically do not depend on the interpretation scheme used. The primary assumption is that by completing or structuring an unfinished or unstructured situation, the individual manifests in this his aspirations, dispositions and conflicts. The next 5 assumptions are related to the determination of the most diagnostically informative stories or their fragments.

1. When writing a story, the narrator usually identifies with one of the actors, and that character's desires, aspirations, and conflicts may reflect the narrator's desires, aspirations, and conflicts.
2. Sometimes the dispositions, aspirations, and conflicts of the narrator are presented in an implicit or symbolic form.
3. The stories are of varying importance in diagnosing impulses and conflicts. Some may contain a lot of important diagnostic material, while others may contain very little or none at all.
4. Themes that follow directly from the stimulus material are likely to be less significant than themes that are not directly conditioned by the stimulus material.
5. Recurring themes are most likely to reflect the narrator's impulses and conflicts.

And finally, 4 more assumptions are connected with the conclusions from the projective content of the stories concerning other aspects of behavior.

1. Stories can reflect not only stable dispositions and conflicts, but also relevant, related to the current situation.
2. Stories can reflect events from the subject's past experience in which he did not participate, but was a witness to them, read about them, etc. At the same time, the very choice of these events for the story is connected with his impulses and conflicts.
3. The stories can reflect, along with individual, group and socio-cultural attitudes.
4. The dispositions and conflicts that can be inferred from stories do not necessarily appear in behavior or are reflected in the mind of the narrator.

In the vast majority of schemes for processing and interpreting TAT results, interpretation is preceded by the isolation and systematization of diagnostically significant indicators based on formalized criteria. V. E. Renge calls this stage of processing symptomological analysis. Based on the data of the symptomological analysis, the next step is taken - syndromological analysis according to Renge, which consists in identifying stable combinations of diagnostic indicators and allows you to proceed to the formulation of diagnostic conclusions, which is the third stage of interpreting the results. Syndromic analysis, in contrast to symptomological analysis, is very weakly amenable to any kind of formalization. At the same time, it inevitably relies on formalized data of symptomological analysis.

Literature

1. Leontiev D. A. Thematic apperceptive test // Workshop on psychodiagnostics. Specific psychodiagnostic methods. M.: Publishing House of Moscow. un-ta, 1989 a. pp.48-52.
2. Leontiev D. A. Thematic apperception test. 2nd ed., stereotypical. M.: Meaning, 2000. - 254 p.
3. Sokolova E. T. Psychological study of personality: projective methods. - M., TEIS, 2002. - 150 p.
4. Gruber, N. & Kreuzpointner, L.(2013). Measuring the reliability of picture story exercises like the TAT. Plos ONE, 8(11), e79450. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079450 [Gruber, H. & Kreuzpointner, L. (2013). Reliability measurement of PSE as TAT. Plos ONE, 8(11), e79450. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079450]

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective psychodiagnostic technique developed in the 1930s at Harvard by Henry Murray and Christiane Morgan. The purpose of the methodology was to study the driving forces of the individual - internal conflicts, drives, interests and motives.

The drawn apperception test (PAT) is a compact modified version of G. Murray's Thematic Apperception Test, which takes a little time for examination and is adapted to the working conditions of a practical psychologist. A completely new stimulus material has been developed for it, which is a contour plot pictures. They are schematic representations of human figures.

The drawn apperceptive test, due to its greater conciseness and simplicity, has found application in family counseling, in the provision of socio-psychological assistance to presuicidal people, as well as in the neurosis clinic and forensic psychiatric examination.

The technique can be used both in individual and group examinations, both with adults and adolescents from 12 years of age. Testing can be done by listening to stories and writing them down, but you can also give the task and ask the subject to write down his answers himself. Then he (or a group of subjects) is asked to sequentially, according to the numbering, consider each picture and write a short story about how he interprets the contents of the picture.

Testing time is not limited, but should not be unnecessarily long in order to get more immediate answers.

Drawn apperception test (PAT) G. Murray. As well as a methodology for studying conflict attitudes, B.I. Hasan (based on the RAT test):

Instruction.

Carefully consider each drawing in turn and, without limiting your imagination, compose a short story for each of them, which will reflect the following aspects:

• What is happening at the moment?
• Who are these people?
• What are they thinking and feeling?
• What led to this situation and how will it end?

Do not use famous stories taken from books, theatrical productions or movies - come up with something of your own. Use your imagination, the ability to invent, the wealth of fantasy.

Test (stimulus material).

Processing of results.

The analysis of the subject's creative stories (oral or written) makes it possible to reveal his identification (as a rule, unconscious identification) with one of the "heroes" of the plot and the projection (transfer to the plot) of his own experiences. The degree of identification with the character of the plot is judged by the intensity, duration and frequency of attention paid to the description of this particular participant in the plot.

The signs based on which one could conclude that the subject identifies himself with this hero to a greater extent include the following:

• thoughts, feelings, actions that do not follow directly from the given plot presented in the picture are attributed to one of the participants in the situation;
• one of the participants in the situation is given much more attention in the process of description than the other;
• against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one of them is given a name, and the other is not;
• against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one of them is described using more emotionally charged words than the other;
• against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one of them has direct speech, while the other does not;
• against the background of approximately the same amount of attention paid to the participants in the proposed situation, one is described first, and then the rest;
• if the story is compiled orally, then the hero, with whom the subject identifies himself to a greater extent, manifests a more emotional attitude, manifested in the intonations of the voice, in facial expressions and gestures;
• if the story is presented in writing - the features of the handwriting can also give out those facts with which there is a greater identification - the presence of strikethroughs, blots, deterioration of handwriting, an increase in the slope of the lines up or down compared to ordinary handwriting, any other obvious deviations from ordinary handwriting, when the subject writes in a calm state.

It is far from always easy to find a more significant character in the description of the picture. Quite often, the experimenter finds himself in a situation where the volume of the written text does not allow him to confidently judge who is the hero and who is not. There are other difficulties as well. Some of them are described below.

• Identification shifts from one character to another, that is, in all respects, both characters are considered approximately in the same volume, and, first, one person is completely described, and then completely another (B.I. Hasan sees this as a reflection of the instability of the subject's ideas about himself) .
• The subject identifies himself simultaneously with two characters, for example, with “positive” and “negative” - in this case, in the description there is a constant “jumping” from one character to another (dialogue, or just a description), and it is precisely the opposite qualities of the participants in the plot that are emphasized (this may indicate the author's internal inconsistency, a tendency to internal conflicts).
• The object of identification can be a character of the opposite sex or a sexless character (a person, creature, etc.), which in some cases, if there are additional confirmations in the text, can be regarded as various problems in the intersexual sphere of personality (the presence of fears, problems with self-identification, painful dependence on a subject of the opposite sex, etc.).
• In the story, the author can emphasize the absence of his identification with any of the participants in the plot, taking the position of an outside observer, using statements like: "Here I am watching the following picture on the street ...". B.I.Hasan proposes to consider in this case the heroes as antipodes of the subject himself. At the same time, it can be assumed that this is not the only possible interpretation. So, for example, the position of an outside observer can be taken by a person whose system of defense mechanisms of his Ego does not allow him to realize in himself the presence of qualities that he attributes to others, or this may be the result of fear of such situations and the dissociation mechanism is triggered.

This or that picture may be associated with the subject with his own life situation, causing frustration. In this case, the characters of the story realize the needs of the narrator himself, unrealized in real life. It happens and vice versa - the story describes the obstacles that prevent the realization of needs.

The intensity, frequency and duration of attention paid to the description of individual details of the situation, the duration of fixing the subject's attention on certain values ​​repeated in different stories, can give a general understanding of the problematic psychological zones (unsatisfied needs, stress factors, etc.) of the person being examined.

The analysis of the data obtained is carried out mainly at a qualitative level, as well as through simple quantitative comparisons, which allow, among other things, to assess the balance between the emotional and intellectual spheres of the personality, the presence of external and internal conflicts, the sphere of disturbed relationships, the position of the subject's personality - passive or active, aggressive or passive (at the same time, 1:1, that is, 50% to 50% is considered a conditional norm, and a significant advantage in one direction or another is expressed in ratios of 2:1 or 1:2 or more).

Key.

Characteristics of each individual story (there should be 8 pieces in total).

1. characters of the story (formal description - what is known from the story about each of the participants in the plot - gender, age, etc.);
2. feelings, experiences, physical condition conveyed in the story (as a whole);
3. leading motives, sphere of relations, values ​​(in general);
4. conflicts and their scope (if any), obstacles and barriers on the way for the participants in this story to achieve their goals;
5. the vector of the psychological orientation of the behavior of the participants in the plot;
6. analysis of the reasons that do not allow a clear definition of the "hero" of the plot, with whom identification occurs to a greater extent (if any);
7. the presence in the plot of a hero with whom the subject identifies himself to a greater extent and a description of the signs by which this particular character is recognized by the researcher as a “hero” (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);
8. the gender and age of the hero are indicated (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);
9. determination of the characteristics of the hero, his aspirations, feelings, desires, character traits (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);
10. assessment of the strength of the hero's need depending on its intensity, duration, frequency of appearance and development of the plot as a whole (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);
11. a description of the individual characteristics of the hero in accordance with the scales: impulsiveness - self-control, infantilism - personal maturity (with a description of the criteria for this assessment) (if a certain “hero” is sufficiently obvious in the plot);
12. correlating the characteristics of the "hero" (motives of behavior, personal characteristics, etc.) with those characteristics (needs, motives, values, character traits, etc.) that the subject as a whole reflected in the process of describing this plot (if in the plot a certain “hero” is quite obvious);
13. self-esteem of the subject, the ratio of his I-real and I-ideal, judging by this story;
14. features of the style of presentation of the text, handwriting;
15. what in this text especially attracted the attention of the researcher;
16. assumptions about personality and life situation subject with specific references to the details of the story, confirming these assumptions - a generalization of the conclusions on this story.

	Characteristic name	The characteristic itself

Item 11 - “assessment of the strength of the hero’s need depending on its intensity, duration, frequency of occurrence and development of the plot as a whole” or, if there are difficulties with the definition of “hero”, then this phrase should be understood as “assessment of the strength present in general in the description of the plot needs depending on its intensity, duration, frequency of appearance and development of the plot as a whole” deserves a separate description.

In order to determine the dominant and possibly suppressed needs of the subject, it is proposed to introduce a ranking of the strength of a particular need in each of the descriptions, that is, in each of the proposed 8 stories. Thus, all needs from G. Murray's list of needs (the list is given above) receive a subjective assessment of the severity. B.I.Hasan proposes to determine the intensity of needs only for the “hero”, but it seems more logical to simply mark in points the strength of one or another need reflected in the description of the plot, regardless of which of the characters is given more attention, based on the assumption that all the story as a whole is a projection of certain characteristics of the personality of the subject, his image of the world.

For evaluation, you can choose, for example, a five-point system. In this case, the strength of such a need (according to Merey) as aggression can be expressed as follows:

• complete absence of aggression - 0 points
• the tendency of one of the participants in the plot to be irritable - 1 point
• active verbal aggression on the part of one of the participants or indirect non-verbal aggression (broke some thing, etc.) - 2 points
• a quarrel with expressed threats from both participants in the plot - 3 points
• a real fight with the use of physical force - 4 points
• murder, mutilation, war, etc. - 5 points

In the list of G. Murray's needs, given in this development, there are only 22 items (see in the theoretical material). Therefore, it is the diagnostician's task to compile a table in which a certain number of points would be assigned in accordance with the intensity of each of the 22 needs in each of the descriptions (at least 8 plots).

The following is an example of filling out a table:

Intensity of expressiveness of needs.
	need	1 picture	2 picture	3 picture	4 picture	5 picture	6 picture	7 picture	8 picture	sum
	In self-deprecation
	In reaching
	In affiliation
	In aggression
	In autonomy
	In opposition
	In respect
	In dominance
	In exhibition
	To avoid damage
	Avoiding shame
	In order
	in rejection
	In sensory impressions
	Close (libido)
	In support
	In understanding
	In narcissism
	In sociality (sociology)

It is obvious that points regarding the intensity of a particular need present in the description of the plot will be set on the basis of the subjective ideas of the researcher. However, the table can be quite informative. With its help, the diagnostician himself can form a personal idea of ​​the condition of the subject, of his needs. In psychological counseling, the degree of subjectivity in assessing the characteristics of the client's personality is almost inevitable, but even in this case, ranking the intensity of needs in each of the plots, and then summing the scores in general for each need, gives a clearer picture of the client's problem, of course, taking into account the error by degree consultant subjectivity. Such a table is also good for honing the skills of observation in the process of analyzing descriptions. The table is of particular value in cases where a psychologist or psychotherapist decides that after a certain psychotherapy it is necessary to re-test. In this case, it becomes possible to compare not only general trends, but also the results in terms of the intensity of needs, recorded in points. Finally, this form of ranking is useful when there is a need for specific reporting within a service. psychological counseling, as well as for some statistical generalizations.

After the ranking is completed and all scores are entered into the table, the total results of all descriptions for each need can be presented in the form of a kind of profile of needs, where the points obtained by needs will be marked on the vertical axis of the graph, and all 22 needs will be marked on the horizontal axis. The graph allows you to get a visual image of the profile of needs.

After calculating the sum of points for each of the needs, the researcher puts forward an assumption that the subject has some dominant needs and, possibly, some suppressed, or not suppressed, but not actualized. This is done by comparing the data and selecting a few needs that have received the maximum total score and needs with a minimum score.

If several needs (according to G. Murray) received the same, large number of points, then the probability that a need that has a lot of points due to its reflection in almost every description with an average strength is more relevant than a need that received a high number of points for due to the fact that it is strongly expressed in 2-3 descriptions, but not in the rest. Of course, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the content of stories in which the strength of one or another need is high.

It is also proposed to separately consider the described behavior of the characters in each of the stories in terms of different types of aggressiveness (11 types of behavior are indicated in the theoretical part - see below) and also summarize the results.

The intensity of the manifestation of aggressiveness.
	need	1 picture	2 picture	3 picture	4 picture	5 picture	6 picture	7 picture	8 picture	sum
	antiaggressiveness
	intrusive aggression
	aggressiveness undifferentiated
	aggressiveness local, impulsive
	conditional, instrumental aggression
	hostile aggressiveness
	instrumental aggression
	brutal aggression
	psychopathic aggression
	group solidarity aggression
	intersexual (libido) aggression of varying degrees

Interpretation, analysis, conclusion.

The information is summarized in accordance with the following points:

1) the subject's tendency to re-specify (a sign of uncertainty, anxiety);

2) pessimistic statements (tendency to depression);

3) incomplete description of the plot and lack of prospects for its development (uncertainty in the future, inability to plan it);

4) the predominance of emotional responses (increased emotivity);

5) predominance of judgments, rationalization (reduced emotivity).

6) the degree of inconsistency in the assessment of the characters and the situation;

7) the degree of verbosity in the description of a particular plot: sometimes the lack of desire to describe a certain plot, little attention to it compared to others may indicate conscious or unconscious tension in relation to the conflict situation inherent in the picture, the subject avoids associations that come to mind, " walks away" from the situation;

8) the degree of emotional detachment from the described plot;

9) the degree of diversity in the perception of pictures (differences in the style of description - business, everyday, pompous, childish, etc.; differences in the form of description - a statement of fact, a fairy tale, a story, a poem, etc.; differences in the attribution of plots to which -or historical period and cultural traditions, etc.)

10) stereotypical description of plots;

11) protective tendencies can manifest themselves in the form of somewhat monotonous plots in which there is no conflict: we can talk about dancing, gymnastic exercises, yoga classes

12) "special" themes present in the stories in large numbers (if only 8 plots are offered, as, for example, in L.N. Sobchik's pictorial apperceptive test, then descriptions of two paintings are sufficient, and sometimes one with the presence of a "special" theme ) - death, serious illness, suicidal, masochistic, sadistic intentions, etc. should not be ignored by the researcher.

13) handwriting, writing style, manner of presentation, language culture, vocabulary.

14) how consistently and logically the description of the plot is presented - whether it be a written form or an oral story.

After all the points of analysis of each story separately are completed, and separate generalizations are made, a general conclusion is written ( general conclusion) about the results obtained during the testing process - a small conjectural characteristic of the personality, the scope of its problems, and perhaps its most strengths.

Theoretical material for the methodology: all about needs, frustration and aggression. Theory of G. Murray.

The term "motivation" in modern psychology denotes at least two psychological phenomena: 1) a set of motives that cause the activity of an individual and a system of factors that determine behavior; 2) the process of education, the formation of motives, the characteristics of the process that stimulates and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.

Behind any act of a person there are always certain goals, desires, and behind the conflict - a clash of incompatible desires, when the satisfaction of the interests of one side threatens to infringe on the interests of the other.

Under needs, many researchers mean a person's desire for those conditions, without which it is impossible to maintain their normal physical and mental state. A need is a perceived and experienced state of need for something. Conscious needs are desires. A person can be aware of their presence, for their implementation he outlines a plan of action. The stronger the desire, the more energetic the desire to overcome obstacles in its path.

Obstacles to their satisfaction cause interpersonal clashes, especially if important needs and desires collide.

Separate, for example, the following classification needs: 1) primary, vital (congenital, biological) needs: food, water, sleep-rest, the need for self-defense, parental, intersexual needs. These natural needs are of a social and personal nature, which is reflected in the fact that even to satisfy narrow personal needs (for food), the results of social labor and methods and techniques historically established in a given social environment are applied, that is, all needs are social in terms of the way they are satisfied; 2) cultural, acquired needs are social in nature by the nature of their origin, they are formed under the influence of education in society. Among cultural needs, material and spiritual needs are distinguished. Spiritual needs include the need for communication, the need for emotional warmth, respect, cognitive needs, the need for activity, aesthetic needs, the need to realize the meaning of one's life. Even without finding an answer to this question, we prove by our activities that we have certain goals, to which we give our energy, knowledge, and health. And the goals are very different: the discovery of scientific truth, the service of art, the upbringing of children. But sometimes this is just a desire to make a career, get a summer house, a car, etc. Anyone who does not know for what and whom he lives is not satisfied with fate. But it is not enough to understand the reasons for the dissatisfaction of desires. It is important to realize whether the person took adequate actions to achieve his goal. Most often, disappointment befalls those who set themselves unrealistic, unattainable tasks for objective and subjective reasons.

The motives of human behavior and the goals of behavior may not coincide: the same goal can be set for yourself, guided by different motives. The goal shows what a person is striving for, and the motive - why he is striving for this.

The motive is complex internal structure. 1) with the emergence of a need, a need for something, accompanied by emotional anxiety, displeasure, a motive begins; 2) awareness of the motive in steps: first, it is realized what is the cause of emotional displeasure, what is necessary for a person to exist at the moment, then the object is realized that meets this need and can satisfy it (a desire is formed), later it is realized how, with the help of what actions it is possible to achieve the desired; 3) the energy component of the motive is realized in real actions.

The motive may be unconscious if the awareness of the need does not fully correspond to the genuine need that causes dissatisfaction, that is, the person does not know the true reason for his behavior. Unconscious motives include: attraction, hypnotic suggestions, attitudes, frustration states.

Z. Freud believed that there are two fundamental drives: the life instinct (Eros) and the death instinct (Thanatos), and all other needs are derived from these two drives. McDougall lists 18 basic motivating forces in a person, G. Murray - 20 needs. On the basis of factor analysis, they tried to study all the actions of a person, all the goals pursued by him and establish correlations between them, finding fundamental needs and motives. In this area, the most systematic research has been carried out by Cattell and Guilford.

List of motivational factors (according to Guilford):

A. Factors corresponding to organic needs: 1) hunger, 2) libido drive, 3) general activity.

B. Needs related to environmental conditions: 4) the need for comfort, a pleasant environment, 5) the need for order, cleanliness (pedantry), 6) the need for self-respect from others.

B. Job related needs: 7) general ambition, 8) perseverance, 9) endurance.

G. The needs associated with the position of the individual: 10) the need for freedom, 11) independence, 12) conformity, 13) honesty.

D. Social needs: 14) the need to be among people, 15) the need to please, 16) the need for discipline, 17) aggressiveness.

E. General needs: 18) the need for risk or security, 19) the need for entertainment, 20) - intellectual needs (in research, curiosity).

Cattell identified seven incentive structures (ergs) - motivational factors associated with the five senses: 1) sexual-libido instinct; 2) herd instinct; 3) the need to patronize; 4) the need for research activities, curiosity; 5) the need for self-affirmation, recognition; 6) the need for security; 7) narcissistic need for pleasure.

The same ergs can be found in a wide variety of human populations, while "feelings" vary from one country to another, depending on social and cultural stereotypes. List of feelings: 8) feelings for the profession; 9) sports and games; 10) religious feelings; 11) technical and material interests; 12) self-perception.

Among the identified personality factors, one can single out those factors that have a hereditary-congenital origin, and those factors that are mainly determined by the influence of the environment of life and upbringing. For example, "cyclothymia - schizothymia" (according to Eysenck and Cattell) are constitutionally hereditary, and this factor can manifest itself in the following superficial features:

• good nature, complaisance - grumpiness;
• adaptability - inflexibility, rigidity;
• warmth, attention to people - coldness, indifference;
• sincerity - secrecy, anxiety;
• gullibility - suspicion;
• emotionality - restraint;

Some factors ("excitability, dominance, refinement"), according to Cattell, along with a hereditary component, also have a component associated with developmental conditions. Structural factors owe their origin to environmental influences. For example, the "strength of the Self" factor depends mainly, but not entirely, on life experience of a person, a favorable atmosphere in the family, the position of the child in it and the absence of traumatic circumstances, and the “dynamism” factor depends on past punishments and deprivations, while the “emotional instability” factor is interpreted as a consequence of too indulgent or too sparing family environment.

According to H. Murray's definition, a need is a construct denoting a force that organizes perception, apperception, intellectual activity, arbitrary actions in such a way that the existing unsatisfactory situation is transformed in a certain direction. Each need is accompanied by a certain feeling and emotion and is prone to certain forms of change. It can be weak or intense, short-term or long-term. It usually persists and gives a certain direction to external behavior (or fantasies), which changes the circumstances in such a way as to approximate the final situation.

G. Merey compiled an indicative list of 20 needs that most often affect human behavior, in his opinion. There are two additional items in the list of needs below (#21 and #22):

	need	Brief definition (way of expression)
	In self respect	The tendency to passively submit to external forces. Willingness to accept resentment, to submit to fate, to allow one's own "second-rateness". The tendency to admit one's mistakes, delusions. Desire to confess and atone for guilt. The tendency to blame oneself, to belittle. The tendency to seek pain, punishment. Acceptance as inevitable illness, misfortune and joy over their existence.
	In reaching	The desire to do something difficult. Manage, manipulate, organize - in relation to physical objects, people or ideas. Do it as quickly, deftly, independently as possible. Overcome obstacles and achieve high performance, improve, compete and get ahead of others. The desire to realize talents and abilities and thereby increase self-esteem.
	In affiliation	Desire to closely contact and interact with loved ones (or those who are similar to the subject himself, or with those who love him). The desire to please the object of affection, to win his affection, recognition. Tendency to remain faithful in friendship.
	In aggression	The desire to overcome opposition by force, to fight, to avenge insults. Tendency to attack, insult, kill. Desire to resist coercion, pressure, or punishment.
	In autonomy	The desire to be freed from bonds and restrictions, to resist coercion. The tendency to avoid or stop activities prescribed by despotic and authoritarian figures. Desire to be independent and act according to one's own impulses, not to be bound by anything, not to be responsible for anything, to disregard conventions.
	In opposition	The desire in the struggle to master the situation or compensate for failures, to get rid of humiliation by repeated actions, to overcome weakness, to suppress fear. The desire to wash away shame by action, to look for obstacles and difficulties, to overcome them, to respect oneself for this and be proud of oneself
		The tendency to defend oneself from attacks, criticism, accusations, to hush up or justify mistakes, failures, humiliations. The tendency to defend oneself.
	In respect	Tendency to admire the superior (by social status or other characteristics), the desire to support him. The desire to praise, honor, exalt. The tendency to readily submit to the influence of other people, to obey them, to follow the customs, traditions, to have an object to follow.
	In dominance	The desire to control the environment, to influence others, to direct their actions. The tendency to subjugate in various ways - suggestion, temptation, persuasion, indication. The desire to dissuade, restrict, prohibit.
	In exhibition	The desire to impress, to be seen and heard. Desire to excite, charm, entertain, shock, intrigue, amuse, seduce
	To avoid damage	Tendency to avoid pain, injury, illness, death, dangerous situations. Willingness to take preventive action.
	Avoiding shame	The desire to avoid humiliation, to get away from difficulties, ridicule, indifference of others. Refrain from acting in order to avoid failure.
		The tendency to show sympathy and help the defenseless in meeting their needs - a child or a weak, tired, inexperienced, sick, etc. The desire to help in danger, to feed, support, comfort, protect, patronize, heal, etc.
	In order	The desire to put everything in order, to achieve cleanliness, organization, balance, neatness, accuracy, accuracy, etc.
		The tendency to act "for fun" - for no other purpose. The desire to laugh, joke, seek relaxation after stress in pleasures. Desire to participate in games, sporting events, dancing, parties, gambling, etc.
	in rejection	Desire to get rid of the one who calls negative emotions. The tendency to get rid of, ignore, abandon the inferior, get rid of it. The tendency to deceive someone.
	In sensory impressions (kinesthetic, auditory, visual, intellectual impressions)	Tendency to seek and enjoy sensory impressions
	Close (libido)	The tendency to create and develop relationships, thoughts about inter-gender relationships, etc.
	In support	Desire to meet needs through compassionate care loved one. The desire to be the one who is cared for, supported, cared for, protected, loved, forgiven, comforted. The desire to stay close to the one who cares, to have close to someone who can help.
	In understanding	Tendency to bet general issues or answer them. interest in theory. A tendency to reflection, analysis, construction of formulations, to generalizations.
	In narcissism	The desire to put one's interests above all else, to be pleased with oneself, a tendency to subjectivism in the perception of the outside world.
	In sociality (sociology)	Forgetting one's own interests in the name of the interests of the group, altruistic orientation, nobility, concern for others

Attraction is an insufficiently clearly realized need, when it is not clear to a person what attracts him, what his goals are, what he wants. Attraction is a stage in the formation of motives for human behavior. The unconsciousness of drives is transient, that is, the need represented in them either fades away or becomes conscious.

Hypnotic suggestions may remain unconscious for a long time, but they are artificial in nature, formed "from the outside", and attitudes and frustrations arise naturally, remaining unconscious, determine a person's behavior in many situations.

Installation - an unconscious readiness formed in a person for a certain behavior, a readiness to respond positively or negatively to certain events, facts. The installation is manifested by habitual judgments, ideas, actions. Once worked out, it remains for a more or less long time. The rate of formation and attenuation of installations, their mobility is different for different people. Attitudes as an unconscious readiness to perceive the environment from a certain angle and react in a certain, pre-formed way, without a complete objective analysis of a particular situation, are formed both on the basis of a person’s personal past experience and under the influence of other people.

The upbringing and self-education of a person largely comes down to the gradual formation of a readiness to respond to something properly, in other words, to the formation of attitudes that are useful for a person and for society. By the age when we begin to realize ourselves, we find in our psyche a lot of entrenched feelings, opinions, attitudes, attitudes that influence both the assimilation of new information and the attitude to the environment.

Attitudes can be negative and positive, depending on whether we are ready to treat this or that person or phenomenon negatively or positively. The perception of the same phenomenon by different people can be different. It depends on their individual settings. Therefore, it is not surprising that not every phrase is understood in the same way. Negative preconceived entrenched views (“all people are selfish, all teachers are formalists, all salespeople are dishonest people”) may stubbornly resist an objective understanding of actions real people. So, in a conversation, a negative attitude can be directed to: 1) the personality of the interlocutor himself (if someone else said the same thing, it would be perceived quite differently), 2) the essence of the conversation (“I can’t believe it”, “ it is unacceptable to speak like that"), 3) on the circumstances of the conversation ("now is not the time and place for such discussions").

In modern psychological literature, there are several concepts of the relationship between the motivation of activity (communication, behavior). One of them is the theory of causal attribution.

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