SENTENCE COMPLETION TESTS AND DRAWING TESTS

Projective techniques

1. PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

2. SENTENCE COMPLETION TESTS AND DRAWING TESTS

3. PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES A projective test is a type of personality test in which you offer responses to ambiguous scenes, words, or images . The goal of such tests is to uncover the hidden conflicts or emotions that you project onto the test with the hope that these issues can then be addressed through psychotherapy or other appropriate treatments. In many projective tests, you are shown an ambiguous image and then asked to give the first response that comes to mind. By providing you with a question or stimulus that is not clear, your underlying and unconscious motivations or  attitudes are revealed.

4. 1)SENTENCE COMPLETION TESTS Sentence completion tests are a class of semi-structured projective techniques . Sentence completion tests typically provide respondents with beginnings of sentences, referred to as "stems", and respondents then complete the sentences in ways that are meaningful to them. The responses are believed to provide indications of attitudes, beliefs, motivations, or other mental states.

5. USES The uses of sentence completion tests include personality analysis, clinical applications, attitude assessment, achievement,  motivation, and measurement of other constructs. They are used in several disciplines, including psychology, management, education, and marketing. Sentence completion measures have also been incorporated into  non-projective applications , such as intelligence tests, language comprehension, and language and cognitive development tests .

6. There are many sentence completion tests available for use by researchers. Some of the most widely used sentence completion tests include: A) Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank(assesses  personality traits; perhaps the most widely used of all sentence completion tests). B)Washington University Sentence Completion Test(WUSCT ) from Jane Loevinger  (measures ego development).

7.   A)ROTTER INCOMPLETE SENTENCES BLANK  The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank is a projective psychological test developed by Julian Rotter and Janet E. Rafferty in 1950 .  It comes in three forms i.e. school form, college form, adult form for different age groups, and comprises 40 incomplete sentences which the subject has to complete as soon as possible but the usual time taken is around 20 minutes, the responses are usually only 1–2 words long such as "I regret ..." "Mostly girls...". The test can be administered both individually and in a group setting . It doesn’t have long set of instructions and can be easily worked out on a greater population . This genre of tests is widely used in clinical ,as well as in research settings.

8. B)WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST The   Washington University Sentence Completion Test  ( WUSCT ) is a sentence completion test created by Jane Loevinger , which measures ego development along  Loevinger's stages of ego development .   Ego development refers to the observation that people do not remain psychologically static throughout their lives; rather, they undergo a long process of internal evolution. 

9. The WUSCT is a pencil-and-paper test (though in recent years has been administered by computer) which consists of 36 items that take the form of "stems" which the subject may answer in any way they wish.  The stems take the form of incomplete sentences; for example, one item states simply "When people are helpless" with instructions prompting the test-taker to complete the rest. The clinician or researcher should be present in the room with the test-taker to prevent the subject from asking others how they should answer the question. The subject may complete the stem however he or she wishes.

10. 2)DRAWING TESTS A) THE DRAW-A-PERSON TEST This type of projective test involves exactly what you might imagine: you draw a person and the image you created is then assessed by the examiner. The test interpreter might look at factors such as the size of particular parts of the body or features, the level of detail given to the figure, as well as the overall shape of the drawing .  Like other projective tests, the Draw-A-Person test has been criticized for its lack of validity.

11. The Draw-A-Man Test, developed by Goodenough in 1926 was the first formal figure drawing test . It was used to estimate a child's cognitive and intellectual abilities reflected in the drawing's quality . The test was later revised by Harris in 1963 as the Goodenough Harris Drawing Test (GHDT), which included a detailed scoring system and allowed for drawings of men, women, and the self . The scoring system primarily reflected the way in which the child is maturing cognitively . The GHTD is appropriate for children between the ages of three and 17, although it has been found to be most useful for children between three and 10.

12. The Draw-A-Person test (DAP) was developed by Machover in 1948 and used figure drawings in a more projective way, focusing on how the drawings reflected the anxieties, impulses, self-esteem, and personality of the test taker. In this test, children are first asked to draw a picture of a person. Then , they are asked to draw a picture of a person of the sex opposite of the first drawing. Sometimes , children are also asked to draw a picture of the self and/or family members. Then , they are asked a series of questions about themselves and the drawings. These questions can be about the mood, the ambitions, and the good and bad qualities of the people in the drawings. The pictures and the questions on the DAP are meant to elicit information about the child's anxieties, impulses, and overall personality . The DAP is the most frequently used figure drawing test today.

13. In 1992, Naglieri and his colleagues created a more specific scoring system for figure drawing tests called the Draw-A-Person : Screening Procedure of Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED), based on a large  standardization sample. This scoring method includes 55 items rated by the test administrator and based on the child's drawings and responses to questions. The DAP:SPED is appropriate for children aged six to 17. It is often used as a screening method for children who may be having difficulties with regard to social adjustment and require further evaluation

14. B)THE HOUSE-TREE-PERSON TEST The House-Tree-Person (HTP) test , created by Buck in 1948, provides a measure of a self-perception and attitudes In this type of projective test, you're asked to draw a house, a tree, and a person. Once the drawing is complete, you're asked a series of questions about the images you've drawn .  The test was originally designed by John Buck and included a series of 60 questions to ask the respondent, although test administrators may also come up with their own questions or follow-up queries to further explore the subject's responses . For example, the test administrator might ask of the house drawing: "Who lives here?," "Who visits the person who lives here?," and "Is the occupant happy?"

15. The picture of the house is supposed to conjure the child's feelings toward his or her family . The picture of the tree is supposed to elicit feelings of strength or weakness. The picture of the person, as with other figure drawing tests, elicits information regarding the child's self-concept . The HTP, though mostly given to children and adolescents, is appropriate for anyone over the age of three.

16. WEAKNESSES OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES While projective tests have some benefits, they also have a number of weaknesses and limitations, including: The respondent's answers can be heavily influenced by the examiner's attitudes or the test setting. Scoring projective tests is highly subjective, so interpretations of answers can vary dramatically from one examiner to the next. Projective tests that do not have standard grading scales tend to lack both  validity and   reliability .

17. THE VALUE OF PROJECTIVE TESTS Despite these weaknesses, projective tests are still widely used by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists . Some experts suggest that the latest versions of many projective tests have both practical value and some validity. Projective techniques are even used in market research to help identify deep emotions, associations, and thought processes related to specific products and brands.

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