Projective Tests

History of Projective Testing

Projective tests have their origins in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychology, two overlapping psychological fields that emphasize the significance of the unconscious as a motivator of personality, emotion, and behavior. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalytic theory, developed and modified many ideas relating to the unconscious and its influence over psychological states. One such idea was that defense mechanisms, or unconscious coping strategies, are employed to combat anxiety that is brought on by uncomfortable or harmful stimuli. Freud defined projection as a defense mechanism that involves the misattribution of an individual’s own undesired thoughts or emotions onto another person or object. The projective hypothesis, adapted from this defense mechanism, states that when individuals attempt to understand an ambiguous stimulus, they will assign meaning to the stimulus that is consistent with individuals’ own unconscious thoughts, attitudes, or needs. This projection of the unconscious serves as the basis for the design of all projective tests.

Projective tests were first used as clinical assessments of personality in the early 20th century. Francis Galton’s initial work with psychometrics, or the science of psychological measurement, and his consequent research in personality assessment motivated clinicians and researchers in the psychodynamics field to utilize projective measures as tools for evaluating underlying attitudes. Consistent with the projective hypothesis, these measures were designed to provide individuals with an ambiguous stimulus acting as a blank slate on which the individuals could attribute their own unconscious processes. Projective tests were quickly integrated into psychodynamic and psychoanalytic treatment procedures, and clinicians used the data gathered from these measures as a basis for diagnosing and treating people’s varying psychological needs and conflicts.

Since their induction into the realm of clinical assessment, projective tests have been used in a variety of contexts that extend beyond the typical evaluation of a patient’s personality. In schools, for example, projective tests are used to assess socioemotional and behavioral functioning in students who may have already exhibited difficulties in either of these domains (e.g., the inability to maintain positive social relationships with peers, abnormal levels of anxiety, or frustration related to schoolwork). Despite growing controversy over the validity and reliability of projective tests, they [Page 1323]remain a common form of assessment in clinical, educational, and research settings.

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