TAT interpretation – compiled by A. Glezerman, Ph.D.
Level 1: content analysis of responses to each card. | |
Card # | |
Hero | |
Hero’s needs:1) Abasement2) Achievement3) Affiliation4) Aggression5) Autonomy6) Counteraction7) Deference8) Defendance9) Dominance10) Exhibition11) Harm avoidance12) Avoidance of failure13) Nurturance14) Order15) Play16) Rejection17) Sentience18) Sex19) Succorance20) Understanding | |
Hero’s characteristics (emotional and physical) | |
Objects introduced | |
Objects omitted | |
Objects misperceived | |
Environment | |
Parental Figures | |
Hero’s reactions | |
Contemporary figures | |
Hero’s reactions | |
Junior figures | |
Hero’s reactions | |
Conflicts | |
Responses to conflicts | |
Anxieties | |
Defenses | |
Superego – punishment | |
Hero’s goals | |
Goal’s practicality | |
Hero’s adequacy | |
Means of achieving goals | |
Types of obstacles | |
Type of outcome | |
Realistic outcome? | |
Plot | |
Type of topic:1) Personal2) Relational3) Sexual4) Familial5) Professional6) Social7) Fantastical8) Abstract/Philosophical9) Religious/Spiritual |
Level 2: content analysis of pattern of responses. | |
Themes common to more than one card | |
What type of stimulus triggers these themes | |
Outlier responses | |
What type of stimulus triggers these responses | |
Themes absent in responses | |
Common emotional states | |
Common needs | |
Common defenses | |
Common conflicts | |
Common goals | |
Common obstacles | |
Common outcomes | |
Overall perception of relationships | |
Overall perception of self | |
Overall perception of the world |
Level 3: analysis of the process of responding. | |
Style of responding | |
Starting attitude to the task and changes in it | |
Respondent’s affect and changes in it | |
Structural elements missing in responses (beginning, situation, thoughts, feelings, outcome) | |
Latencies and changes in them | |
Length of stories and changes in them | |
Level of detail in the picture described and changes in it | |
Level of complexity (description, plot with conflict, conscious identification, interpretation of characters, generalization and symbolism) and changes in it | |
Responses indicating defensiveness | |
Type of defensive responses:1) Simple description of the card2) Highly formalized or structured responses3) Substitution of personal response by other (e.g. movie plot)4) Offering several options for story elements5) Other | |
Triggers for responses indicating defensiveness | |
Changes following these responses | |
Responses indicating loss of control (tangentiality, thought blocking, loss of logic, blanket refusal) | |
Triggers for responses indicating loss of control | |
Changes following these responses | |
Types of meta commentary:1) Evaluation of characters and plot (Narcissistic? Moralistic?)2) Personalization (low self-esteem?)3) Referring to common knowledge (low self-esteem? Anxiety?)4) Unusual precision of details (histrionic? Low self-esteem? Concrete? Good writer?) | |
Speech characteristics:1) Unusual style or verbiage2) Platitudes and quotes3) Paraphasias and pauses |
Card # | Common Themes (mostly Bellak, 1986; Соколова, 1980) |
1 | Relationship w/parents, autonomy vs. compliance, achievement motivation, frustration, symbolic representation of sexual conflicts. |
2 | Family relationships, family conflicts, autonomy/compliance, love triangles, pregnancy and children, gender stereotypes, historical themes, professional competency. |
3BM | Gender (identification vs. dissociation), aggression, depression, suicidality. |
3GF | Depression. |
4 | Relationship w/partner or spouse (could be self or parental), autonomy vs. dependence, trust and betrayal, sexual conflicts, jealousy. |
5 | Relationship with mother, issues of privacy vs. intrusion, intimacy, safety. |
6BM | Mother-son relationship. |
6GF | Father-daughter or husband-wife or male authority figure relationship. |
7BM | Father-son or male authority figure relationship. |
7GF | Mother-daughter relationship, having children, sibling relationship, often includes very informative fairy tale. |
8BM | Aggression, ambition. |
8GF | Aspirations and dreams, current emotional state. |
9BM | Cohort relationships, social interactions and biases. |
9GF | Cohort relationships, mother-daughter and sibling conflicts, depression, suicidality, suspiciousness and paranoia, suppressed aggression. |
10 | Male-female relationship. |
11 | Primitive fears and anxieties, current emotional state. |
12M | Relationship with authority figures (often psychotherapist). |
12F | Relationship with mother or mother-in-law. |
12BG | Depression, suicidality, loneliness, tranquility. |
13MF | Sexual problems and conflicts, aggression, guilt. |
13B | Analogous to card 1 plus loneliness. |
13G | Same. |
14 | Fear of darkness, suicidality, overall perception of the world and life. |
15 | Death, depression, repressed aggression, religion. |
16 | Blank card (in my experience, often reflects reaction to the assessment process or the examiner). |
17BM | Fears, escape, body image, associations with sports and fitness. |
17GF | Suicidality, romantic stories. |
18BM | Attack vs. support, fears and dependencies, aggression. |
18GF | Aggression, mother-daughter conflicts. |
19 | Self and environment. |
20 | Fears, loneliness, independence. |
Compiled from: Леонтьев Д. А.(1998), Соколова Е. Т. (1980), Bellak, L. (1986), Murray H. A. (1943), Rotter J.B. (1946)