Images of violence in Thematic Apperception Test stories

TAT stories written by 88 male and 50 female undergraduates were coded for the presence or absence of violent imagery and for the context in which the violence occurred. Results confirm previous findings of a greater incidence of violence in males' fantasy stories (M. S. Horner, see record 1973-09174-001) but extend these findings to show a sex difference in the distribution as well—violence in males' stories was more frequent in response to situations of affiliation, whereas violence in females' stories appeared more often in response to situations of achievement. Interpreting fantasies of violence as indicative of the perception of danger, it is suggested that males and females perceived danger in different contexts and construed danger in different ways. This study offers a new understanding of Horner's research and points to the relationship between impulsive expression and social perception, suggesting that the differences in aggression in males and females may be due to whether they perceive relationships as dangerous or safe. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The Thematic Apperception Test and the Children's Apperception Test in clinical use.

Reviews the book, The Thematic Apperception Test and the Children's Apperception Test in Clinical Use by Leopold Bellak (see record 1955-04032-000). More than anything else this book gives evidence of the extensivity and maturity of the author's clinical experience. Both in the expository sections of the volume, in which the author elucidates his thinking about such items as theoretical foundations for projective testing and the use of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in psychotherapy, as well as in the case illustration sections in which sample TAT and Children's Apperception Test (CAT) stories are analyzed and interpreted, there is a richness in clinical wisdom and an erudition in psychoanalytic personality theory. However, there are shortcomings of the book as a manual for TAT and CAT interpretation, unless one wishes to accept the author's interpretive procedure "lock, stock, and barrel." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) interpretation: Practice recommendations from a survey of clinical psychology doctoral programs accredited by the American Psychological Association.

Surveys of academic psychologists have suggested that the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a diminished aspect of graduate training despite its popularity in practice. The authors surveyed training directors of clinical psychology doctoral programs accredited by the American Psychological Association to determine how the TAT was taught. Results indicated that TAT interpretation is a modest aspect of most respondents' programs. The only widely used resource was L. Bellak's psychoanalytic textbook (1986, 1993). Numerous chapters available and the entire journal canon appeared to be unaccessed. The authors pose a partial solution to the apparent disparity: Profession-wide recommendations are provided followed by a syllabus of recommended books, chapters, and articles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring needs with the Thematic Apperception Test: A psychometric study.

Three apperception theories that explain how people respond to Thematic Apperception Test cards are proposed: a simple apperception theory, an apperception theory with a dynamic component, and an apperception theory with 2 types of responses. Each theory is translated into an item response theory model and is applied to need for achievement (nAch) data. The analysis indicates that the best fitting model is provided by the apperception theory with 2 types of responses, also referred to as the drop-out apperception theory. The 1st type of response predicted by this theory is determined by the nAch level of the person and the achievement-response-eliciting value of the card; this response is diagnostic for the nAch level of the person. The 2nd type of response is not determined by the 2 aforementioned characteristics and is therefore not diagnostic of the person's nAch level. The results are cross-validated for need for power and need for affiliation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Thematic Apperception Test as an outcome measure in psychotherapy research.

Correlated 2 measures of the TAT—the presence of depressive themes and the ratings of story endings—with other indicators of depression (MMPI and Beck Depression Inventory) or with ratings of improvement. 129 psychiatric hospital patients, aged 20–65 yrs, served as Ss. Results support the potential use of the TAT as an outcome measure in the treatment of depressions. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual pathology and dangerousness from a Thematic Apperception Test protocol.

This report concerns the TAT protocol of a 17-yr-old male patient who gave stories with a disturbing amount of sexual perversity. The stories included accounts of rape, incest, pedophilia, sadism, exhibitionism, necrophilia, and hermaphroditism. Furthermore, he showed signs of schizophrenia, which involved command hallucinations, interest in black magic, and paranoid grandiosity. The testing report described the patient as dangerous, leading to a prolonged, restrictive, and, in many respects, tragic hospitalization. Can the TAT be used to predict sexual dangerousness? A verbatim TAT protocol and its interpretation at the time within supervision are examined, followed by an account of the patient's course through hospitalization as a means to validate the clinical findings and predictions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a Thematic Apperception Test ({temas}) for urban Hispanic children.

Administered a thematic apperception technique (TEMAS) composed of chromatic stimuli picturing Hispanic characters in urban settings to 73 kindergartners to 3rd graders who were nonclinical and from Puerto Rican backgrounds and used data on 210 (kindergartners to 6th graders) clinical Puerto Rican Ss obtained earlier by the present 2nd author (1979) to investigate the psychometric properties of the instrument. Results show internal consistency and interrater reliability in scoring TEMAS protocols. TEMAS indices significantly discriminated between the public school and clinical samples. In the clinical samples, estimates of concurrent validity ranged from .32 to .51 with measures of ego development, trait anxiety, and adaptive behavior. Pretherapy TEMAS profiles predicted 6–22% of the variance in posttherapy treatment outcomes. Findings provide preliminary support for the clinical utility of the TEMAS for Hispanic children, who typically are inarticulate in response to traditional projective tests. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic Apperception Test: Some evidence bearing on the "hero assumption."

2 experiments are presented which test the assumption that there is customarily a single figure in TAT stories which is particularly revealing of the Ss own attributes. In a group of 30 female Ss it was demonstrated that hero figures were more often identified as similar to self or else denied as similar. Following a frustration experience aggressive acts carried out by heroes against others and against the self and also aggressive acts carried out by others against the hero all increased. These findings were regarded as evidence for the hero assumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic Apperception Test: An empirical examination of some indices of homosexuality.

2studies were done to explore the effectiveness of some TAT signs of homosexual tendencies. "Although these indices of homosexuality have functioned more effectively than equivalent indices for other variables, there still seems ground for serious doubt concerning their utility. Not only does the general clinical rating appear to function more effectively, but also the nature of the indices implies that they could easily be subjected to voluntary distortion or inhibition, thus minimizing their usefulness in many diagnostic settings." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of the schizophrenogenic mother concept by means of the Thematic Apperception Test.

Administered the TAT to 20 mothers of schizophrenic and 20 mothers of normal children. Children were matched on the basis of sex, age, level of education, number of siblings, and the child's position among his siblings. Mothers were matched on the basis of age, level of education, and social class. Each story was judged pathogenic, benign, or unscorable by 2 clinicians. A pathogenic score was tabulated for each mother and for each TAT card from the following formula: pathogenic/pathogenic plus benign. It was found that mothers of schizophrenic children could be differentiated significantly from those of normal children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thematic Apperception Test method for the differentiation of families of schizophrenics, delinquents, and "normals."

Assessed the dimension of Parent * Child interactional behavior from 240 TAT stories told by parents of 10 schizophrenics, 10 delinquents, and 10 "normals." A modified content analysis was applied to stories dealing with parent-child plots. Common underlying factors contributing to similar story qualities were abstracted into higher order classes of story behavior. 3 modal behavior categories were defined: personally involved, child-centered, flexible interactions (A), impersonally involved, superficial interactions (B), and overinvolved, parent-centered interactions (C). Blind rating of the stories by Categories A, B, and C significantly and reliably differentiated the 3 parental groups. Blind rating of a separate series of TAT stories told by 20 mothers of schizophrenic children and 20 mothers of normal children using the National Institute of Mental Health method significantly differentiated the 2 parental groups. Processes that may have determined the different patterns of narrated Parent-Child interactions are considered. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood Tourette''s syndrome and the Thematic Apperception Test: is there a recognizable pattern?

Nocardia corallina B-276 possesses a constitutive multi-component alkene monooxygenase which catalyses the epoxidation of terminal and sub-terminal alkenes. The epoxygenase component of this system has been purified with an overall yield of 35%. The electron paramagnetic resonance spectrum of the oxidised protein has a weak signal at g = 4.3, which we ascribe to rhombic iron and a free radical signal at g(ave) = 2.01. Upon partial reduction with dithionite using methyl viologen as a mediator, a signal at g(ave) = 1.9 appeared. Upon further reduction with excess dithionite a signal at g = 15 appeared with the concomitant disappearance of the g(ave) = 1.9 signal. These results indicate that the epoxygenase contains a bridged dinuclear iron centre similar to that found in a variety of proteins involved in oxygen transport and activation as well as desaturation of fatty acids. Analysis of the products of the reaction indicates that AMO is capable of stereospecific epoxidation of alkenes producing the R-enantiomer in high yield, a reaction catalysed by very few oxygenase enzymes. Whole cells gave lower enantiomeric excess values for the epoxide and a stereospecific epoxidase enzyme has been proposed to account for this difference. Although alkene monooxygenase was not inhibited by ethyne, a potent inhibitor of soluble methane monooxygenase with which alkene monooxygenase shares many common features, it was weakly inhibited by propyne with an apparent Km value of 340 microM. The mechanistic implications of these physicochemical features of the enzyme are discussed.     

Sexual aspects of Thematic Apperception Test administration: A note on "mature clinicians."

Extended J. Masling and S. Harris' (see record 1969-09855-001) study by analyzing choice of TAT cards administered to 29 psychiatric patients (13 males, 16 females). Differences in the frequency of administration of sexual-romantic cards by 5 psychology interns and 3 staff psychologists were compared through use of chi-square. Analysis shows that interns did administer more sexual-romantic cards to female than to male patients (p     

Object relations and social cognition in borderlines, major depressives, and normals: A Thematic Apperception Test analysis.

This study compared reliably diagnosed borderline personality patients (n?=?35) with major depressives (n?=?25) and normals (n?=?30) on 4 dimensions of object relations and social cognition coded from Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) responses: Complexity of Representations of People, Affect–Tone of Relationship Paradigms (malevolent to benevolent), Capacity for Emotional Investment in Relationships, and Understanding of Social Causality. As predicted, borderlines scored significantly lower on all 4 scales than did normals and lower on Affect–Tone and Capacity for Emotional Investment than did nonborderline major depressives. Borderlines also produced more pathological responses than did both groups on every scale, indicating more poorly differentiated representation, grossly illogical attributions, malevolent expectations, and need-gratifying relationship paradigms. The results suggest the importance of distinguishing several interdependent but distinct cognitive–affective dimensions of object relations and the potential utility of assessing object relations and social cognition from TAT responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The clinical interpretation of the Thematic Apperception Test, Rorschach, and other clinical data: A reexamination of statistical versus clinical prediction.

Discusses the validity of statistical vs clinical prediction via interpretation of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Rorschach, and other clinical data. It is frequently (falsely) stated as axiomatic that statistical prediction is more accurate than clinical prediction. This belief is sometimes used as the rationale for not valuing the understanding of complex conscious and unconscious personality functioning. Thus, H. N. Garb's (see record 1998-11734-018) discussion of the recommendations of E. D. Rossini and R. J. Moretti (see record 1997-04849-016) for clinical training in the TAT (H. A. Murray; see record 1944-01759-000) in graduate programs correctly asserts that "to integrate science and practice, a course on the TAT should should clarify which interpretation techniques are supported by empirical research" (p.622). The believed statement that actuarial (or statistical) prediction methods have almost always been more accurate than clinicians' is true only for a specific subset of studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Thematic Apperception Test and attitudes toward achievement in women: A new look at the motive to avoid success and a new method of measurement.

Asked 163 male and 165 female students to write stories to 1 of 3 versions of M. S. Horner's Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) verbal cue used to measure women's "motive to avoid success": a successful medical student who was a single female, a single male, or a married female. Ss then answered an objective questionnaire about the cue figure. Story protocols, classified as positive, mixed, or negative on the basis of success-related content, were significantly (p     

Recommendations for training therapists based on manuals for psychotherapy research.

Discusses the author's treatment manual for supportive-expressive psychoanalytic psychotherapy written to train therapists in this form of treatment. The author addresses the relevance of psychiatric severity for technique, the importance of the therapeutic alliance, the need to make reliable dynamic formulations of the central relationship pattern, the need to focus on convergence of the central relationship pattern with the interpretations, and the need to pay attention to the maintenance of benefits. Typical resistances by trainees to teaching efforts are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Difficulties in family practice residency training: Recommendations for training health psychologists in primary care settings.

We attempt to pursue a model for health psychologists by developing recommendations for behavioral science input into family practice residencies, gleaned from experiences of several health psychologists specifically trained to be directors of behavioral science programs of such medicine departments. This information is accumulated and based on a 7-year period at one university-based, inner-city program and two community-based hospitals. These recommendations are offered in the hope that health psychology training specialists will anticipate roadblocks associated with family practice residency training programs and will plan accordingly. Specifically, we make recommendations regarding program overview and training background, roadblocks (including medicine as the final authority), theoretical versus practical teaching orientation, resident time constraints, administrative support and priorities, and training effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scaling of the TAT for achievement.

Studies of n Ach are rarely comparable since the stimulus value of the cards is usually unknown. This study involved scaling 30 TAT cards and 6 others listed by Atkinson (1958, pp. 832-834). College men (N = 92) rated them on a 4-point scale for n Ach. Upper and lower quartiles on the basis of total score were compared for each card via the Likert scale. It is concluded that contradictory results with n Ach in the past may have resulted from researchers by chance choosing medium-achievement cards and reporting significant differences between high and low achievers, whereas investigators using low or high cards would have been more likely to find negative results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Attitudes Test in Human Relations (ATHURE).

The development of a forced-choice form of a human relations attitude test is described. After item selection (and cross-validation of item selection) of four forms, test-retest reliabilities were computed following two administrations to new samples. None of the reliabilities was greater than .43. The reasons for this low reliability are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)