Roosevelt University                                 Projective Personality Assessment, PSYC 725

School of Psychology                                                                                      Spring, 2008

                                                                                                         James P. Choca, PhD

 

 

Instructor information:

 

Office Location:

Tower, Room 1857

Office hours:

Wednesdays  1-3, Fridays 1-3, Other times by appointment

Office telephone number:

312-341-6380

Home telephone number:

773-472-7791

Cell:

312-914-3477

 

 

Required books:

 

Exner, J. E. (2003). The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System (4th ed.), Vol I. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

 

Cramer, P. (1996). Storytelling, narrative, and the Thematic Apperception Test.  New York: Guilford Press.

 

 

Course Overview:

 

The course is designed to teach the administration, scoring and interpretation of the two most popularly used projective tests, the Rorschach and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The psychometric characteristics of those tests, and how those tests compare to personality inventories such as the MMPI and the MCMI will be reviewed. Students will learn how to integrate findings from the projectives with the person’s history, and with the information from the emotional questionnaires. The use of computers in doing the diagnostic work will be emphasized.

 

 

Course Grade:

 

The evaluation of the progress made will be a continuous process. Typically every class will have an assessment component. In some cases the assessment will be done by means of a quiz covering the material the student was responsible for reading, or material presented in class. In other cases the assessments will be made through test protocols given to the student to be scored and/or interpreted. Case write-ups that students submit will also be counted as part of the weekly assessment. There will be frequent feedback of test performance. All students will take part in one of three debates, or do a class presentation of one of the minor projective tests. The student performance on the debate or presentation will contribute 20 points toward the final grade.

 

 


The Great Debates:

 

For the Great Debates, each student will choose a side. In collaboration with the other students representing the same side, the student needs to research the chosen side so as to be able to present arguments in a scientifically convincing manner.  Appeal to authority is good, a well-reasoned opinion is better, presentation of supporting data (tables, graphs, numbers that prove a point) is best. Which of the two sides goes first is decided before-hand by mutual agreement, or by the toss of a coin. Each side will have 20 minutes for their initial presentation, to be followed by up to 5 minutes for rebuttal. The debate will then be open to the rest of the class.

 

Both the form of the presentation and the substance will be rated. The student will be rated mostly on the basis of his or her own presentation, but may receive credit for a group effort if the debating team has assigned different tasks to the different team members. For example, one person may be designated to present all of the data in support of an argument, and the other members of the team may obtain credit for that part of the presentation. In order to have this rule apply, the team needs to make clear how the work was divided, and who deserves the credit. The ratings will be assigned taking the following into account:

 

 

FORM OF THE PRESENTATION

Speaks clearly and loud enough for everyone to hear

Pronounces clearly so everyone can understand

Keeps a good pace in the presentation

Does NOT read from notes

Uses charts or visual aids

Does not apologize for doing or not doing something

Presents view in a succinct manner

Appears interested or enthusiastic about the material presented

Appears committed to his or her side

Makes the debate interesting to others

SUBSTANCE

Presents an argument for his or her side

Presents another argument

Presents a third argument

Presents more than three arguments

Presents data in support of an argument

Presents data in support of another argument

Rebuts with relevant new material that addresses points made by the opposition

Rebuts with more than one relevant new point that addresses points made by the opposition

Spends less than 1 minute on issues that have little to do with the debate

Spends less than 3 minutes on issues that have little to do with the debate

 


Test Presentations:

 

Students will have a choice between presenting one of the ‘minor’ projective tests to be covered, or presenting a case. Those responsible for a minor test need to review the test manual, examine any critiques that are available on the test (e.g., in Buros’ Mental Measurement Yearbook), and search for the important papers or books available on that instrument. The student performance will be rated in accordance to the following criteria:

 

 

 

FORM OF THE PRESENTATION

Speaks clearly and loud enough for everyone to hear

Pronounces clearly so everyone can understand

Keeps a good pace in the presentation

Does NOT read from notes

Uses charts or visual aids

Does not apologize for doing or not doing something

Presents view in a succinct manner

Appears interested or enthusiastic about the material presented

Appears committed to what the evaluation has to offer

Makes presentation interesting to others

SUBSTANCE

Presents an overview of the test

Offers details about the test scales

Discusses the validity and reliability of the instrument

Presents a case example of how the test is used

Speaks of the research that has been done with the instrument

Discusses the advantages or strengths of the tool

Discusses disadvantages or limitations of the tool

Responds to questions in an informative manner

Does not offer an idea that is blatantly wrong or irrelevant

Does not offer more than one idea that is blatantly wrong or irrelevant

 


Attendance:

 

This is a professional course for students who want an opportunity to train as psychologists.  Students are expected to attend all of the classes. With some exceptions, if there are other aspects of the student’s life that have priority at the time this course is taught, the student probably does not belong in this class. 

 

 

Religious holidays:

 

Following University policy, students who wish to observe religious holidays must inform the instructor within the first 2 weeks of the beginning of the semester of their intent to observe the holiday so that alternative arrangements can be made. Students who do not arrange for excused absences by the deadline are not entitled to such accommodations.

 

 

Academic Dishonesty:

 

All students will be held to the University’s standards regarding academic dishonesty. These standards are described in the Student Handbook and on the University’s website. Ignorance of standards will not be accepted as an excuse. In particular for this course, all test administration protocols, test scores, and test reports, must have been done by the student.  Although the student may use books and other resources to do the work, the final product must be the student’s individual effort. Students found guilty of academic dishonesty will receive an F for the course, and their names will be forwarded to the Student Services Office. Receiving an F for the course does not preclude imposition of other penalties by the University, including dismissal.

 

 


Instructions for Hemann:

 

To run

1.      Create a directory on your hard drive called HRM

2.      Copy all of the files in the disk to the HRM directory (see instructions below)

3.      Run the file called Hermann6.exe

(you can create a shortcut to this file and put it on your desktop to make the process easier in the future)

Configuring

Hermann will have to be configured with your name, and the drive/directory where the data files will be kept. In order to configure Hermann:

1. Run the program following the instructions given in the section above

2. Enter a backslash \ instead of the patient's name and press enter

3. Enter the drive and directory you are going to use to store the cases

    (e.g., a: or c:\HRM)

4. Enter your last name, first name, middle initial and degree in response to queries

5. Enter 10 for the number of minutes after which it should save

6. Enter 1 to set the color display

For Hermann to be able to read the case files, those files have to be copied into the drive and directory you entered in step #3 above

To copy files

1.      Click right mouse button on Start, then Explore

2.      On the left side, click floppy drive A

3.      Click any file on the right side when the names appear (top select all files enter Ctrl-A)

4.      Drag to the HRM directory on the left side

Operations

at a glance

·         You can find a Word copy of the manual on the disk

·         Use Esc to switch between the text and the score box

·         PageDown takes you to the next response, PageUp to the previous

·         Ctrl-PageDown takes you to the next card

·         Enter scores one at a time, even the S (to enter WS you enter W first and then S, to enter Ma, enter M and then a)

·         Enter a number in the score box to change the card number

·         Use – for a – Developmental Quality, _ (shift-) for a – Form Quality

·         Use = for a + Developmental Quality, + (shift=) for a + Form Quality

·         Use periods to create blends (eg., FM.FC)

 


 



DATE

ASSIGNMENT

CLASS COVERAGE

1/28

 

Introduction to the course

Administering the Rorschach

Hermann, the Rorschach Assistant

2/4

Exner, chapters 1-4

 

Student ethics

History of the Rorschach

Fundamentals of Scoring

2/11

Exner, chapters 5-7

First Rorschach administration

Scoring continues

2/18

Exner, chapters 8-10

Second Rorschach administration

Score assigned case

Scoring continues

 

2/25

Exner Chapter 11-13

Third Rorschach administration

Score assigned cases

Scoring continues

*Holtzman Inkblot Test

 

3/3

Exner, chapters 14-15

*Great Debates in Psychology:

Are projective personality tests valid and reliable?

Scoring Continues

3/10

Exner, chapters 16-17

Score assigned cases

Fundamentals of Interpretation

*Hand Test

3/17

Spring Break

 

3/24

Exner, chapters 18-20

Interpret assigned case

Interpretation continues

*House-Tree-Person Test

3/31

Exner, chapters 21-22

Interpret assigned case

SPA – Sarah Michelson to cover

*Great Debates in Psychology:

Projective personality tests versus personality questionnaires

*Great Debates in Psychology:

Science versus art / Beck versus Klopfer

*Sentence Completion Tests

4/7

Teglasi, chapters 1-2

Score and Interpret case

Introduction to the TAT

4/14

Teglasi, chapters 3-4

Score and Interpret cases

Interpretation of the TAT

Writing reports

4/21

Teglasi, chapters 5-6

First TAT administration

Case presentations

*The Children’s Apperception Test (CAT)

4/28

Teglasi, chapters 7-8

Second TAT administration

Score, interpret and write cases

Individual differences and performance personality tests

Case presentations

*The Senior Apperception Test

5/5

Teglasi, chapters 9-10

Third TAT administration

Score, interpret and write case

Integrating self-report and performance instruments

Case presentations

 

5/12

Ethic readings

Score, interpret and write case

Ethical standards in testing

 

*Denotes that students are responsible for this activity