396 MELVIN H PBPFBIt AND ViVUN GoURBVITCa mg criteria as a basis for interpreting cognitive maturity from RTT performance Certam implications of the results were considered with regard to the general adapative process as well as to the more speafic problem of social adaptation REFERENCES ARIETI, S Interpretation of schizophrenia New York Robert Bninner, 1958 BsACE, R. R. A ccunparative study of the cognibon of magnitude Unpunished doctoral dissertatioa, Clark Univer, 1956 CAMERON, N. Perceptual organization and behavior pathology In R. R Blake and G. V Ramsey (Eds.), Perception, OM approach to personality New York Ronald, 1951, 283-306 CsoNBAca, L. J Statistical methods applied to Rorschach scores A review Psychol Bull, 1949, 4C, 393-429 FEPFER. M H. The cogmtave implications of role-takmg behavior J Pers, 1959, IT, 152-168 GoLDSTEiK, K. The significance of psychological research m schuophrema.

Within the developmental framework of Piaget and Wemer, a number of concepts have been advanced with the goal of clarifying the nature of those cognitive processes whereby knowledge is gained and organized One such concept, decentenng activity, has stemmed primarily from Piaget's investigations of the child's cognitive structuring of the inanimate, physical world In the present study the concept of decentenng activity has been extended to an analysis of the cognitive structuring of social content as revealed in role taking activity The particular way in which this concept has been extended IS embodied m the structure and scoring criteria of a projective technique in which role taking behavior is manifested in fantasy productions This technique has been termed the Role Taking Task (RTT) The description, rationale, and initial evaluation of the RTT constitute the subject matter of the present paperThe RTT is a projective task initially based upon Schneidman's Make a Picture Story (MAPS) The test material selected from the MAPS consists of a series of background scenes picturing various locales-a livingroom, school room, street corner, etc-and a variety of figures of men, women, and children which may be placed in the scene For the purposes of this study, the materials have been altered to eliminate unusual, grotesque, and highly suggestive backgrounds and figures which might tend to limit assigned roles Sevinvestigation was supported by the Dementia Praecox Research Project, Worcester State Hospital, and a research grant (M-1284) from the National Institute of Mental Health, Public Health Service ' The investigator is indebted to a number of persons for their contributions Dr J Lane read the present paper and made many helpful suggestions The admimstration of the tests was earned out by Mrs V Grourevitch, Dr D Broverman, Mr P Havener, and Mr B D'Agosbno In addition, Mr B iyAgostino served as a judge in sconng the Role Takmg protocols Subjects were obtamed through the help of Rev T Gapp