Setection of abbreviated tat sets

Abstract

A predominantly lower class sample of patients at a VA neuropsychiatric hospital waa surveyed to assess attitudes towards psychotherapy. Two types of data were secured: (a) an activities preference questionnaire designed to measure relative preferenca for 12 rehabilitation and therapeutic activities; (b) responses to structured and unstructured questions relating to activities and modes of treatment regarded as contributing to improvement in their illnesses. As expected, psychotherapy was regarded as less important than manually oriented activities. It was mentioned spontaneously by only ten percent of the patients as contributing t o their getting well. Patients with middle class backgrounds showed a greater preference for psychotherapy than patients with lower class backgrounds. Neither occupation nor severity of illness showed any relationship to activity preferences. The implications of the findings were discussed. 4. 5. 6.CODY, IC. M. A primer for psychotherapists. New York: Ronald Press, 1951.

Judgments of adjustment from TAT stories as a function of experimentally altered sets.

“…The first part of the objection must be granted; such an important judgment would be based upon a battery of tests rather than a single instrument. It should be noted, however, that within the test battery, the TAT is likely to be used in a variety of ways (Dana, 1956). In addition, interpretation of the TAT in the clinical setting is more often based on global judgment than on the few time consuming objective methods of analysis which have been proposed.…”

Cross-cultural-multicultural use of the Thematic Apperception Test.

“…1. The pictures should contain culturally recognizable figures in backgrounds designed to sample relevant interpretive domains, either by the selection of existing TAT cards to compose prototypical life situations (e.g., Dana, 1956) or by the redrawing of some or all of the original cards to more closely resemble the physical features of a particular cultural-racial population (e.g., Dana, 1982b). This goal can also be attained by a design of new pictures, (Dana, 1998d).…”

“…

My introduction to cross-cultural personality study began when I was a graduate student and was facilitated by Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) stories and Rorschach protocols from Chinese students (Dana, 1959a). I learned from this process that in using cross-cultural interpretation of projective techniques, one could not assume that the meanings of scores and inferences were invariant and universal; they were instead culture specific and could be understood only by a n immersion in the culture.

…”