Some effects of color in thematic fantasy.

Abstract

Administration, who assumes no responsibility for the opinions expressed or the conclusions drawn by the author. Based on a dissertation submitted to the University of California, Los Angeles, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The writer gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to the committee who supervised his research.

Personality variables and response to color.

“…Differences between normals and neurotics in response to color have mainly involved the color shock phenomenon, but a number of studies, thoroughly reviewed by Baughman (1958), have demonstrated that this phenomenon is independent of the color in the ink blots. Differences between neurotics and normals were found by Brackbill (1951) when using chromatic versions of the Thematic Apperception Test cards, though the differences were not present when responding to the standard achromatic cards. Neurotics in his study told stories about the color cards that were rated significantly more depressed and more intellectual than the stories given by normals to the color cards, suggesting that the chromatic version is more effective in arousing unpleasant emotional associations and stimulating the expression of the subject's prevailing mood.…”

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

“…Unlike the TAT, the TEMAS test portrays characters, activities, and settings familiar to the examinee in order to promote identification with the stimuli and hence provoke greater verbal fluency and selfdisclosure (Thompson, 1949). TEMAS stimuli were developed in color, based upon empirical research with the TAT indicating that chromaticity enhances verbal fluency (Thompson & Bachrach, 1951;Lubin, 1955;Lubin & Wilson, 1956) and better discriminates between clinical and normal examinees (Brackbill, 1951;Murstein, 1963). Although traditional projective techniques have embraced the psychoanalytic notion that ambiguous stimuli bypass the examinee's ego defenses, thereby allowing latent motives to be more freely expressed (Murstein, 1963), TEMAS pictures are less ambiguous than those of TAT, based upon research indicating that increased structure in projective stimuli facilitates fluency and yields a more focused understanding of the examinee's personality functioning (e.g., Epstein, 1966;Sobel, 1981).…”

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“…This study indicates (as also found by Rutchick et al (2010) for projective word completing test, Pravossoudovitch et al (2014) for the implicit association test and Malone et al (2013) for the Rorschach test) that colors affect the implicit system and therefore should be taken into account when applying such tests. On the other hand, it gives more insights into the results of Revers et al (1985) and Brackbill (1951). Colored TAT/PSE pictures do not only look more lifelike and therefore enhance motive arousal, but it is also possible that colors separately interact with specific components of the implicit achievement motive or implicit motives per se.…”

“…Indeed, it could be attested that colored pictures lead to different scores than an achromatic TAT (Revers et al, 1985). Brackbill (1951) indicated that colored pictures lead to a more vivid form of projection, especially for clinical people. One central point of critics could be that the colors were chosen just by the authors, not previously tested and so less systematic.…”