A COMPARISON OF TELL ME A STORY (TEMAS) AND THE INCOMPLETE SENTENCE BLANK TEST (ISB) PROJECTION TESTS

A COMPARISON OF TELL ME A STORY (TEMAS) AND THE INCOMPLETE SENTENCE BLANK TEST (ISB) PROJECTION TESTS

Similarities

The Tell me a story (TEMA) projective test was established with a stimuli that was culturally relevant. It can also be used in several languages including but not limited to English, Spanish, and Italy among other languages. In order  to achieve its  cultural  congruency,  the following features  were  embedded in  its  versions; diminished ambiguity,  and  structured stimuli that assist in pulling the particular  personality  functions. Other features  include  being ethnically relevant  to most cultures,  being  chromatically attractive  and   contemporary stimuli  in eliciting  stories  that are diagnostically meaningful (Flanagan,  Guiseppe, 1999). On the other hand, the Incomplete Sentence Blank test can also be utilized on culturally diverse subjects for general interpretation just like any other projective material. The Incomplete Sentence Blank Test established by Rotter and Rafferty was meant to be scored easily, and administered among people of different cultures (Rotter et al, 1954).

Differences

Unlike TEMA, the Incomplete Sentence Blank Test offers a specific criterion for diagnosis for a faster retrieval of the results generated. It should however, be noted that the ISBT was not purposed to offer a full view of personality, but was meant to be a starting point for clinicians to take direction from. Again, the present version of the test has three forms at various levels including high school, college and adult. The test’s score is based on a seven-point scale with answers that are tagged from pessimism, hopelessness,  hostility to neutral  such as clichés, catchphrases, stereotypes   and  positive  aspects   such as  acceptance, optimism and humor rating (Anastasi,  and Urbina, 2009). On the other hand,  the depiction of conflicts in TEMA  were designed in such a manner as  to elicit  specific  functions  of personality  in individuals as  well as the main diagnostic indicators in psychopathology. Another  common  difference  is that while  the  Incomplete Blank Test Projection   is meant  to be used on both  high school, college  and adult subjects,  TEMA was  specifically designed  for  children and teenagers.

 

Challenges

  • In some situations, there is inadequate or unreliable materials obtained in subjects. This is more especially if the subjects happen to be disturbed, illiterate, or uncooperative. When applying TEMA or Incomplete Blank Test Projection, there needs to be writing and one has to be acquainted with language skills. Furthermore, these methods have not been sufficiently, assessed for their clinical usefulness (Hibbard, 2003).
  • Another point of consideration is that these methods do not have a disguise of purpose in similar way as other projective methods. This means that subject who may appear sophisticated may successful hide from the assessor his or her true perspectives or feelings. In other words, a subject may decide not to disclose what he or she does not want to be disclosed.
  • A third challenge associated with these projective instruments is that there is currently no machine that could be used to score the data. This therefore, necessitates a general knowledge and skills on analyzing personality for the purpose of clinical interpretation and appraisal (Garb, Wood, Lilienfeld, Nezworski, 2002).

 

 

 

Insights

Some of the insights gained  in the process of this comparison were that  these projective tests are based on the assumption  that  their  administration  on  the intended  subjects  will  assist in revealing  more  with regard to their  fantasies,  thoughts, and  their  emotional  conflicts than say, if  direct  questions  were deployed.

 

 

References

Anastasi, A., & Urbina, S. (2009). Psychological testing . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Chapter 15, “Projective Techniques,” (pp. 410–442).

Flanagan, R., & Di Guiseppe, R. (1999). Critical review of the TEMAS: A step within the development of

            thematic apperception instruments. Psychology in the Schools, 36(1), 21–30.

Garb, H. N., Wood, J. M., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Nezworski, M. T. (2002). Effective use of projective

techniques in clinical practice: Let the data help with selection and interpretation. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33(5), 454–463

Hibbard, S. (2003). A critique of Lilienfeld et al.’s (2000) “The scientific status of projective techniques.

Journal of Personality Assessment, 80(3), 260–271.

Rotter, J. B., Rafferty, J. E., & Lotsof, A. B. (1954). The validity of the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank:

            High school form. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 18(2), 105–111

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