Projective Techniques in Psychology and its different types

Projective psychology techniques are methods used to study the human mind and behaviour. A projective technique is used to study a person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions by projecting them onto an object. The methods use the physical properties of light, sound, and other stimuli to explore the subject’s inner world. It involves projecting a set of images and ideas inside the mind, which the psychoanalyst then analyses. It is a bizarre technique that requires a lot of patience and time.

History Of Projective Techniques 

 Projective psychology techniques were first developed in the 1960s for clinical psychology. They are a form of personality test in psychology that exposes subjects to a succession of ambiguous stimuli such as images or phrases. The goal of projective tests is to elicit emotional reactions from participants so that their attitudes, attributes, and behaviour may be studied. These tests are supposed to uncover an individual’s hidden wants and fears.

According to psychologist Daniel Kahneman, the human brain makes millions of decisions every day. Small decisions like what to dress, what to eat, which route to take to work, and so on, and more complicated ones like buying a new automobile, relocating to a new city, or ending a relationship, are examples. If we consciously processed these decisions, our brain would quickly become inundated with data. As a result, our unconscious mind processes several decisions and the motives that drive them. It’s possible that people aren’t always aware of their acts’ unconscious reasons.

Types of projective techniques in psychology 

Association Test 

Association  Word Test is the test wherein random words are uttered before the subject, and in return, the subject has to respond accordingly. In this test, generally abnormal people respond to an ambiguous word. For instance, if this test is performed on a schizophrenia patient, he will respond ambiguously to any word an experimenter is uttering. When a subject is asked to respond quickly to stimuli, they use association techniques. In association methods, the timeliness of replies is highly valued. 

The Rorschach Test is an association method in which participants are asked to reply to a sequence of inkblot pictures. Colour, shadow, form, movement, and reflection are all factors in these photos that assist examiners in figuring out why people respond the way they do. Their responses are then psychologically evaluated and analysed. Another type of association exercise is the word association method (WAT), in which the participant is given a succession of unrelated words.

Techniques of Construction 

Construction approaches demand participants to do more than just respond to stimuli; they also need to create something from them. These inventions may take the form of tales or visuals. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a building approach, possibly one of the most often used projective procedures. The test volunteers are handed cards with black-and-white images, and they are asked to make up a tale based on what they perceive/infer from the image. The plot and storyline are utilised to create conclusions about the examinee’s deep-seated aspirations and demands.

Completion Task

Completion Techniques – Completion techniques provide its participants with any type of incomplete product and allow them to fill in the blanks in any way they choose as long as their solutions match specific logical requirements. The most common completion approach is the sentence completion test, which requires examinees to finish incomplete sentences using the first words that spring to mind. Examiners then do a subjective analysis to assess the examinees’ conflicts, attitudes, and motives.

Application Of Projective Techniques

Projective psychology techniques present an examinee with a sequence of ambiguous stimuli (such as a picture) and ask them to give their unique reactions to the stimuli. It is done to prevent the examinee from having any prejudices. In contrast to other organised kinds of psychological testing, the ambiguity of the stimuli gives the subject no cues as to what an appropriate answer to the inquiry is. Individuals may produce more socially acceptable answers in interviews or self-reports, for example, and may modify their responses based on how they respond to their answers. On the other hand, Uncertain stimuli cause people to express their genuine sentiments.

Advantages Of Projective Techniques

• Unlike organised testing procedures such as questionnaires or formal interviews, projective tests allow people to express their thoughts and ideas without fear of censure or societal restraints.
• Psychologists can research subconscious and unconscious systems that can help them comprehend more personal or sensitive problems when people can express themselves more freely by responding to ambiguous stimuli.
•  The projective techniques of psychology are efficiently effective in accessing the unconscious part of the human mind.

Disadvantages Of Projective Techniques

• Because of the ambiguity of the stimuli and the unstructured character of this approach, projective exams must be administered and determined by highly competent specialists and experts.
• To obtain findings using projective approaches, thorough interviews and analysis are necessary. This, combined with the requirement for educated personnel, makes it a very costly operation.
• The use of projective methods carries the possibility of interpretation bias. This implies that those reading and analysing the examinees’ replies may misunderstand the results, assuming, for example, that a mild reaction is hostile.
• Inferring incorrect conclusions from projective examinations might be extremely harmful to the examinee since it could reveal personality traits or inadequacies.
•  Highly trained professionals are required for the best application of projective techniques of psychology.

Conclusion 

Projective psychology techniques are methods used to study the human mind and behaviour. The methods use the physical properties of light, sound, and other stimuli to explore the subject’s inner world. It is a bizarre technique that requires a lot of patience and time. These techniques have merits and demerits but play a major role in analysing the unconscious mind.