Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Story-telling projective test

About the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Henry Murray at the Harvard Psychological Clinic in the early 1930s was developing his comprehensive theory of personality - what he called personology - based on the idea that personality could be understood through systematic identification of an individual's needs (achievement, affiliation, power, etc.) and press (environmental forces). He needed an assessment instrument that could reveal these underlying needs and conflicts indirectly, since direct self-report seemed inadequate.

Murray and his collaborator Christiana Morgan developed the Thematic Apperception Test in 1935. The test consists of approximately 30 picture cards (different subsets are used for different age and gender groups; typically 10-20 cards per administration). Each card shows an ambiguous scene - often involving people in unclear emotional situations. The subject is asked to make up a story about each card: what is happening, what led up to it, what are the characters feeling, what will happen next.

The stories are analyzed for recurring themes that reveal the subject's underlying needs, conflicts, and motivations. Murray developed a needs-based scoring system (achievement need, affiliation need, power need, etc.). David McClelland later refined this into his influential theory of needs-based motivation - particularly the concept of need for achievement (n-Ach), measured via TAT stories and linked to entrepreneurial behavior and economic development.

The TAT has been used in tens of thousands of studies and remains in active clinical use today, although it shares the Rorschach's validity concerns about projective testing. Newer scoring systems like the Defense Mechanisms Manual and the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale have improved its reliability.

The 2 subtests

Source

All test materials and historical content on this page are transcribed from:

TAT cards and Murray's scoring system are under Harvard University Press copyright. The TAT items are widely reproduced in clinical and research contexts but not in the public domain.