Understanding Personality through Projective Testing [Hardcover]

Projective methods, such as the Rorschach inkblot test, are valued by some and questioned by others for their use in allowing patients to project on ambiguous stimuli aspects of the self they either cannot or do not wish to reveal to others. Tuber (CUNY City College) describes the value of four projective techniques for uncovering patients' psychodynamic issues: the Rorschach test ( Tell me what this ink blot could be ), the sentence completion task (fill in the blank, e.g., I miss so much _____ ), the animal preference task ( What animal would you like to be? ), and the Thematic Apperception Test ( Tell me a story about this card ). Several detailed case examples are given, including a complete analysis of Nicholas. The author presumes a fair amount of familiarity with the projective techniques mentioned, including the administration and scoring protocols. Written in a semi-conversational manner (complete with grammatical errors), the study is richly interesting, thought provoking, and detailed in procedural and interpretive recommendations. Overall, Tuber models a thoughtful reverence for patients and for the process of identifying and working through their emergent problems. Summing Up: Recommended.In the current climate of clinical psychology training in which depth approaches to assessment and treatment are being deemphasized or eliminated (e.g., American Psychological Association Division 12 Presidential Task Force, 1999) in favor of symptom-focused methods, Tubers Understanding Personality Through Projective Testing is a welcome and refreshing antidote. Tubers volume follows in the tradition of classics on psychoanalytic psychological assessment such as Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer (1968); Schafer (1954); Allison, Blatt, and Zimet (1968); and Lerner (1998). As important and relevant as those texts continue to be, Tuber communicates his ideas and methods in a manner that is more accessible to contemporary graduate students, pre- and postdoctoral trainees, lÃ-