ABSTRACT
This chapter provides criteria and examples for scoring the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) for the ambitious-narcissistic character style, an interrelated set of personality tendencies that typically result in highly ambitious, assertive, self-confident, vigorous, and dominant behavior (Harder, 1979). This construct was derived from earlier descriptions of psychodynamic clinicians, chiefly Reich (1933), who described male patients as exhibiting this set of character traits, which he termed phallic-narcissistic, for its presumed psychogenic origins in the phallic psychosexual stage of development. Ambitious-narcissistic style was used in place of Reich’s term in the construction of the TAT scale, because it was more descriptive of the observable elements of the personality pattern, which could be separated from theoretical speculations about the developmental origins of the style. Further, consistent with clinical observations, it was expected that women as well as men would demonstrate this style.
