ABSTRACT
Projective measures are measures in which an ambiguous stimulus is presented to the respondent, who is asked to make an open-ended response. Projective measures were developed based on psychodynamic theory and the projective hypothesis that whatever a person does when exposed to an ambiguous stimulus will reveal important aspects of the person's personality. The goal of projective measures is to discover things that do not depend on self-knowledge and the person's ability or willingness to share it. Projective measures aim to bypass defense mechanisms so that they assess characteristics the person has and which the person is not consciously aware of. Examples of projective measures include the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Draw-A-Person Test, and drawing a family (Kinetic Family Drawing). However, there are many problems with projective measures: most projective techniques do not have standardized stimuli and testing instructions, systematic algorithms for scoring responses to stimuli, or well-calibrated norms for comparing responses with those of other people. Their scientific status is not strong in terms of utility of norms, reliability, influence of measurement error, or validity. In addition, they can be very time-consuming, and they provide very little information.
