Evaluating the Diagnostic Potential of Projective Techniques in

Personality Studies

O. S. Mirzaev

, B. A. Abdullaev

and B. S. Shukurov

National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Navoi State Pedagogical Institute, Navoi, Uzbekistan

Keywords: Projection, Personality, Projective Methods, Psychodiagnostics, Individual-Psychological Features,

Unconsciousness, Medical Psychology, Scientific Approach, Empirical Results, Desires and Wishes, Stimuli,

Associative, Interpretation, Refraction, Catharsis, Constructive, Nonverbal Method.

Abstract: This article explores the diagnostic possibilities presented by projective techniques in personality studies. It

engages in an exploration of the particularities of employing projective techniques, the psychometric criteria

governing these methods, the notion and essence of projection, and the current opportunities afforded by

projective techniques in contemporary research. It also lays out the categorisation of projective techniques, as

well as the current state of understanding of these techniques in international psychology. Additionally, the

article elaborates on the concept of 'projection', while also providing detailed inspector remarks on the

research outcomes.

1 INTRODUCTION

It's well known that the execution of empirical

research demands considerable professional

competence and expertise from every specialist

psychologist. Furthermore, psychodiagnostics - a

practical branch of psychology - necessitates the

development of skills to disseminate and apply a suite

of tests, techniques, personality examinations,

aptitude tests, intelligence tests, and projective tests.

Although a multitude of tests and personality surveys

have been devised thus far, projective tests hold a

particular significance. This is due to the limited

availability of textbooks, monographs, and

methodological guides on projective psychology and

projective psychodiagnostics within local

psychological research. However, what distinguishes

projective techniques from others is their subtle

approach to eliciting information from individuals.

These methodologies are non-verbal and can

encompass subjects' drawings, inkblots, and colour

tests.

It's worth mentioning that the challenges of

standardising projective methods - their non-verbal

nature, the scarce application of these methods in

research within our national Uzbek context, the

Corresponding author

absence of clear research criteria, and the requirement

of profound practical and theoretical knowledge for

result analysis - contribute to the pressing issues

surrounding psychometric aspects of projective

methods usage, projective diagnosis and its

characteristics, the adaptation of projective methods

to the local environment, and the examination of

practical applications of projective methods in

individual studies.

Hitherto, a host of international researchers have

contributed to the fields of projective psychology and

projective methods, (

Rohleder 2014, Mukhtasar 2021).

These authors have primarily applied projective

methods within a clinical environment and for

distinguishing between normality and pathology.

Therefore, the majority of research in this area is

viewed through a medical lens. Similarly, in Russian

psychology, comprehensive studies have been

undertaken on projective methods, their

psychodiagnostic nature, their specific usage,

projective diagnosis, and personality capabilities,

including work by scholars such as E. Sokolova, L. F.

Burlachuk, I. Shlyapnikov, L. N. Sobchik, D.Ya.

Raygorodskiy, K.M.Gurevich, E.M. Borisova,

S.A.Pavlova, V.M.Bleyxer, S.A.Pavlova, V.I.

Evdokimov, B. I. Hellinger, D.A. Leontev, and E.I.

Mirzaev, O., Abdullaev, B. and Shukurov, B.

Evaluating the Diagnostic Potential of Projective Techniques in Personality Studies.

DOI: 10.5220/0012991100003882

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 2nd Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR-2 2023), pages 1669-1672

ISBN: 978-989-758-723-8

1669

Kuzmina. Within the psychology of our country,

specific investigations have been conducted on issues

such as the application of projective methods in

psychological practice, the use of projective methods

in examining educational difficulties, and the benefits

of projective diagnosis.

Local psychologists, including M.G.Davletshin,

E.G.Gaziev, Z.T.Nishanova, G.K.Tulaganova, P.S.

Ergashev, have paid particular attention to the issues

of projective methods, focusing primarily on their

methodological aspects and the study of adolescent

students. Research has been conducted on subjects

such as the potential for adapting pre-objective

methodologies. Nevertheless, the diagnostic potential

of projective methods in individual studies still

requires more expansive research. This need in itself

signifies the relevance of the topic of this scientific

article.

Historically, the emergence of projective methods

is linked with the introduction of the "projection"

concept in psychology, which originates from the

Latin term "projectio" meaning "to throw forward" or

"cast". Initial methodological issues surrounding the

methodology predominantly existed within the

teachings of "psychoanalysis" and "holism".

According to these theories, the use of methods can

expose a person's attitudes towards objects, the

surrounding reality, and their desires - including their

needs and wishes - as well as uncover the conditions

constituting their inner world.

The phrase "projective research" was initially

utilised by L. Frank in 1939. A variety of research

methodologies were already known during this

period, including Jung's associative test, Rorschach's

test, TAT, among others. Based on his research

outcomes, the author categorises the following groups

of projective methods [1,69-85]:

- Constitutional category methods: This

category's methods are characterised by a situation in

which the examinee is given a structure, shape, or an

undefined configuration (gestalt), or an unstructured

substance like clay, fingers, or paint to illustrate, such

as a Rorschach card.

- Constructive category methods: These methods,

similar to their constitutional equivalents, highlight

differences between "dry" and "processed" materials.

In the study, the participant behaves constructively,

considering the materials provided for construction.

The resulting construct reflects certain organisational

concepts of their life at that moment, such as building

something with blocks.

- Interpretive category methods: As inferred from

the name, these techniques capture the participant's

response throughout a narrative, in which a stimulus

situation is presented as an image, i.e., a specific

response to the stimulus situation is registered. This

category includes tests like the TAT and the verbal

association test.

- Catarrh category methods: In these techniques,

the participant expresses their emotions and feelings

in response to the stimulus situation. These emotions

are recorded in a relaxed state where the individual

shows an affective reaction to life situations, which is

then mirrored in their response to stimulus situations,

observed during play with clay or toys.

- Refractive category methods: The term in this

context was introduced by L. Frank during

subsequent analysis. This phenomenon, as outlined

by G.Allport, is seen "expressively" and highlights

behavioural traits. If evaluated in the context of a

projective method, the graphological method serves

as a prime example.

Moreover, psychologist G.M.Proshansky

developed a distinctive classification of projective

methods based on three components: stimuli,

responses, and aims. He delineated that stimuli in

projective methods [2,99-105] can be:

- Verbal, visual, clear, or other conditional

responses;

- Associative;

- Interpretive;

- Manipulative;

- Free choice and others.

The distinct feature of the above classification is that

the final part of each category stems from the general

sequence or is considered to possess a contrasting

character to the other parts. In our view, the following

characteristics are common to all types of projective

methodologies:

1. The use of ambiguous, uncertain stimuli;

2. The lack of restrictions on answer selection;

3. The absence of "correct" or "incorrect"

responses.

Psychologist A.Anastazi, discussing the

diagnostic potential of projective methods,

underscores that these methods are not purely

psychometric tools but rather a series of works

subject to qualitative analysis [3,245]. Hence, the

diagnostic potential of projective methodologies is

deemed reliable if interpreted using qualitatively

descriptive methodologies rather than quantitatively

processed ones [4,63]. In the following sections, we

will attempt to provide brief information on the

analysis of the obtained results and the assessment of

the psychodiagnostic potential of projective methods.

PAMIR-2 2023 - The Second Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

1670

2 METHODS

In our research, while applying the

"House.Tree.Person" method, we factored in certain

aspects of the local context. This is because, inherent

to this method, when the primary stimuli are

presented to the individual, they each implement the

approach in their own unique manner. This projective

method can be extensively utilised for gauging an

individual's psychological traits, diagnosing their

emotional realm, determining their attitudes,

evaluating their defence mechanisms and the extent

of their personal development, as well as assessing

their interpersonal abilities and propensity for

conflict. Additionally, the outcomes derived from this

projective methodology can be uniquely analysed

through the use of statistical methods.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Herein, we outline the aspects in which the

methodology's application and its stimuli played a

pivotal role, according to the nature of the subjects.

Having studied the characteristics of this

methodology, we concluded that the assessment of

the subjects should incorporate the cyclic aspects of

the psyche: the first being its relation to the future, the

second to the present, and the third to the past. Instead

of merely recording the stimuli present in the subjects'

drawings, we devoted particular attention to

calculating a quantitative measure of the results. This

enabled us to utilise projective methodologies to

characterise the temporal dimensions of an

individual's mental universe. In our analysis of the

obtained results, we deemed it necessary to consider

the overall qualities and gender characteristics of the

subjects (Table 1).

Table 1: Results of the method "House, tree, man" (N = 158).

Stimuli General (N= 158) Boys (N= 80) Girls (N= 78)

Home Tree Person Home Tree Person Home Tree Person

Future 65 79 61 36 43 33 29 36 28

Present 57 52 47 32 25 24 25 27 22

Past 36 27 50 12 13 22 24 14 28

Table 2: Correlation of results of the method "Home, Tree, Person" (N = 158).

Stimuli

General Boys Girls

Home Tree Person Home Tree Person Home Tree Person

Home

1 0,962** 0,556* 1 0,886** 0,752** 1 0,906** 0,327

Tree

1 0,761** 1 0,972** 1 -0,104

Man

1 1 1

*P<0,05:*P<0,01.

An examination of the results reveals that amongst

both girls and boys, the dominant aspect in their

recording of stimuli is their future mental state:

overall - home (65), tree (79), person (61); present -

home (57), tree (52), person (47); past - home (36);

tree (27) and person (50) demonstrated this

orientation. Furthermore, if we accept that mental

states are linked to the three temporal periods of

human psyche, the higher expression of past mental

state in girls (28) suggests that they resort to a

regressive defence mechanism during mental crisis

situations. Displaying the results in a histogram also

aids in delineating them more distinctly. In our

research, we have also endeavoured to present an

analytical example of the methodology, based on the

overall sample of subjects and their specific instances.

We will now examine some of these (Table 2).

What was somewhat surprising, for reasons yet

unclear, was the lack of correlation between the girls'

results: there was no observed relationship between

the representations of home and tree. This might

indicate some difficulty they face in effectively

regulating their emotional control. As a result, we

also emphasised ranking the features of the "Home,

Tree, Person" methodology that were accentuated by

the subjects.

4 CONCLUSION

In essence, for stimuli pertaining to home, person, and

tree, there may be a need to reassess the state of the

materials in accordance with local conditions,

introducing new examples if necessary. Broadly

speaking, the "Home.Tree.Person." projective

method is a potential tool for assessing both

intentional behaviour and gender identity. It's vital,

however, to consider the importance of professional

skills and practical knowledge of the specialist in the

Evaluating the Diagnostic Potential of Projective Techniques in Personality Studies

1671

field of projective psychodiagnostics when

conducting such research.

REFERENCES

Rohleder, P. (2014). Projection, Overview. In: Teo, T. (eds)

Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New

York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-

7_415

Mukhtasar, I., & Mavluda, M. (2021). The Study of

Projective Methods in Psychology. JournalNX, 7(02),

66-69.

Frank L.K. (2000)Projective Methods for Studying

Personality // Projective Psychology. - M.: April Press,

EKSMO-Press Publishing House, - P. 69-85.

Proshansky G.M. (2000)Classification of projective

methods // Projective psychology. - M.: April Press,

EKSMO-Press Publishing House, - P. 99 -105.

Anastasi A. (2001), Urbina, S. Psychological testing / Per.

from English. - St. Petersburg: Peter,. - 688 p.

Burlachuk L.F. (1997) Introduction to projective

psychology. - Kyiv: Vist-S, - 128 p.

PAMIR-2 2023 - The Second Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies- | PAMIR

1672