Thursday, 20 September 2012

Thematic Apperception Test

For one of my assignments, I was required to take an online Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which is basically a psychological test with psychodynamic origins - the gist of it is that you look at a picture, then you write a story based on what you've seen. The psychologist then analyzes what you have written, and gives you an interpretation - presumably because what you have written is a projection of your inner thoughts and desires.

You can try it out yourself if you wish, DON'T CONTINUE READING if you want to try it, because my story is below. Don't copy! haha. Just head on over to this website to try out the test first, just takes 10 minutes. http://www.utpsyc.org/TATintro/

Don't read on if you're going to try it, because it'll affect your answer! (It's the same picture)



 

 

 

 

Here's my picture:



And my story:

These are two people in a research laboratory. They are the top scientists who are trying to find a cure for cancer - and they are on the verge of it! The one on the left is the lead researcher and she is called Agatha. She is mixing some chemicals at the moment for some kind of cancer antidote.

The one on the right is Shirley, who is Agatha's assistant. Shirley has been working with Agatha for the past 10 years. They are good friends too. Both of them have PHDs - Shirley is kind of like the vice lead researcher although her title is 'assistant'.

Before they came to the lab, they were just having lunch. They packed some sandwiches because they were busy people and busy people always packed lunches. They ate at the pantry area of course, not in the lab with toxic chemicals.

Agatha was thinking about whether the chemicals she was mixing was going to work. She has been working on this cancer project for the past 5 years, and her recent tests on some lab mice with skin cancer showed some positive results. She was excited, yet wary - she did not want to feel too disappointed if the antidote didn't work, which was quite likely, just like the previous 42 times.

Shirley was thinking about her pet dog. Her mind had drifted from being assistant for too long. She secretly wished she was lead scientist, though she had no malice towards Agatha. She just wanted to be in charge and decide what to do next. Her friendship with Agatha is very good thus she was ok with Agatha being in charge.

After this picture, Agatha is going to complete mixing the 43rd attempt at getting a cure for cancer - and fail. She would feed it to a rat and the rat would convulse and shake on the floor and die. Then it would burst in flames, and both Agatha and Shirley would panic and try to put it out - Shirley, being the klutz she was, grabs the nearest flask of liquid and splashes it over the fire - BUT IT'S ALCOHOL!

The flames engulfs the table and burns strongly. Agatha begins to feel faint and falls to the floor, overwhelmed by smoke. Somehow, the door of the room had jammed and they were trapped! Shirley saw this, and very briefly the thought about her being the lead scientist if Agatha died crossed her mind, but she quickly reprimanded herself. "I cannot have such evil thoughts! She is my friend! I love her!"

She looked at the door and at her friend. What could she do?

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DUM DUM DUM! Cliffhanger! HAHA. I wrote for the full 10 minutes, and just nice when the 10 minutes was up I was at this climax hahaha.

I won't bore you with my full results, but I supposedly have low need for achievement (not really), high need for affliation (yes), and low need for power (kinda). (If you don't know what these mean.. Google them sorry I'm lazy to explain)

I am more honest, insecure, and depressed than the average guy (but not the average girl),  I am averagely sociable and outgoing, and average for positive and negative emotions. I'm also waaay below average for my use of 'big words' (more than 6 letters), which meant "Use of big words is weakly related to higher grades and standardized test scores. People who use a high rate of big words also tend to be less emotional and oftentimes psychologically distant or detached."

Haha ok I am more emotional and not distant/detached.

What were your results?

(I have to go write a 'reflections essay' on this for the assignment, so... PEACE OUT)

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