PRELIM FOR ASSESSMENT LEC 2
History of Projective Testing
Late 18th century- Ernst Weber founded
the study of Psychophysics. Its
experiment focused on finding Just
Noticeable Difference (J.N.D.) which
largely influenced the modern
projective approaches in the latter
years.
1879- Francis Galton (mental testing;
British people and their individual
differences) formally began the
projective approach through word
association method. For each
stimulus word-- evoke a certain
response/ Kent & Rosanoff (1910)
William Wundt his students intended
to measure the time-relation
between the stimulus and the
respond word in experiments of
word association.
1892/1895- Emil Kraepelin extended
Wundt’s work to application in
clinical psychology.
1897 Hermann Ebbinghaus used a
sentence completion test as a
measure of intelligence but others
soon realized the method was better
suited to personality assessment.
1905- Alfred Binet (invented a precursor
to story-telling; used verbal
responses to pictures to as
measurement of intelligence) and
st
Theodore Simon invented the 1
modern intelligence test.
1910- Carl Jung brought projective testing
techniques into fruition. He was the
first one who formulated a
standardized projective test. 1000
stimulus words give response of the
first word come in mind as fast as
possible.
1920/1921- Hermann Rorschach
published his famous work
Psychodiagnostik. He was a
Jungian analyst and his original
purpose in experimenting with the
ink blots was to discover a means of
predicting whether someone is
would be an extrovert or introvert
type. essential personality
dimensions can be revealed;
psychoanalytic formulation of
personality.
1913- John Watson publishes Psychology
as the behaviorist views. It
recommended the use of
BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT.
1920s-1950’s- Sentence completion
technique had also flourished during
this era with the work of Payne. This
type of tests was challenged for its
difficulty in interpretation and
scoring. Developing a more
standardized test seemed to be
important to the field.
1926- Florence Goodenough- Draw-a-
Man-Test - premiere drawing test
Human Figure- McArthur et. Al
PRELIM FOR ASSESSMENT LEC 2

1927- German Neurologist- Kurt Goldstein-

neurodiagnostic tests w/ soldiers
who suffered brain injury during
WW1-- neuropsychological tests

1938- Bender-Gestalt Test - Lauretta

Bender

1939- Lawrence Frank published

Projective Methods for the Study of
Personality. This paper was the first
systematic statement on projective
testing.

1943- TAT by Henry Murray/ Rotter

Incomplete Sentence Blank by Julian B.
Rotter

1948- Buck introduced the House-Tree-

Person Test, which should consist of
drawings of a house, a tree and
some persons.

1949- Karen Machover modified the

Goodenough-Harris Test and
developed it as a personality
assessment, which was the Draw-A-
Person Test. Subjects have to draw
a man, and woman and themselves
in the picture. A guidebook was
published to provide detailed
guidelines to interpret the features
presented in the picture.

1956- Halstead - Reitan Test Battery-

premier test batter in neuro-
psychology

1992- APA - Ethical Principles of

Psychologists and Code of
Conduct