Projective Techniques in Crisis

Abstract

The projective methods which but a few years ago were greeted with hopeful acceptance, today are so embroiled in controversy that it may be said that they are in crisis. Clinical psychologists and certainly the users of projective methods, have concentrated on intrapsychic dynamics to the exclusion of social and cultural variables. Some psychologists feel that environmental and cultural factors have a differential effect on the responses themselves. The position people take on the relative contribution of personality and environment to the projective responses of individuals with divers social and cultural backgrounds, definitely influences our interpretations and our research with projective data. Most users of projective techniques insist that understanding is basic to all our other goals. As a corollary the projective methods which are often involved in the clinical studies, are termed invalid as tools of prediction. The stimulus attributes of projective material have received much experimental attention.