The thematic apperception test: A review

The development of the Thematic Apperception Test and subsequent variations in the method of administering, scoring and interpreting the test, as well as standardization attempts by Eron, Murstein, Dana, Arnold and McClelland and Atkinson are covered. At present only about two-thirds of the doctoral programs in clinical, counseling, and school psychology are teaching the TAT, and the majority of these programs are teaching nonstandardized techniques of interpretation. If the TAT is to meet the criteria of adequate reliability and validity, a large-scale effort is needed to develop a standardized test that may be easily scored and interpreted. This would be worthwhile, because research suggests that the TAT method elicits material regarding attitudes and motivation that is not adequately elicited by other methods.