What Is the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)?

Key Takeaways

• The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) involves telling stories about ambiguous pictures to explore personality.
• The TAT helps people express feelings indirectly and uncover hidden thoughts.
• The test can help assess psychological conditions and give insights into a person’s internal world.

What do your interpretations of the things you see say about you? For example, imagine you look at a series of black-and-white images. One shows a lone figure gazing out the window. Another portrays what appears to be a tense moment between two people. What’s happening in these scenes? What led to these moments? And what happens next? According to one psychological assessment, how you answer these questions says a lot about your hidden thoughts, feelings, and motivations.

The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a type of projective test (a personality test) that involves describing ambiguous scenes to learn more about a person’s emotions, motivations, and personality. Popularly known as the “picture interpretation technique,” it was developed by American psychologists Henry A. Murray and Christina D. Morgan at Harvard University in the 1930s.

The TAT is one of the most widely researched and clinically used personality tests. Research suggests it is the second most widely used performance-based assessment in clinical practice.

How the Thematic Apperception Test Works

The TAT involves showing people a series of picture cards depicting ambiguous characters (including men, women, or children), scenes, and situations. It is purposely difficult to identify what is happening in these images.

The person examining the card is then asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, including:

• What has led up to the event shown
• What is happening in the scene
• The thoughts and feelings of the characters in the scene
• The outcome of the story

The Thematic Apperception Test is projective in nature, meaning that people are “projecting” their own feelings onto the test. The goal is to present intentionally ambiguous stimuli (in this case, images of scenes, characters, and events) and then ask questions about the respondent’s interpretations of what is happening in the image. The assumption is that this will then reveal unconscious thoughts, conflicts, and motivations that the individual is projecting.

TAT vs. Rorschach

The TAT differs from the Rorschach Inkblot Test because the Rorschach uses symmetrical inkblots rather than detailed scenes with characters and locations. The Rorschach requires the person to explain only what they see, without creating a story.

The complete version of the TAT includes 31 cards. Murray originally recommended using approximately 20 cards and selecting those that depicted characters similar to the person taking the test.

Today, many practitioners use only between 5 and 12 cards. The scenes are often selected because the examiner feels that they match the client’s needs and situation. Practitioners use their best judgment when selecting scenes to determine which might be most likely to elicit useful information.

Why the Thematic Apperception Test Is Used

The Thematic Apperception Test can be used as a clinical tool, but psychologists also utilize it in a variety of other ways. It may be implemented to uncover unconscious thoughts, assess personality, and explore motivations, which makes it useful in clinical, research, and professional settings.

The TAT is often used in the following ways:

• To learn more about a person. Psychologists may use this test to understand their clients better. The test serves as an icebreaker and provides insights into potential emotional conflicts the client might have. The way a person crafts a story and responds to characters or situations similar to their experiences gives the test administrator insight into their internal world.
• To help people express their feelings. The TAT can be a therapeutic tool that allows clients to express feelings indirectly. Sharing emotions can be challenging, and some people might not feel ready to confront complicated feelings head-on. The TAT helps by enabling them to identify emotions from an outside perspective.
• To explore themes related to the person’s life experiences. It is common for people to interpret the card scenes in relation to their own experiences. When dealing with difficult situations like job loss, divorce, or health issues, they might see their lives reflected in the scenes, aiding in exploring these issues in depth during therapy.
• To assess psychological conditions. The test is sometimes used to assess personality disorders or thought disorders. 
• To evaluate crime suspects. Clinicians may administer the test to criminals to assess the risk of recidivism or to determine if a person matches the profile of a crime suspect.
• To screen job candidates. This is sometimes used to determine if people are suited to particular roles, especially positions that require coping with stress and evaluating vague situations such as military leadership and law enforcement positions.

Is the Test Effective?

The TAT is widely used in both clinical and research settings. Evidence suggests that such performance-based tests can be useful for revealing information that might not be easily assessed via other methods.

However, the test has also been criticized for lacking reliability and validity. However, some have suggested that classic psychometric measures are not appropriate when evaluating the TAT’s usefulness. Some research has found that the TAT’s test-retest reliability is within acceptable ranges.

Criticisms of the Thematic Apperception Test

While the Thematic Apperception Test is still used extensively today, it is not without criticism.

• Lacks standardization: The TAT is often criticized for not being standardized, meaning there are no administration rules or a formal scoring system. Clinicians often vary in how they administer the test.
• Time-consuming: The test is also time-consuming, which can affect it’s accessibility. Some research suggests that administering the test online and having respondents type their narratives was an acceptable option that did not diminish the quality of their scores.
• Subjective: Additionally, few practitioners use Murray’s complex scoring system and instead rely on their subjective interpretation and clinical opinion.

For example, even if clinicians use the same scoring system, they may use different cards or a different number of cards, which could affect the test outcome (fewer cards equals less data or information).

This makes it incredibly difficult to obtain estimates of reliability (if the test results are consistent) and validity (whether the test actually measures what it is supposed to measure) and almost impossible to compare results between different test subjects.

Research has also found that the cards themselves can influence the stories people tell when they look at them. Some cards are more likely to elicit positive or healthy stories, while others are more likely to produce unhealthy or negative narratives.

Is the TAT Right for You?

If you want or need to explore some feelings you’ve been having trouble expressing, learn more about yourself and your emotional reactions to certain situations or people, or explore the effect some of your life experiences have had on you, it might be helpful to take the Thematic Apperception Test. But bear in mind that because there is no single standardized way of conducting this test, results may vary and might not be accurate.

Talk to a mental health professional to learn more about taking the test and what the results might suggest.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Morgan CD, Murray HA. A Method for Investigating Fantasies: The Thematic Apperception Test. Arch NeurPsych. 1935;34(2):289-306. doi:10.1001/archneurpsyc.1935.02250200049005

2. Coleman SG, Ravula HP, Stein MB, Coleman JJ, Wilcox MM, Slavin-Mulford JM. The impact of different Thematic Apperception Test administration methods on narrative length and story richness as measured by the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global Rating Method (SCORS-G). J Pers Assess. 2024;106(4):469-481. doi:10.1080/00223891.2023.2286459

3. Miller J. Dredging and projecting the depths of personality: the thematic apperception test and the narratives of the unconscious. Sci Context. 2015;28(1):9-30. doi:10.1017/S0269889714000301

4. Leichsenring F, Fonagy P, Heim N, et al. Borderline personality disorder: a comprehensive review of diagnosis and clinical presentation, etiology, treatment, and current controversies. World Psychiatry. 2024;23(1):4-25. doi:10.1002/wps.21156

5. Gordon RM, Smith-Wexler L, Baron EM. Thematic apperception test. In: Kreutzer J, DeLuca J, Caplan B, eds. Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer International Publishing; 2018:1-6. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_2013-2

6. Ackerman SJ, Lewis KC, Taylor AE. The Thematic Apperception Test: A performance-based assessment technique. In: Personality Assessment, 2nd Ed. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group; 2014:371-400.

7. Gruber N, Kreuzpointner L. Measuring the reliability of picture story exercises like the TAT. PLoS One. 2013;8(11):e79450. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079450

8. Slavin-Mulford JM, Vincent EM, Coleman SG, et al. Moving toward an online Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): The impact of administration modifications on narrative length and story richness. J Pers Assess. Published online November 19, 2024. doi:10.1080/00223891.2024.2425660

9. Siefert CJ, Stein MB, Slavin-Mulford J, Sinclair SJ, Haggerty G, Blais MA. Estimating the effects of Thematic Apperception Test card content on SCORS-G Ratings: Replication with a nonclinical sample. J Pers Assess. 2016;98(6):598-607. doi:10.1080/00223891.2016.1167696

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the “Everything Psychology Book.”

Thanks for your feedback!

What is your feedback?

Helpful

Report an Error

Other