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Projective Tests

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Synonyms

Implicit personality measures; Performance personality tests; Performance-based personality tests

Definition

Traditionally, personality tests have been dichotomized into two categories: projective and objective personality tests. Projective tests are a group of personality tests that work by allowing the person who takes the test to illustrate aspects of their personality through taking the test, whereas Objective tests are self-report questionnaires. The term “projective” in projective tests refers to the tendency for people to filter their interpretations of the world through their own psychology. Projective tests capitalize on this tendency by providing a wide latitude for how a person can respond to semi-ambiguous stimuli or instructions. Popular projective methods include the Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test, sentence completion tests, and figure drawings. Contemporary personality assessment experts use terminology such as performance personality tests...

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Acknowledgment

The first author (Joni L Mihura) receives royalties from a psychological test (R-PAS; Meyer et al., 2011) and associated products.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Joni L. Mihura & Emily A. Meadows

Authors
  1. Joni L. Mihura
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  2. Emily A. Meadows
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joni L. Mihura .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Educational Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Patrizia Velotti

  2. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Patrizia Velotti

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Mihura, J.L., Meadows, E.A. (2018). Projective Tests. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_839-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_839-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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