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The Thematic Apperception Test, now commonly called the TAT, is barely fifteen years old, and has been widely used professionally for about twelve years. In this brief time, it has assumed prominence second only to the Rorschach Test in the field of projective testing. The test consists of twenty-nine black-and-white illustrations and a blank card, but only twenty cards are shown to a subject. The thirty cards are divided in such a way that a number is shown to all subjects, some only to boys and girls, others only to men, and some only to women. The subject looks at each picture and is asked to tell a dramatic story about each picture. This technique, originated by Morgan and Murray at the Harvard Psychological Clinic, 'was based on the well-known fact that an individual confronted with an ambiguous social situation and required to interpret it, was likely to reveal his own personality in this process. While interpreting the objective situation, the individual was apt to be less defensive, less aware of the scrutiny of the examiner, and consequently more likely to reveal much of his inner life.'
Morgan's and Murray's first publication in 1935 was followed in 1938 by Murray's Explorations in Personality in which he integrated his preliminary TAT test results with a more general theory of personality. Since then, the TAT has been widely used in the study of psychopathological syndromes such as hysteria, anxiety hysteria, obsessive-compulsive neurosis, schizophrenia, head injuries, delinquency, mental deficiency and stuttering. It has also been found a useful instrument in research on child development, social attitudes, cultural factors and assessment of military personnel. There exist over one hundred publications on various phases of this test. Dr. Tomkins has assembled the materials available in the first comprehensive textbook about this test, removing some of the major obstacles in the way of a more universal application of this projective technique. A