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Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.) : Jan Faust and Sara Ehrich

The Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.) is a projective test developed in 1949 to assess the personalities and psychological processes of children. It uses 10 ambiguous pictures of animals in various settings and asks children to create stories about what is happening. The C.A.T. was developed based on psychoanalytic theories of projection and was intended to elicit unconscious material. It was created as a child version of the Thematic Apperception Test and aims to allow children to more freely project onto animal figures rather than human ones.

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Mehul Panchal
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641 views

Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.) : Jan Faust and Sara Ehrich

The Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.) is a projective test developed in 1949 to assess the personalities and psychological processes of children. It uses 10 ambiguous pictures of animals in various settings and asks children to create stories about what is happening. The C.A.T. was developed based on psychoanalytic theories of projection and was intended to elicit unconscious material. It was created as a child version of the Thematic Apperception Test and aims to allow children to more freely project onto animal figures rather than human ones.

Uploaded by

Mehul Panchal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.)


Jan Faust and Sara Ehrich

INTRODUCTION

The Children's Apperception Test (C.A.T.) is a projective measure for acquiring information
about children's personality and psychological processes. The test, in general, includes a se-
ries of 10 quasi-ambiguous pictures to which the child is asked to create a story. This assess-
ment technique was developed from psychoanalytic theory and was designed to obtain infor-
mation about psychological functioning through the specific mechanism of projection.
Projection is both a process by which an individual's personality is expressed and a
specific defense mechanism. With respect to the former, theorists have suggested that external
reality is filtered, then ordered or synthesized, by an individual through his or her own subjec-
tive perceptions, feelings, cognitions, and a wide range of human experiences. Therefore,
when a child is presented with an external ambiguous stimulus such as a C.A.T. picture, the
story he or she develops is passed through this subjective filter. Some refer to this projection
process as an "apperceptive distortion." It is said to occur in every situation in which external
events are experienced subjectively as they pass through the individual's unique filter of pre-
vious experiences and perceptions. For example, when a subject responds to a card with an
illustration of a father figure, he or she will naturally provide information about this card
which reflects experiences and perceptions of similar figures (caretakers, authority figures) in
his or her own life.
Projection as a defense mechanism is considered a form of coping activated automati-
cally (unconsciously) by the ego to protect the aware (conscious) selffrom frightening uncon-
scious thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. These cognitions are thought to be generally sexual and
aggressive in nature.
Though the concept of projection was around for centuries before Sigmund Freud, his
definition of this construct was pivotal in advancing modern psychoanalysis. He was one of
the first to elaborate on this concept, describing projection as a defense mechanism used to
Jan Faust and Sara Ehrich • Center for Psychological Studies, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale,
Florida 33314
Understanding Psychological Assessment. edited by Dorfman and Hersen. Kluwer AcademiclPlenum Publishers,
New York, 2001.

295
296 JAN FAUST AND SARA EHRICH

externalize unsatisfactory wishes, thoughts, and impulses through attribution of one's inner
perceptions and experiences to others. Freud further extended his projection concept to in-
clude the projection of various nonthreatening (nondefended) sensations, emotions, and ideas
onto outer reality.
Projective techniques involve the use of specific tools designed to elicit projected mate-
rial. Such techniques include presentation of stimuli, such as c.A. T. drawings. The stimuli are
developed or selected for their potential psychological meaning to the subject and not as a
result of an arbitrary or random objective experiment. That is, the assessor is interested in a
sUbjective response-the idiosyncratic and unique meaning of the perceived stimuli to the
individual. This is unlike scientific experimentation wherein one is interested in the average
or normative objective response obtained from a group of individuals.

TEST CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

The Thematic Apperception Test (T.A.T.) was the most widely used projective measure
for children until the development of the c.A.T. in 1949. The T.A.T. includes a set of 31
ambiguous drawings depicting mostly human figures in various settings, as well as some
landscape and abstract drawings. The T.A.T. is widely used in personality and projective as-
sessment of adolescents and adults. Conceptually, the C.A.T. emanated from a theoretical
discussion between Dr. Ernest Kris and Dr. Leopold Bellak regarding projection and the short-
comings of the T.A. T. in its use with children. Dr. Kris believed that children may be able to
more freely identify with and project more openly onto animals than human figures. He fur-
ther exemplified that this process had been observed by Sigmund Freud, citing his seminal
work with Little Hans in "The Phobia of a Five Year Old."
After discussing the idea for about one year, the authors had a professional illustrator
develop illustrations representative of children in such areas as home life, school, and other
environments. Originally, 18 cards were produced. The illustrations included human activity
in some scenes with animals (e.g., kangaroo riding a bike) while others depicted activity
germane to animal behavior (e.g., bears in a cave). These preliminary cards were then dis-
persed to various child psychologists to whom Dr. Bellak had previously taught the T.A.T.
The authors also used these cards in their own work with children. Subsequently, the psy-
chologists returned C.A.T. responses and patient background information, along with their
comments and criticisms of the test. As a result of this feedback, the 18 cards were reduced to
the 10 that appeared most promising for eliciting material regarding children's primary rela-
tionships and drives. As a direct derivative of the T.A.T., the C.A.T. in no way attempts to
replace it. On the contrary, the authors recommend using the C.A.T. for children aged 3-10;
the T.A.T is to be used for individuals over the age of 10.

Human versus Animal Supplements


In 1965, the authors developed a human version of the C.A.T. (C.A.T.-H.), contrary to
the belief that young children would emit more projected material when given to animal,
rather than human, figure drawings. Several artists contributed to the creation of the C.A.T.-
H. under the tutelage of Leonard Bellak and Sonya S. Bellak. According to the authors, con-
struction of the C.A.T.-H. presented some unexpected difficulties. The use of animals in the
C.A.T.-A. (Animal) allowed for pictures free of age, gender, and cultural stimuli, but with the
C.A.T.-H. the illustrators had to go to great lengths to avoid gender and cultural specificity

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