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  The conceptualization of projection as a mechanism by which individuals assign subjective perceptions, feelings, and desires on to other people or objects without the inhibition of rational scrutiny is derived from psychoanalysis, in particular, Sigmund Freud’s (1856–1939) clinical work on personality and paranoia (Hussey & Duncombe, 1999). Freud used associative techniques as a strategy to access unconscious motives and desires that he believed were the major determinants of human behavior. By asking patients to provide immediate thoughts about a particular stimulus, Freud was able to explore subconscious processes and personality characteristics (Steinman, 2009). Projective techniques are typically divided into five groups (Linzey, 1959): Associative techniques in which a particular stimulus is used to elicit the first thing that occurs in the subject’s mind. 

Completion techniques in which the subject is required to complete sentences or drawings (sentence completion or captions in comic-strip callouts). 

Constructive techniques in which the subject is required to create a drawing, sculpture, or story. Choice/ordering techniques in which the subject is required to choose from a group, or to order a group (of pictures, sentences, etc. ). Expressive techniques in which the subject is required to organize and incorporate a particular stimulus into a self-expressive process such as role-playingcallouts, psychodrama, dance, etc. Some of the narrative interviews commonly used in qualitative research nowadays also appear to fall into this category

Assessment of Personality

1.      Interview

2.      Observation and behavioural assessment

3.      Psychological tests

4.      Self-report measures

5.      Projective tests

Interview

·       Interview refers to direct face-to-face encounters and interactions.

·        Verbal, as well as non-verbal information, is available to the psychologist.

·        Interviews are usually used to supplement information gathered through other sources.

·     Skill of the interviewer is very important since the worth and utility of the interview depends on how well he can draw relevant information from the interviewee.

Behavioural Assessment

Direct observation measures for studying and describing personality characteristics.

Psychological Tests

In order to objectively assess personality and behaviour standard measures are devised. These measures are called psychological tests. Psychological tests have to be valid and reliable. Besides, they need to be based on norms.

Self-Report Measures

Measures wherein the subjects are asked questions about a sample of their behaviour. These are paper and pencil tools or tests.

MMPI (Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory)

• ·   The most frequently used personality test. It was initially developed to identify people having specific sorts of psychological difficulties. But it can predict a variety of other behaviours too.
• ·   It can identify problems and tendencies like Depression, Hysteria, Paranoia, and Schizophrenia for example.
• ·      At the same time, it has been used to predict if college students will marry within 10 years and whether they will get an advanced degree

Projective Tests/Techniques

Tests in which the subject is first shown an ambiguous stimulus and then has to describe it or tell a story about it

The most famous and frequently used projective tests are:

1. ·         Rorschach test, and
2. ·         TAT or
3. ·         Thematic Apperception Test

Rorschach Test

The test consists of Inkblot presses. These have no definite shape. The shapes are symmetrical and are presented to the subject on separate cards. Some cards are black and white and some are coloured.

The procedure of Rorschach administration

·         The subject is shown the stimulus card and then asked what the figures represent to them?

·         The responses are recorded.

·         Using a complex set of clinical judgments, the subjects are classified into different personality types.

·         The skill and the clinical judgment of the psychologist or the examiner are very important.

Thematic Apperception Test/TAT

A series of ambiguous pictures are shown to the subject, who has to write a story. This story is considered a reflection of the subject's personality.

·         The subject is asked to describe whatever is happening in it just like forming a story.

·      The subject has to tell what is happening in the scene, what the antecedent conditions were, who the characters are, what are their thoughts and wishes, and what is going to happen next.

·         In short, the subject describes the past, present and future along with the description of characters and their thinking and motivation.

Psychopathology

•    Psychological illness, psychological disorders, or mental illness are referred to as psychopathology.
• The term is used to describe abnormal behaviour.
• Psychopathology is the area of study in psychology that primarily focuses on the origin, development and manifestation of behavioural and mental disorders.
• Abnormal psychology is a branch of psychology that studies, describes, explains, and identifies abnormal behaviour.
• The observable behaviour and mental experiences of an individual may be indicative of a mental or psychological disorder. The overt behaviour and other experiences provide cues to the development of mental or psychological disorders.
• Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists treat mental disorders.
• Besides, they are also interested in studying and conducting research on the nature and role of the events that cause these disorders e. g. past history of a person and other variables that contribute to mental illness.

Evaluation of the structure, functioning, and pathology of personality has traditionally been an essential and challenging psychological assessment component. Various assessment methods have been used for the realization of this aim, such as subjective, objective, and projective. Each of these methods has some strengths and weaknesses (Blais and Baity, 2008). There has been controversy regarding the projective methods’ nomenclature, and whether these should be labelled as projective tests or projective techniques. Many scholars preferred to call these devices projective techniques because most projective instruments lack the psychometric properties possessed by an objective test. Projective techniques compared to the subjective and objective assessment methods in which assessment is made either in terms of information obtained from others (case history, interview) or based on the direct description of people by themselves (inventories), are based on fundamentally different assumptions; people can project their personality dispositions if presented with unstructured ambiguous stimuli and provided the liberty to respond.

Projective techniques have a long and rich history, William Shakespeare wrote about the projective usefulness of clouds, and William Stern used cloud images as test stimuli before Rorschach's use of inkblots. Galton suggested the use of the word Association Methods, and Kraepelin used these methods for clinical diagnosis and categorization. Binet and Henry (1896) initially used pictures and inkblots as the projective indices of intelligence and other mental abilities, i.e., creativity and imagination. Adler also used the recall method as a kind of projective approach in which the subject was asked to recall his first memory. Even in ancient epics like Upnishads, Bible, and stories in Sufism, there are references to the importance of interpreting narrative information (Groth-Marnat, 1992). Utterances of Greek oracles like inkblots were open to varying interpretations. Interpretations of artistic works have also been considered to reveal something about the artist and his or her subject (Hammer, 1958).

Compared to other personality assessment methods, particularly objective tests, i.e., inventories and rating scales, projective techniques are usually less evident in intent, which makes them less vulnerable to faking, motivated distortions, and response sets. As the test material in projective techniques is relatively unstructured in content and open-ended in terms of responses yielded, it is assumed that the test material's mental structure reflects the projection of the subject's personal perception of things. It is also assumed that the more the test material is unstructured, the greater the probability of revealing important implicit facets of personality. A Group of these assumptions is called ‘projective hypotheses.

Freudian psychoanalytic framework strongly influenced the early conceptualization of projective assessment. The projective techniques were defined in terms of the Freudian notion of unconscious processes and ego defence mechanisms, particularly projection. It is reflected in that the greatest development and the reliance on projective tests occurred between 1930 to 1960 when Psychoanalysis was the most dominating force in Psychology. Some experts do not intend to stick to the Freudian definition of projective techniques with the assertion that a relationship between projection as conceptualized by Freud and projective techniques cannot be ascertained in all cases. So, the projective techniques are called so for another reason: because these are constructed so that the subject can project into his responses significant components of his personality. The responses to the stimuli of projective techniques are determined not only by the stimuli to which he is responding but by his personality.

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Many definitions of projective tests/ techniques have been offered over the years (Anderson and Anderson, 1951; Landzey, 1961; Murstein 1963; Semenoff, 1976; Freeman, 1962). Perhaps, the pragmatic one can be taken from a Psychological Dictionary (English and English 1958) which defines projective techniques as “a procedure for discovering a person’s characteristic modes of behaviour by observing his behaviour in responses to a situation that does not elicit or compel a particular response.”

In general, it is considered that projective techniques are based on projection, an unconscious process in which (1) attributions of thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and other characteristics are made by the individual to other persons or certain characteristics of objects in his environment; (2) attributions of his own needs, drives, and motives to others in his environment; or (3) individual draws inferences based on his past experience, on the basis of which test stimuli are meaningfully organized. Projection is not considered as being of personal origin as the content of projection is experienced as an external perception and of external origin. In this light, a projective test technique is one in which a subject is presented with a stimulus situation providing him with an opportunity to impose upon it his personal needs and his specific perceptions and interpretations.

Wholistically projective techniques tend to embody the following distinguishing characteristics (Rotter, 1954):

1.   In projective techniques, ambiguity or lack of structure of test material is a prerequisite that is, different people perceive it differently. In response to the unstructured and ambiguous stimulus, subjects are forced to impose or project their own structure, and in doing so, they reveal something about themselves such as needs, wishes, conflicts, and Ambiguity. in test stimuli can be introduced by choice of stimuli, by the instructions given to the subjects, or by combining both.

2. Projective techniques employ a wide range of stimuli such as inkblots, incomplete sentences, line drawings, and pictures. No matter what stimuli are selected and used, the examination procedure is set up to ensure the highest degree of ambiguity and unstructureness. These unstructured situations are presented to the subject for resolution with the underlying assumption that the handling of this ambiguous task will involve various aspects of personality make-up and its dynamic structure

3. Projective techniques are indirect in the sense the subjects are not aware of the purpose of the test to some extent, i.e., the purpose and intent of projective techniques are disguised, and respondents are also not aware of the relevance and significance of their responses. In the projective techniques, there is no attempt on the examiner's part to ask the subjects directly about their needs, wishes, impulses, or troubles; the route is indirect which prompts the subjects to provide more elaborated data.

4. Projective techniques, in contrast to other assessment techniques, provide more freedom in the choice of responses. It captures the uniqueness of the personality of the respondent.

5. Since there are no bindings on the respondent in projective techniques, they yield more responses. These responses can be interpreted as dealing with more variables. Since the range of responses is broad, the examiner can make interpretations along multiple dimensions (cognitive, conative, and affective) such as motives, adjustment, diagnostic category, defence mechanisms, coping, and so on. Most objective tests provide a single score for a disposition, whereas projective techniques can provide both quantitative and qualitative multiple information about a disposition or trait, or attribute.

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Controversy over the use and relevance of projective techniques has been one of the most significant controversies and debates in Psychology. Advocating scholars assert that projective techniques provide deep information and knowledge about various dimensions of a person’s functioning unobtainable through other assessment techniques (Growth & Marnat, 2009). So, the projective techniques are usually described as X-rays of the mind or a kind of “open sesame” into the unconscious. Over the last four decades, a considerable amount of research has been conducted, organized, and cited in this regard. On the other hand, critics have highlighted the weakness of projective techniques including flawed norms, subjective scoring, the vulnerability of responses to situational factors, over-reliance on impressionistic interpretations, poor inter-rater reliability, poor test-retest reliability (low stability), unsupported research for many interpretations, subjectivity in interpretations, the fake ability of results, poor prediction of criterion or external behaviours and general poor validity ( Camar et al.,2000, Groth- Marnat 2006)

Beyond the criticisms mentioned above, projective testing/techniques continue to be highly popular among mental health professionals. Recent surveys of practitioners of projective techniques indicate that three (Rorschach, TAT and House Tree Person of the 10 most widely used tests by clinical psychologists are projective (Camara et al, 2000).

Many forms of the projective method such as inkblots, pictures, incomplete sentences, word associations, own writings and drawings, and others have been developed oriented to elicit responses that can reveal the individual's personality structure, thoughts, values, motives, emotions, modes of coping and adjustment, or complexes. One thing common among all these projective techniques is the ambiguity or unstructureness of the material presented to the subjects. Projective techniques have been classified according to different plans which are, interm of nature of test material, modes of responses or interpretations. In terms of the degree of ambiguity and nature of test material, Lindsey (1959) classifies the projective techniques as (1) Association techniques, (2) Completion techniques, (3) Construction techniques, and (4) Expression techniques.

Association techniques are based on the psychological process of association in which connections are established among experiences, stimuli, and other events and then are stored in the mind. The associative techniques have a long history in psychological experimentation dating back to Galton (1879). Was experimentally studied in psychological laboratories with a growing interest in psychoanalysis after 1900 association techniques emerged as a clinical technique. Jung and other dynamic psychologists made extensive use of the association method for the detection of complexes. Word Association Tests by Jung, Cant, and Rossenoff are the main representatives of this technique. These tests are oriented to minimize ideation and emphasize the immediacy of response. In these, subjects are instructed to reply to the word stimuli by the first word, image, or percepts that come into mind first.

Constructive techniques include all those test situations where the examinee is to construct or frame structures out of unstructured material Inkblot tests like Rorschach Inkblot Test, Holtzman Inkblot Technique, and Somatic Inkblot Series (SIS) are the best examples and representatives of this category of projective technique. TAT also belongs to it as its subject is to construct or create a story about the given picture.

In completion techniques, some incomplete verbal material is presented and the subjects are to complete these sentences or informants. The completing informants are considered to come from the unconscious of a person. Incomplete Sentences Blank (Rotter and Willerman, 1947) is the true representative of this technique.

In Refractive techniques, examinees are provided with the opportunity to their personality in the forms of paintings, drawings, handwriting, etc. In Expressive Playing Techniques, the subjects are given a situation in which they are to perform a particular role for a certain period in a group of two or more persons. Here, subjects can also be provided with the situation in which they are to express themselves as in psychodrama or dance.  

In choice /ordering techniques, the subject is to order the given item (photos, sentences, etc.) as per their choices or preferences. Another plan of categorization of projective technique is in terms of the degree of ambiguity of test material. In this plan, the projective technique can be classified into three categories (1) Unstructured (inkblots), (2) Semi-Structured (TAT), and (3) Structured (Sentence Completion, Word Association, Role-Playing, Psychodrama, Draw-a-man, etc.)

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It can be observed that like all of the famous psychological tests, the RIT has also been changed and modified most over time since its proposition. After the death of Rorschach, there was no one designated by Rorschach organizing, developing, and advancing the original system, so many approaches emerged about the use of inkblots referred to as 'systems.' In the USA alone by the late 1960 five distinguished systems emerged, each of which yielded some changes in the use of original RIT. A brief description of the five systems is as under:

1. Marguerite Hertz System: Beck introduced Rorschach inkblot techniques to Hertz (1936), and she became interested and engaged herself in the development of a new system. She mainly worked on locations and composition of personality (Exner, 2003; Groth-Marnat, 2006). She prepared a detailed frequency table to score form quality and emphasized other factors such as personal history, involuntary judgment, and empirical data.

2. Klopfer System: Klopfer and Colleagues (1954, 1956) made significant contributions in Rorschachiana tradition of assessment and developed their own system that was widely used, and it encouraged to research and discussion in the field of projective assessment (Shadeland, 1986). Klopfer being Jung's follower began conducting a seminar on Rorschach and identified two main areas of discussion in the scoring process. One was about the location (how common or unusual area of blot used) and the other about shades (Exner, 1993). So this system primarily introduced new scoring of location and shading. Also, some rules for the administration of the test were set (Howard, 1989). Outline of Klopfer and colleagues’ system (1954, 1956) is under:

Location Scoring: It includes the scoring of W (Complete Response, for the area being used more than 2/3rd the total blot), D ( Usual large detail in response), d (Usual small details), Dd (Special category, i.e., tiny detail), edge details (De), inside details (DC), rare details (dr), White space response, and confabulatory whole response (DW).

Determinant Scoring: This system obtained four determinant scores; (1) Form- adequate form (F), poor form (F-), Superior form (F+), (2) Movement scores are obtained in terms of projection of human or animal action, movement of natural forces, inanimate forces, mechanical forces and sense of life. This category includes human movement (M), Animal movement (FM), Inanimate movements combined with shape (Fm, & mF), and inanimate movement without form (m).

Shading: This category includes responses indicating the use of black, grey, and white shades of the blot in creating the percepts to the inkblots in terms of surface, texture, depth, distance, and diffusion .storable sub-categories here are surface and texture response without form (C), vista (FK), diffusion without form (K), representative distance response combined with form (Fk, Kf) and representative distance without form (k), Form texture (Fe), Texture form (cF), and pure texture (c).

Color: Color s scores are assigned to the responses based on the color alone and or combined with form characteristics of the selected area in creating percept. Color responses are differentiated into chromatic (using Red, Green, Brown, and bright color s alone or combined with a form) and achromatic (black, grey, white, alone, or combined with form characteristics of blot area used). Color scores include chromatic Color combined with a form (FC, CF), chromatic color without form (c-), an arbitrary combination of chromatic Color with form (F/c, C/f), achromatic color combined with a form (FC', C'F') and achromatic without form (c').

Content Scoring: Klopfer's concept of content is almost identical to that of the beck, yet some of the symbols are different. This category includes a Whole or almost the Whole Human Figure (H) Human figures portrayed in drawings, sculpture and mythological (H), part living human body-HD; human parts as false teeth- Hobj; anatomy-At; Sex (sx), whole or almost Whole Animal Figure (A) Mythological Animal (a) Animal Deprived Of Reality (Ad) object derived from the body of the animal (A obj), Animal Anatomy (At), food (N), geographical concept (Geo), plant (PL) human-made objects (obj), architecture (act), art (art) and abstract (abs).

Popular and Original Response: It includes popular response (P), achromatic percept with vague form (CF'), and original (O). Obtained responses are subjected to form level rating on a scale ranging from -2 through + 5 in terms of criteria suggested

3. David Rapaport System: Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer (1946) developed their system different from the rest of the four emphasizing the importance of content, verbalizations, interactions between examiner and examinee then of a specific variable. Because of these properties, this system appears to be most psychoanalytically oriented (Howard, 1989). This system was basically oriented to propose a model to analyze the ego functioning, and hence Schafer (1954) added a psychoanalytic interpretation in Rorschach testing (Exner, 1993).

4.   Zygmunt Piotrowski System: Piotrowski (1957) developed a different system advocating the understanding of global personality rather than specific disposition. He published his interpretation of Rorschach in Percept Analysis emphasizing the importance of perception. He modified the scoring and interpretation of movement responses, particularly the inanimate movement. He differentiated between active and passive moments (Howard, 1989).

5.   Beck's system: beck (1944) is credited for carrying out a systematic investigation of the Rorschach test firstly after the demise of Rorschach (Exner, 1993). His contributions are considered more favourable as compared to the rest of the four systems. This system overlaps with other systems in some regard but also original in some ways. Beck emphasized each response's description and scoring in terms of its characteristics of what, where, and why. Each response is scored in terms of the following categories. (Beck et al., 1961)

Location: The subject can respond to whole inkblot (W), identifiable details (D), and rare details (Dd). Besides, the subject, when perceived the percept, white space (S). White space scoring is done in combination with different locations score (Ws, Ds, and Dds).

Determinants: The determinants are scored in terms of the inkblot characteristics, subjects used to see percept. Important determinants in Beck System Form (F). The form can be good (F+), Poor (F-), and undetermined.

Movement: Movement (M) represent the report of movement in human or non-human precepts. The movement can be scored for both active and passive movements

Color (Chromatic): Include pure color response, color form, and form color

Shading: (variation in light). This category includes the flat grey response, flat grey with vague form, flat grey response with a specific form, Vista response ( variation in shading), vista responses with Vogue form, Form Vista response ( bridge, etc.), texture response, pure texture response (fuzziness, softness, etc.), texture form responses, and form texture response.

Content: In this, associational contents are ascertained. Beck's system consists of the following content categories- whole human, human detail, animal, animal detail, anatomy, abstractions, religion, rural, architecture, art, geography, mythology, implemental, tool's, personal, recreational, moods, alphabet, antiquity, death', fire, food, music, household, nature, landscape, botany, clothing, clouds, science, sex, travel, astronomy, anthropology, emotion, minerals and vocational.

Popular Response: Popular response here is determined statistically, i.e., if a response is similarly given by more than 75% of subjects.

The Z- Score-Organizational Activity: The Z- score is obtained when the subject combines two or more percepts and an organized meaning is inferred from this combination.

Exner's Comprehensive System (CS): Even after the untimely demise of Rorschach in 1922, the Rorschach Test could not gain popularity and deserving status in the field of Psychological assessment for the coming 20 years. There was no designated successor of Rorschach who could take charge of the development and advancement of RIT, so various scholars of different academic backgrounds proposed many systems. In the USA alone, five different systems emerged by the 1960s. This state of affairs created volume and disorganization in the clinical and research literature. In response to this problem, Exner (1974) proposed and published the 1st edition of his famous comprehensive system (CS).

The inkblot techniques consist of inkblots as the stimulus material to which the subjects are to respond. Inkblot is, in general, prepared by pouring the ink or paper and then multiply folded from the middle and then unfolding of paper depicts and the unstructured image that is called an ‘inkblot’. Inkblot techniques are based on the concept of projection being first used by Freud (1896), defining it as a defence mechanism through which thoughts, wishes, desires, needs, hostile, aggressive, and sexual impulses are extracted. These inkblots serve as a lens of projection, and the elicited responses are considered to be representative of the unconscious (Rapport et al., 1968) and the deeper level of personality. Though the credit of origin of ‘Inkblot Technique’ is given to Herman Rorschach with the publication 'Psychodiagnostik' in 1921, many scholars (Binet & Henry, 1896; Bartlett 1916; Kirkpatrick, 1900; Parsons, 1917; Pyle, 1913; Whipple, 1910) Before, it made use of inkblots for the investigation of mental activities, By now, the following inkblot techniques are available for both research and clinical use: (1) Rorschach Inkblot Test; (2) Holtzman Inkblot Techniques ;( 3) Somatic Inkblot Series/ Cards and Video! (4) Somatic Inkblot Series-II Image and Video; (5) Somatic Inkblots Series- Living Image; and (6) Shukla's Colored Inkblot Technique.

It is not very easy to trace the history of inkblot techniques; inferences in this regard can be drawn from Rorschach's writings and three of his colleagues, namely, Emil Oberholtzer, Walter Morgenthaler, and George Roemer. Zubin et al. (1965) have reported that L D. Vinci and Botticelli used formless stimuli as inkblots for stimulation of imagination in the 5th century. Exner (1969) has mentioned that during the later part of the 19th and early 20^th century about the tremendous public interest in inkblots not as a test but as a game. During these periods, various inkblots were commonly used in a popular game called Blutto, The players in it were to associate an image to a design. Krugman (1942) evidenced the use of inkblots for indexing certain personality traits like imagination and other mental abilities by Binet and Henry (1895). Dearborn (1897) reported the potential and employability of inkblot techniques in experimental psychology. Tulchin has reported Dearborn's contributions in applying the inkblot techniques, and of undertaken the pre-Rorschach work's of Sharp, Kirkpatrick, Whipple, Pyle, Bartlett, and Persons undertaken between 1900 and 1917 concerned with the inkblot methods in England and the USA.

Zubin & Eron (1966) have summarized the historical antecedents of inkblot techniques in terms of three periods. First, paintings and artistic creations stimulating creative imaginations during the 19th century constitute the pre-experimental period. Binet and Henry (1895) used inkblot to index mental abilities, and visual imaginations comprise the experimental psychological period. (Second phase) Binet and Henry found a positive relationship between the number and types of inkblot responses and visual imagination. Some other inkblot researchers hypothesis that since ambiguous stimuli like inkblots slow down the conscious awareness, so these can be used for accessing the deep latent perceptual processes (Whipple, 1910). The third phase (Psychodiagnostik) began in 1911 with Rorschach’s innovative work with the interpretation of accidental forms; His deep interest in artistic forms and perception became apparent during his school days, so he was nicknamed Klex or inkblots by his schoolmates and peers ( Cassell, 1980). Roemer (1967) mentions that Rorschach was primarily interested in developing inkblots to investigate reflex hallucinations and to identify schizophrenic tendencies that discriminate them from other characteristics of normals and mental disorders. Ultimately, Rorschach published his set of 10 cards in 1921 along with a monograph named Psychodiagnostik. And its English version appeared in 1942. After the sudden demise of Rorschach, some of his colleagues proceeded with Rorschach's work resulted in the development of five systems of Rorschach. Holtzman (1961), observing the limitations and problems with Rorschach Inkblot Test, which is why he developed Holtzman Inkblot Techniques (HIT).

Similarly, Cassell (1965), diverging from the Rorschach procedure, began using inkblots to investigate body perceptions and somatic symptoms. Cassell (1980) developed the Somatic Inkblot Series (SIS) as an adjunct therapeutic aid and a diagnostic tool with which the clinician can hear the individual's 'inner cry.' Indian researchers have also used these inkblot techniques as Psychodiagnostik as well as a personality assessment instrument.

In general, it is considered that projective techniques are based on projection. An unconscious process in which (1) attribution of thoughts, attitudes, emotions and other characteristics are made by the individual to other persons or specific characteristics of objects in his environment; (2) attributions of his own needs, derives, and motives are made to others in his environment; or (3) individual draws inferences based on his past experience, on the basis of which test stimuli are meaningfully organized. Projection is not considered as being of personal origin as the content of projection is experienced as an external perception and of external origin. In this light, a projective test technique is one in which a subject is presented with a stimulus situation, providing him with an opportunity to impose upon it his personal needs and his specific perceptions and interpretations.

Wholistically projective techniques embodying the following distinguishing characteristics (Rotter, 1954):

1. In projective techniques, ambiguity or lack of test material structure is a prerequisite that different people perceive differently. In response to the unstructured and ambiguous stimulus, subjects are forced to impose or project their own structure, and in doing so, they reveal something about themselves such as need wishes, conflicts, Ambiguity. In tests, stimuli can be introduced by choice of stimuli, by the instructions given to the subjects, or by combining both.

2. Projective techniques, employ a -a wide range of stimuli such as inkblots, incomplete sentences, line drawings, and pictures. No matter what stimuli are selected and used, the examination procedure is set up to ensure the highest degree of ambiguity and structureless. These unstructured situations are presented to the subject for resolution with the underlying assumption that the handling of this ambiguous task will involve the various aspects of personality make-up and its dynamic structure

3. Projective techniques are indirect in the sense the subject is not aware of the purpose of the test to some extent, i.e., the purpose and intent of projective techniques are disorganized Respondents are also not aware of the relevance and significance of their responses. In the projective techniques, there is no attempt on the examiner's part to ask the subjects directly about their needs, wishes, impulses, or troubles; the route is indirect that prompts the subjects to provide more elaborated data.

4. Projective techniques, in contrast to other assessment techniques, provide more freedom in the choice of responses. It captures the uniqueness of the personality of the respondent.

5. Since there are no bindings on the respondent in projective techniques, so they yield more responses. These responses can be interpreted as dealing with more variables. Since the range of responses is broad, the examiner can interpret multiple dimensions (cognitive, conative, and affective) such as motives, adjustment, diagnostic category, defence mechanisms coping, etc. Most of the objective tests provide a single score for a disposition, whereas projective techniques can provide quantitative and qualitative multiple pieces of information about a disposition or trait, or attribute.

Controversy over the use and relevance of projective techniques has been one of the most significant controversies and debates in Psychology. Advocating scholars assert, that projective techniques provide deep information and knowledge, about various dimensions of a person’s functioning unobtainable through other assessment techniques (Growth & Marnat, 2009) So, the projective techniques are usually described as X-rays of mind or a kind of open sesame into the unconscious. Over the last four decades, a considerable amount of research has been conducted, organized, and cited in this regard references. On the other hand, critics have highlighted the weakness of projective techniques including flawed norm, subjective scoring, the vulnerability of responses to situational factors, over-reliance on impressionistic interpretations, poor inter-rater reliability, poor test-retest reliability (low-stability), unsupported research for many interpretations, subjective in interpretations, lakeability of results, poor prediction of criterion or external behaviours and general poor validity ( Camar et al.,2000, Groth- Marnat 2006)

Beyond the criticisms mentioned above, projective testing/techniques continue to be highly popular among mental health professionals. Recent surveys of practitioners of projective techniques indicate that three (Rorschach, TAT and house tree person of the 10 most widely used by clinical psychologists are projective (camara et al, 2000). Many forms of the projective method inkblot, pictures, an incomplete sentence, word association, own writings and drawings, and others have been developed oriented to elicit responses that can reveal the individual's personality, structure thought, values, motives, emotions, modes of coping and adjustment is complex. One thing common among all these projective techniques is the ambiguity or unstructured material presented to the subject.

Evaluation of the structure, functioning, and pathology of personality has traditionally been an essential and challenging psychological assessment component. Various assessment methods have been used for the realization of this aim, such as subjective, objective, and projective. Each of these methods has some strengths and weaknesses (Blais and Baity, 2008). There has been controversy regarding the projective methods’ nomenclature, whether these should be labelled as a projective tests or projective techniques. Many scholars preferred to call these devices as projective techniques because most of the projective instruments lack the psychometric properties possessed by an objective test. Projective techniques compared to the subjective and objective assessment methods in which assessment is made either in terms of given by others information (case history, interview) or based on the direct  description of themselves (inventories), are based on fundamentally different assumptions; people can project their personality dispositions if presented with unstructured ambiguous stimuli and provided the liberty to respond.

Projective techniques have a long and rich history, William Shakespeare wrote about the projective usefulness of clouds, and William Stern used cloud images as test stimuli before Rorschach's use of inkblots. Galton suggested the use of word Association Methods, and Kraepelin used these methods for clinical diagnosis and categorization. Binet and Henry (1896) initially used pictures and inkblots as the projective indices of intelligence and other mental abilities, i.e., Creativity and Imagination. Adler also used the Recall The method as a kind of projective approach in which the subject was asked to recall his first memory. Even in ancient epics like Upnishads, Bible, and stories in Sufism, there are references of the importance of interpreting narratives information (Groth-Marnat, 1992). Utterances of Greek oracles like inkblots were open to varying interpretations. Interpretations of artistic works have also been considered to reveal something about the artist and his or her subject (Hammer, 1958).

However, the original impetus for projective techniques can be attributed to Herman Rorschach's classical monograph entitled Psycho-diagnostic in 1921, in which he stated the use of inkblots as an important and effective method of psychopathology. In the later 1920s, David Levy started using inkblot testing in the USA, which led to the start of teaching Rorschach courses by Beck, Klopfer, and Hertz. In 1935 Morgan and Murray introduced TAT and subsequently in 1938, Murray conceptually described the projection process. The term projective became popular after Frank (1939) coined and discussed in a paper on projective methods. Frank conceptualized projective methods/techniques as psychological assessment procedures in which the subjects attribute their inner needs and feelings to ambiguous stimulus situations. The assessment stimuli in projective techniques are relatively unstructured material or tasks, which the subject is required to describe,  tell a story about, complete or respond to in some or other way.

Compared to other personality assessment methods, particularly objective tests, i.e., inventories and rating scales, projective techniques are usually less evident in intent, making them less vulnerable to faking, motivated distortions, and response sets. As the test material in projective techniques are relatively unstructured in content and open-ended in terms of responses yielded, it is assumed that the test material's mental structure reflects the projection of the subject's personal perception of things. It is also assumed that the more the test material unstructured, the greater the probability of revealing important implicit facets of personality. A Group of these assumptions is called  ‘projective hypothesis’.

The Freudian psychoanalytic framework has strongly influenced the early conceptualization of projective assessment. The projective techniques were defined in terms of the Freudian notion of unconscious processes and ego defence mechanisms, particularly projection. It is reflected in that the most excellent development and reliance on projective tests occurred between 1930 to 1960, when Psychoanalysis was the most dominating force in Psychology. Some expert does not intend to stick Freudian definition of projective techniques with the assertion that a relationship between projection as conceptualized by Freud and projective techniques cannot be ascertained in all cases. So, the projective techniques are called so for another reason: because these are constructed so that the subject can project into his responses a significant component of his personality. The responses to the stimuli of projective techniques are determined not only by the stimuli to which he is responding but by his personality.

Many definitions of projective tests/ techniques have been offered over the years (Anderson and Anderson, 1951; Landzey, 1961; Murstein 1963; Semenoff, 1976; Freeman, 1962). Perhaps, the pragmatic one can from a Psychological Dictionary (English and English 1958) which defines projective techniques as a procedure for discovering a person’s characteristic modes of behaviour by observing his behaviour in responses to a situation that does not elicit or compel a particular response.

In general, it is considered that projective techniques are based on projection. An unconscious process in which (1) attribution of thoughts, attitudes, emotions, and other characteristics are made by the individual to other persons or specific characteristics of objects in his environment; (2) attributions of his own needs, derives, and motives are made to others in his environment; or (3) individual draws inferences based on his past experience, on the basis of which test stimuli are meaningfully organized. Projection is not considered as being of personal origin as the content of projection is experienced as an external perception and of external origin. In this light, a projective test technique is one in which a subject is presented a stimulus situation, providing him with an opportunity to impose upon it his personal needs and his specific perceptions and interpretations.