The Thematic Perception in Children CAT Test is a test created from pictures, just like the TAT (Thematic Perception Test).
It can be administered to children between the ages of three and ten, although the population to which it can be administered is also children. It does not contain 30 pictures as in the Thematic Perception Test. The Thematic Perception in Children CAT Test aims to obtain information about the child's perception dynamics by showing only 10 pictures. The Thematic Perception in Children CAT Test provides the practitioner with some information about the child's personality, the way he/she perceives and the problems he/she experiences in his/her inner world.
Definition:
The Child Perception Test (CAT) is a projective personality test used to assess individual differences in children's responses to standardized stimuli presented in common social situations in the form of pictures of animals (CAT-A) or people (CAT-H). In addition to CAT - CAT-S - stimuli include pictures of children in common family situations such as prolonged illnesses, births, deaths and separation from parental figures.
Objective:
The CAT is used to assess personality, maturity level and often psychological health. The theory is that a child's responses to a series of drawings of animals or people in familiar situations reveal important aspects of a child's personality. Some of these dimensions of personality include the level of reality testing and judgment, control and regulation of impulses, defenses, conflicts and level of autonomy.
Description:
Developed by psychiatrist and psychologist Leopold Bellak and Sonya Sorel Bellak and first published in 1949, the CAT is based on a picture-story test called the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Created by psychologist Henry A. Murray for children (ten years old and older) and adults, the TAT uses a standardized series of 31 picture cards to assess the perception of interpersonal relationships. The cards, which depict people in a variety of common situations, are used to stimulate stories or descriptions (verbally or in writing) about relationships or social situations and can help to identify dominant impulses, feelings, emotions, conflicts and complexes. The examiner summarizes and interprets the stories in light of certain common psychological themes.
In the creation of the original CAT, animal figures were used instead of the human figures depicted in the TAT because it was hypothesized that children between the ages of three and ten would identify more easily with animal drawings. The original CAT consisted of ten cards showing animal (CAT-A) figures in people's social settings. Bellaks later developed the CAT-H, which included human figures, for use with children who, for various reasons, identify more closely with human rather than animal figures. The supplement to the CAT (CAT-S), which included pictures of children in general family situations, was created to elicit specific rather than universal responses.
Like the TAT and the Rorschach inkblot test, the CAT is a type of personality assessment tool known as a projective test. The term projective refers to a concept coined by Sigmund Freud. In Freud's theory, unconscious motives control much of human behavior. Projection is a psychological mechanism by which a person unconsciously projects his or her inner feelings onto the outside world, then imagines that these feelings are being expressed toward him or her by the outside world.
Unlike cognitive tests, which use intellectual and logical problems to measure what an individual knows about the world, projective assessments such as CAT openIt is designed to be open-ended and to encourage the free expression of thoughts and feelings, thus revealing who the individual is.
Administration:
The CAT takes 20-45 minutes to administer and is conducted by a trained professional (psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, teacher or specially trained pediatrician) in a clinical, research or educational setting. After careful engagement with the child, the examiner shows the child one card after another in a specific order (fewer than ten cards may be used at the examiner's discretion) and encourages the child to tell a story - beginning, middle, and end - about the characters. The examiner may ask the child to explain what led to the scene depicted, the emotions of the characters and what might happen in the future.
Scoring:
As with all projective tests, there are no right or wrong answers on the CAT. Therefore, there is no numerical score or scale for the test. The tester records the essence of each of the stories told and indicates the presence or absence of certain thematic elements on the form provided. As with the TAT, each story is carefully analyzed to reveal the child's underlying needs, conflicts, emotions, attitudes and reaction patterns. The creators of the CAT suggest a set of ten variables to consider when interpreting the results. These variables include the main theme of the story, the main character's needs, drives, concerns, conflicts, fears and the child's understanding of the outside world.