Rotter Incomplete

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Projective Personality Assessment
Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank
 It is developed by Julian Rotter and Janet E.
Rafferty in 1950.
 It comes in three forms i.e. school form,

college form, adult form for different age

groups.
 It comprises 40 incomplete sentences and

average time for administration is 20

minutes.
 The test can be administered both

individually and in a group setting.

Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank
 It is semi-structured projective technique.
 Subject is asked to finish/complete the

sentence, for which first word/words are

supplied.
 Subject reflects his own wishes, desires,

fears, and attitudes in the sentences he

makes.
Purpose
 Measuring both adjustment and maladjustment, with
the goal of identifying both presence and relatively the
absence of psychopathology.
 Therefore, RISB is intended to guide an initial clinical

interview, formulate a diagnosis, and arrive at a

treatmnet plan rather than complete evaluation of
personality dynamics.
 The ISB has also been used in a vocational
guidance center to select students requiring
broader counseling than was usually given, in
experimental studies of the effect of
psychotherapy and in investigations of the
relationship of adjustment to a variety of
variables.
RISB in Comparison With:
 Word Association Test:
there is no demand on the respondents for an
immediate response, responses people give are
usually what they are willing to give.
 Sacks Sentence Completion
In the length of stimulus, relatively short.
You can twist and block the meaning of the
stimulus.
 TAT and Rorschach:
Visual stimuli, whereas the stimuli in the RISB are
written sentence stem.
Examples
 I like ______________.
 The happiest time ______________.
 Back home ______________.
 I _________________.
 A mother _________________.
 I suffer____________.
 What annoys me__________________.
 My father_________________.
Administration
 Used both with children and adults.
 Mostly used on educated people.
Reliability
 The RISB manual reports adequate internal
consistency, stability and interrated
agreement.
 Split half reliability estimates for different

forms of RISB range from .74 to .84 in males

and .83 to .86 in females. Croanbach alpha
was .69for a sample of college men.
Validity
 Among all projective tests, RISB have been
described as one of the most valid test.
 Initial studies of Rotter and colleagues

indicated that the RISB was able to correctly

identify78% of the adjusted respondents 59%
of the maladjusted respondents for women
and 89% of adjusted and 52% maladjusted
respondents for men.
Scoring Principles
Omission responses
 Omission responses are not scores, in which

thought is incomplte e.g "I suffer . . . from "

 If sentence is not complete but scored

because one complete thought/ feeling is

been expressesd e.g "I hate . . . the thought
of going home since “.
 Only 20 omissions are accepted, more than

20 omissions in a test is considered

unscorable.
Conflict Responses
 "C," or conflict, responses are those indicating an
unhealthy or maladjusted frame of mind.
 These include hostility reactions, pessimism,

symptom elicitation, hopelessness and suicidal

wishes, statements of unhappy experiences, and
indications of past maladjustment.
 "I hate . . . almost everyone.“
 "I wish ... I were dead." Responses range from CI to

C3 according to the severity of the conflict or

maladjustment expressed.
 The numerical weights for the conflict responses

are CI = 4, C2 = 5 and C3 = 6.
 C1(4) = Responses in which concern is
expressed regarding such things as the world
state of affairs, financial problems, specific
school difficulties, physical complaints,
identifications with minority groups, and so
on. In general it might be said that subsumed
under CI are minor problems which are not
deep-seated nor incapacitating, and more or
less specific difficulties.
 "The future . . . looks rather black, at least for

the near future of our country.“

 "The only trouble ... is financial."
 C2=5, that responses refer to broader, more
generalized difficulties than are found in CI.
Included here are expressions of inferiority
feelings, psychosomatic complaints, concern
over possible failure, generalized school
problems, lack of goals, feelings of inadequacy,
concern over vocational choice, and difficulty in
heterosexual relationships as well as
generalized social difficulty.
 . "Other people . . . don't seem to be very

impressed with me.“

 "My greatest worry is ... I will fail to attain my

goal in life."
 C3(6)= Expression of severe conflict or
indications of maladjustments are rated C3.
Among the difficulties found in this area are
suicidal wishes, sexual conflicts, severe
family problems, fear of insanity, strong
negative attitudes toward people in general,
feelings of confusion, expression of rather
bizarre attitudes, and so forth.
 "The only trouble ... is an inner confusion.“
 "Sometimes ... I think people watch me."
Positive responses
 "P," or positive, responses are those indicating a healthy or
hopeful frame of mind. These are evidenced by humorous
or flippant remarks, optimistic responses, and acceptance
reactions.
 Examples are as follows:
 "What annoys me . . . are people who squeeze the
toothpaste tube in the middle."
 "The best ... is yet to come."
 "People . . . are fun.“
 Responses range from PI to P3 depending on the degree
of good adjustment expressed in the statement. The
numerical weights for the positive responses are PI = 2, P2
= 1 and P3 = 0.
 P1(2) responses are those which deal with
positive attitudes toward school, hobbies,
sports, expressions of warm feeling toward
some individual, expressed interest in people,
and so on.
 Examples illustrating typical responses in the

PI category are:
 "I . . . am glad I started to college."
 "I like . . . sports.“
 P2(1) responses indicate a generalized
positive feeling toward people, good social
adjustment, healthy family life, optimism, and
humor.
 Examples are folllowing;
 "I am best . . . when I'm with people.“
 "The best . . . woman is my wife."
 P3(0)= Clear-cut good-natured humor, real
optimism, and warm acceptance are types of
responses which are subsumed under the P3
group.
 Examples are illustrated;
 "I like ... a great many things."
 "The best ... is yet to come."
Neutral responses
 "N," or neutral, responses are those not falling clearly into
either of the above categories. They are generally on a
simple descriptive level. Responsessuch as "Most girls . . .
are females."— which evade the purpose of the test are
generally scored as neutral. Stereotypes, catch phrases,
song titles, and expressions of common cultural cliches are
usually scored as neutral, as are commonly found,
essentially meaningless completions.
 Examples of responses in the order listed are as follows:
 "Boys . . . will be boys.“
 "When I was a child ... I spake as a child.“
 "Sometimes ... I wonder why I spend each lonely night

dreaming of a song!"
 Long responses >10 words scored +1.
Advantages
 Freedom of responses.
 Some disguise in the
purpose of test is
present.
 Group administration
is relatively efficient.
 No special training is
required for
administration.
Disadvantages
 Susceptible semi-
objective scoring, it
cannot be scored by
machine so personal
skills are mandatory in
this test and should
knowledge of
personality analysis for
clinical interpretation.
 There is not as much
disguise of purpose as
in other projective
methods.