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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Use of a Psychophysiological Script-driven Imagery Experiment to Study Trauma-related Dissociation in Borderline Personality Disorder
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Defense Mechanism Card Pull in TAT Stories.

Phebe Cramer1

  • 1a Department of Psychology , Williams College.

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|August 4, 2016
PubMed
Summary

Different Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards elicit distinct defense mechanisms, a phenomenon known as card pull. This suggests that the specific TAT cards used can influence the assessment of defense mechanisms.

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Personality Assessment

Background:

  • The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a projective test used to explore an individual's underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the social world.
  • Defense mechanisms are psychological strategies used to cope with reality and maintain self-image.
  • The concept of 'card pull' in TAT suggests that specific cards may elicit particular responses or scores.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether different Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) cards elicit stories characterized by different defense mechanisms.
  • To determine if the phenomenon of 'card pull' applies to the assessment of defense mechanisms using the Defense Mechanism Manual (DMM).

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of TAT stories from three distinct community samples (Ns = 91, 98, 121).
  • Application of a statistical method developed by Stein et al. (2014) to assess defense mechanisms.

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  • Utilized the Defense Mechanism Manual (DMM: Cramer, 1991b) for defense mechanism assessment.

    • Main Results:

    • The study found that different TAT cards do indeed 'pull' for different defense mechanisms.
    • The identified patterns of card pull for defenses were not entirely consistent across the examined community samples.
    • Inconsistencies in card pull suggest contextual influences, such as group characteristics or the specific TAT cards included in the test battery.

    Conclusions:

    • The choice of TAT cards significantly influences the assessment of defense mechanisms due to the card pull phenomenon.
    • Contextual factors, including sample characteristics and the specific TAT cards administered, play a crucial role in determining card pull.
    • Findings highlight the importance of considering the TAT card selection in the interpretation of defense mechanism assessments.