Problems of Forensic Sciences 2013 Vol. 94 (XCIV) 520-534
THE RELIABILITY OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES AS TOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT. PART 2: THE TREE TEST
Katarzyna STEMPLEWSKA-ŻAKOWICZ1 , Władysław Jacek PALUCHOWSKI2
1Faculty of Diagnostic Methods and Applied Psychology, Chodkowska University, Warszawa, Poland
2Institute of Psychology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Streszczenie
This is the second part of a two-part article on the reliability of projective techniques in psychological diagnosis for the purposes of the justice system. The authors advance the thesis that the conclusions produced by projective techniques, which were originally created and used in the clinical context, are not reliable enough to support court decisions. Numerous arguments in support of this thesis and examples of misapplied tools are presented in both parts of the article. The second part gives a description, historical account and detailed discussion of the Tree Test, which was developed by the Swiss psychologist, Karol Koch, in the 1940s. The Polish version of the textbook is a translation with no changes from the German language text book of 1947. The resulting anachronisms and the lack of a Polish adaptation are serious drawbacks of the tool. An extensive review of the literature demonstrates that there is a lack of evidence of the validity of the mode of interpretation of tree drawings described in the handbook; moreover the reliability of the measurements made using this technique is unknown. The analyst is encouraged to adopt practices that can be classified as the sort of flawed “clinical prediction” that Paul Meehl warned of. The authors state in conclusion that the tree test does not meet contemporary criteria for reliable diagnostic tools and could be harmful if used as such. As we know from survey evidence, however, the tree test and other controversial techniques are often used by expert psychologists in the opinions they prepare for the justice system. The article concludes with a discussion of the criteria of reliability for diagnostic tools used in psychology.
Słowa kluczowe
Projective techniques; Personality assessment; Koch’s Tree Drawing Test; Psychometrics.