The Psychological Testing in SSB Interview

The Psychological Testing is a priceless tool designed for the observation of human beings responding to a variety of controlled conditions, conditions which resemble as nearly as possible those of everyday life, and of course, some unusual conditions. It helps ¡n recording various emotional and behavioral reactions, what previous experiences determined them, to what degree and what manner.
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It is based on the very popular psychological theory that “In every living Organism, a Stimulus creates a Response”. The technique employed at the selection center is ‘Projective Testing’.

Projective Testing:

The word ‘Projection’ has two psychological uses which can be clearly distinguished; these are in psychotherapy and exploration of personality. In psychotherapy, the projection process implies the referral or attributing of one’s own repressed emotional trends to others. In exploration of personality, a projective is one which aims at exteriorizing, that is, as if projecting on screen a spontaneous written behavior or basic interpersonal attitudes. These have been widely used in personality assessment. The projective technique stem from the idea that what one perceives in the world around him is influenced by his own personality, his needs, his attitudes etc. As Tomlinson has rightly said ‘We see things not as they are, but as we are!” These tests are conducted under time and space pressure so as to elicit from the individual, his unrestricted and free responses to stimulus situations. The assumption is that what he perceives and records as responses is a projection of his own self. These techniques permit as in the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT); free association to a set of selected words as in Word Association Test (WAT); or responses to verbally presented problem situations as in case of Situation Reaction Test (SRT). The TAT, WAT and SRT constitute the battery of projective tests used by the psychologists in the SSB’s.

There is also Self-Description (SD) through which the individual projects his attitude towards himself, other’s attitude towards him and his capacity for objective self-estimation. This is interpreted in the light of other data presented in TAT, WAT and SRT. The rating achieved in the intelligence test is also referred to by the psychologist as a valuable input. These techniques help in finding out the individual’s inner feelings, fears, hopes, attitudes and goal: his adjustment to work and people and his sense of responsibility, the impact he creates on others by his intellectual, social, emotional, and moral qualities and also his leadership potential. The psychologist goes about interpreting the individual’s reactions to various stimuli presented ¡n different tests and then goes on to make a mental picture of various traits of the individual’s personality and their relevance various OLQ’s.

The battery of Projective Tests