Indiana Social Studies P.5.2
The Standard
Distinguish between objective and projective techniques of personality assessment and give examples of each.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare personality questionnaires with set response choices to tasks that use ambiguous pictures. They name examples of each and explain how answers are scored or interpreted.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student identifies the Big Five Inventory as a questionnaire with standard response choices and scoring. They identify the Thematic Apperception Test as a task where a person tells stories about unclear pictures for interpretation.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think an objective test is always accurate or free from bias. They may also think a response to an ambiguous picture has one correct interpretation.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Sort the Big Five Inventory, MMPI-2, Rorschach inkblots, and Thematic Apperception Test into two groups. Explain what the person taking each type of test does.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a five-item rating sheet and an ambiguous scene drawing; have them compare the kinds of answers each asks for.
Ask students to write why two psychologists might interpret the same story about an unclear picture differently.
Run a card sort with the Big Five Inventory, MMPI-2, Rorschach inkblots, and Thematic Apperception Test; require a reason for each choice.
Show a sample hiring questionnaire with 1-to-5 responses; ask students how its answers differ from responses to an inkblot.
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Printable P.5.2 Worksheet
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