Psychologists tend to be either for or against projective techniques – either convinced that they provide valuable and perhaps unique information or convinced that objective evidence does not justify their continued use. In short, there is a tendency toward “all or none” thinking. There is also a tendency to lump all “projective” techniques together even though almost 25 years ago, in an annual review chapter, Fisher (1967) urged that “we must stop reviewing projective tests as if they were an entity. They are often without meaningful overlap” (p. 166).

This chapter will deal primarily with the reliability of thematic apperceptive measures of motives, because those measures have received the most critical attention. Much of the discussion should be applicable to thematic apperceptive measures of nonmotive variables, however, and, to a lesser extent, to nonthematic content analytic measures.