The usefulness of the Themes Concerning Blacks (TCB) as a measure of racial identification was explored among African American, African Dutch, and African Surinamese samples. Generally, most of the characters on the TCB cards were perceived by all three groups in ways parallel to the objective description of the cards, the highest number of recorded themes was given to the same cards by all groups, the emotional tone of most of the stories was moderately sad, the outcome of most stories was neutral, and Afrotypic (race-specific) content was significantly absentfrom stories. The absence may be due to the adverse effects of oppression on identity, guarded behavior in the testing situation, and the crudeness of the scoring system. Recommendations forfuture studies using the TCB are given.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adam, B.
(1978). The survival of domination: Inferiorization and everyday life. New York: Elsevier.
2.
Bailey, B. E.
, & Green, J. (1977). Black thematic apperception test stimulus material. Journal of Personality Assessment, 41, 25-30.
3.
Baldwin, J. A.
(1987). African psychology and Black personality testing. Negro Educational Review, 38, 56-66.
4.
Bovenkerk, F.
(1978). Omdat zijn anders (Because they are different). Amsterdam: Boom.
5.
Bulhan, H. A.
(1980). Dynamics of cultural in-betweenity. International Journal of Psychology, 15, 105-121.
6.
Cook, R. A.
(1953). Identification and ego defensiveness in the Thematic Apperception Test. Journal of Projective Techniques, 17, 312-315.
7.
Cowan, G.
(1971). Achievement motivation in lower-class Negro females as a function of the race and sex of the figures. Representative Research in Social Psychology, 21, 42-46.
8.
Cowan, G.
, & Goldberg, E. (1967). Need achievement as a function of the race and sex of figures in selected TAT cards. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 245-249.
9.
Dlepu, 0. N. (1981). The Themes Concerning Blacks culturally specific apperception test: Normative data. Unpublished master's thesis, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.
10.
Dlepu, O. N.
, & Kimbrough, C. (1982). Feeling tone and card preferences of Black elementary children for the TCB and TAT. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 50-56.
11.
Eron, L. D.
(1950). A normative study of the Thematic Apperception Test. Psychological Monographs, 64(9), 1-48.
12.
Essed, P.
(1990). Everyday racism: Reportsfrom women of two cultures. Claremont, CA: Hunter House.
13.
Gardner, W. E.
(Ed.). (1981-1982). Culture-specific testing [Special issues]. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10(1 & 2).
14.
Harper, W. E. (1988). A culturally congruent modification of an apperceptive test with emphasis on assessing Blacks. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.
15.
Hawley, L.
, & Williams, R. L. (1981). Feeling tone and card preferences of Black college students for the TCB and TAT. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 44-48.
16.
Helms, J.
(Ed.). (1990). Black and White racial identity: Theory, research, and practice. New York: Greenwood.
17.
Korchin, S.
, Mitchell, H., & Meltzoff, J. (1950). Acritical evaluation of the Thompson Thematic Apperception Test. Journal of Projective Techniques, 14, 445-452.
18.
Light, B. H.
(1955). A further test of the Thompson TAT rationale. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 51, 148-150.
19.
Matthews-Evans, D. (1989). Psychological responses of Black Americans to the TCB and TAT projective techniques. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, George Washington University, Washington, DC.
20.
Mullard, C.
(1986, August). An etharchy in the making. Paper presented to the International Sociological Association, New Delhi, India.
21.
Murray, H. A.
(1943). ThematicApperception Test manual. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
22.
Petty, D.
, & Robinson, G. A. (1982). Common philosophical themes in the oral history and TCB content of four Black octogenerians. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 57-63.
23.
Retief, A. I.
(1987). Thematic apperception testing across cultures: Tests of selection versus tests of inclusion. South African Journal of Psychology, 17, 47-55.
24.
Riess, B. F.
, Schwartz, E. K., & Cottingham, A. (1950). An experimental critique of assumptions underlying the Negro version of the TAT. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 45, 700-709.
25.
Schwartz, E. K.
, Riess, B. F., & Cottingham, A. (1951). Further critical evaluation of the Negro version of the TAT. Journal of Projective Techniques, 15, 394-400.
26.
Squire, L. H. (1985). Race differences in response to Thematic Apperception Test stimulus material. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, California School of Professional Psychology, Berkeley/Alameda.
27.
Strube, M. J.
, & Delitto, A. (1994). Reliability and measurement theory. In R. L. Clark & C. A. Oatis (Eds.), Gait analysis: Theory and applications (pp. 88-111). New York: Mosby.
28.
Terrell, D. L.
(1982). The TCB in clinical-forensic psychological evaluation: A case study of exceptionality. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 64-72.
29.
Thompson, C. E.
(1949). The Thompson modification of the Thematic Apperception Test. Rorschach Research Exchange, 13, 469-478.
30.
Triplett, S.
, & Brunson, P. (1982). TCB and TAT response characteristics in Black males and females: A replication. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 73-77.
31.
Weaver, V.
(1981). Racial attribution, story length, and feeling tone of young Black males to the TCB and TAT. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 31-43.
32.
White, A. M. (1994). The Afrotypic scoring system: Assessing racial identification with the Themes Concerning Blacks projective technique. Unpublished manuscript.
33.
White, A. M.
(in press). The usefulness of the Themes Concerning Blacks projective technique as an ethnographic measure.
34.
Williams, R. L.
(1972). Themes Concerning Blacks manual. St. Louis, MO: Williams & Associates.
35.
Williams, R. S.
(1980). The death of White research in the Black community. In R. L. Jones (Ed.), Black psychology (2nd ed., pp 403-417). New York: Harper & Row.
36.
Williams, Y.
, Williams, R. L., & Williams, A. L. (1981). Suicidal themes in the TCB: Two case studies. Journal of Non-White Concerns, 10, 23-30.
37.
Zealey, R. L. (1987). Responses of Blacks and Whites to the Thematic Apperception Test and Themes Concerning Blacks test. Unpublished master's thesis, Tennessee State University, Nashville.
