Can Explanatory Style be Scored from TAT Protocols?

Abstract

Explanatory style is a cognitive personality variable reflecting how people habitually explain the causes of bad events that involve themselves. Usually measured with a questionnaire, it can also be scored from verbal material such as interviews and essays. Unexplored to date is whether explanatory style can be assessed from stories written in response to pictures. College students (N = 108) completed the Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire (EASQ) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDJ) and responded to four Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) pictures chosen to elicit negative themes. Causal explanations were identified in the TAT protocols and reliably rated along the attributional dimensions of stability and globality. These ratings were consistent within subjects, and they correlated with the BDI. They correlated with globality as measured by the EASQ but not with stability.