SACK’S SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

History

Herman Ebbinghaus is generally credited with developing the first sentence completion test in 1879.Ebbinghaus’s sentence completion test was used as part of an intelligence test. He used is test to study his interest in the development intellectual capacity and reasoning ability in children.

Carl Jung was the first to look at if sentence completion could be used for personality assessment. He thought the personal meanings of word associations could be used. He popularized the idea that inner notions could be analyzed through people’s associations of different words.

In his methods, he would say a list of words to the person being tested and with each word, the client would be asked to say the first thing that came to their mind (Hersen, 2003). Jung’s test used mother, father, sex, and work.

History

HistoryThe beginning of using the formal sentence completion

method for personality assessment was in 1928 with Arthur Payne. Payne used the tests for guidance purposes in asylums and institutions and to assess career-related personal traits (Schafer, Rotter, Rafferty, 1953).

Alexander Tendler used the method to study emotional reactions. With his tests, all his sentences began with I and revealed something about annoyances, fears, aversions, like, interests, and attachments. It has never been validated that these tests can be used in emotional contexts (Schafer et al, 1953).

History

As opposed to Tendler and Payne, Amanda Rhode decided not to focus on specific aspects of personality, but use the measure to develop a general personality test. She developed the first validated personality measure of this kind and discussed abroad range of personal issues and experiences (Rhode, 1957). The purpose of the measure was to “reveal latent needs, sentiments, feelings, and attitudes which subjects would be unable or unwilling to recognize or to express in direct communication” (Weiner & Greene, 2008). Most sentence completion methods today were developed from the basis of Amanda Rhode’s test and theories.

History One of the most popular of these tests is the RISB, or Rotter Incomplete

Sentence Blank. The original version of the test was developed in 1950 by Rotter and Rafferty. The main objective of the test was to create a version of the sentence completion method that could be administered and scored easily to permit a widespread use. They also wanted to provide specific diagnostic criteria so the results of the exam could be obtained more quickly. However, the test was not intended to give a full view of personality, but more of a starting point for clinicians to take direction from. The current version of this test has three forms at different levels including High School, College, and Adult. The test is scored on a seven point scale with answers being tagged from a conflict (pessimism, hostility, hopelessness) to neutral (stereotypes, catchphrases, cliches) to positive (humor, optimism, acceptance) rating. It takes about 15 to 35 minutes to complete with scoring ranging in time depending on the familiarity with administering the test. This is the most popular form of the Sentence Completion Method used today (Hersen, 2003).

USES or NATURE

The uses of sentences completion test include personality analysis, clinical application, attitude assessment, achievement motivation and measurement of other constructs. They are used in several disciplines, including psychology, management, education, and marketing.

Nature of the Test

Dr. Joseph M. Sacks and other psychologist of the New York Veterans Administrative Mental Hygiene Service developed a sentence completion test designed to obtain significant clinical material in four representative areas of adjustment namely:

Sentence completion tests typically provide respondents with beginnings of sentences, referred to as “stems,” and respondents then complete the sentences in ways that are meaningful to them.

Nature of the Test

SCALE FAMILY: The family area included three sets of attitudes namely: a) those towards mother, b) father, and c) family unit. It is hoped that even when the subject becomes evasive or cautious, at least one of the four items in each area will reveal significant response.

Nature of the Test

SEX: The sex area includes attitudes towards woman and heterosexual relationship. The 8 items in this area allows the subject to express himself with regards to woman, towards marriage, and with respect to sexual relationship.

Nature of the Test

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP: The area of interpersonal relationship includes attitudes towards friends and acquaintances, colleagues at work or school, superior at work or school, and people supervised. The 16 items in this area affords the subject to express his feelings towards those.

Nature of the Test

SELF-CONCEPT: The area of self-concept includes fear, guilt feelings, goals and attitudes towards one’s own ability, concept of himself as he is, he was and as he hopes to be. There are 24 items included in this area.

Validity and Reliability Usually, sentence completion tests can be

interpreted in two different ways: subjective-intuitive analysis of the underlying motivations projected in the subject's responses, or objective analysis by means of scores assigned to each completed sentence. Multiple themes can occur in a short test, which gives the examinee multiple opportunities to reveal underlying motivations about each topic during data analysis. Of course, most sentence completion tests are much longer-anywhere from 40 to 100 stems-and contain more themes-anywhere from 4 to 15 topics.

Validity and Reliability

Sentence completion tests usually include some formal coding procedure or manual. The validity of each sentence completion test must be determined independently and this depends on the instructions laid out in the scoring manual.

Compared to positivist instruments, such as Likert-type scales, sentence completion tests tend to have high face validity .

EXAMPLE

Attitude towards Father items: 1. I feel that my father seldom works. 16. If my father would do better. 31. I wish that my father is dead. 46. I feel that my father is no good.

Those four responses are considered together and interpretative summary is made that crystallizes the clinician’s impression of the subjects’ attitude towards in this area. In this case, the summary stated: “Extreme hostility and contempt or overt death wishes”.

SCALE

2 - SEVERELY DISTURBED - Appears to require the therapeutic aid in handling emotional conflicts in this area. 1 – MILDLY DISTURBED Has emotional conflict in this area but appears able to handle them without therapeutic aid. 0 – No Significant disturbance rated in this area X – Unknown, Insufficient evidence

Interpretation Guide

Attitude towards Mother (14, 29, 44, 59) 2 = Completely rejects and depreciates mother whom he considers over demanding. 1 = Sees mother’s fault but accepts and tolerates differences. 0 = express only positive feelings towards the mother.

Attitude towards Father (1, 16, 31, 46) 2 = feels extreme hostility and contempt with overt death wishes. 1 = admires father but wishes that their relationship were closer. 0 = expresses complete satisfaction with father’s personality.

Attitude towards Family Unit (2, 27, 42, 57) 2 = feels rejected by the family which lacks solidarity and which has constantly contended with difficulties. 1 = aware that the family does not recognize him as a mature person but has no difficulty in relating with them. 0 = instability of the family domicile has had little effect on his favorable feeling towards them.

Interpretation Guide

Attitude towards Women ( 10, 25, 40, 55) 2 = extremely suspicious, possible homosexual tendency 1 = high ideas but ambivalent feelings. 0 = only minor or superficial criticisms

Attitude towards Heterosexual Relationship (11,26,41,56) 2 = appears to have given up achieving good sexual adjustment 1 = deserved sexual experiences but reservation about his ability to maintain marital relationship. 0 = indicates satisfaction towards this area

Interpretation Guide

Attitude towards Friends and Acquaintances (8,23,38,53) 2 = suspicious and apparently seclusive 1= seems to wait approval of others before committing himself emotionally 0 = express mutual relationship with friends and self

Attitude towards People Supervised (4,19,34,58) 2 = feels he can handle or control hostility in handling others 1 = feels capable of doing good supervisory but has misgivings about assuming an authoritarian role. 0 = feels controllable and well accepted by subordinates.

Attitude towards Supervisors at work or School (6,21,36,51) 2 = resents or fear authority 1 = mild difficulty in accepting difficulty 0 =

Attitude towards Colleague at work/school (13,28,43,58) 2 = feels rejected by colleagues, and condemns them 1 = has some difficulty at work and depends on colleagues 0 = expresses good mutual feelings

Interpretation Guide

Fear (7,22,37,52) 2 = disturbed by the apparent fear of loving, possibility to control his feelings 1 = fear of self-assertion which is fairly common and not pervasive. 0 = lack of fear

Guilt Feelings (15,30,45,60) 2 = concerned with spiritual feeling and physical sex drives 1 = has regret over past and seems mildly disturbed by his failure to control his trouble. 0 = does not seem to be aware of guilt feelings

Attitude towards Own Ability (2,7,32,47) 2 = feels completely incompetent and hopeless 1 = feels he has a specific ability but tends to fear difficulty 0 = confident on his ability to overcome obstacles

Interpretation Guide

Attitude towards Past (9,24,39,54) 2 = feels rejected and isolated 1 = 0 = feels well adjusted, no significant disturbance in the past

Attitude towards the Future (5, 20, 35, 50) 2 = pessimistic, no hope in his own resources for happiness and success 1 = unsure of himself but tries to be optimistic 0 = seems confident in achieving his goals

Goals (3, 18,53,49) 2 = lack of motivation for achievement 1 = desires material things for family as well as for himself 0 =

References

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/sherry/download/PDFs/SentenceCompletionTests.pdf http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/sherry/download/PDFs/SentenceCompletionTests.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_completion_tests http://allpsych.com/forums/students/_students/00000828.htm http://legendarycon.blogspot.com/2010/07/sacks-sentence-completion-test-nature.html http://www.studymode.com/essays/Sacks-Sentence-Completion-Test-1077111.html http://anglesinasphere.wordpress.com/tag/sacks-sentence-completion-test/

Hersen, M. (2003). Comprehensive handbook of psychological assessment volume 2: personality assessment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Holaday, M, Smith, D, & Sherry, A. (2000). Sentence completion tests: a review of the literature and a results of a survey of members of the society for personality assessment. Journal of personality assessment, 74(3), 371-383.

Rhode, A. (1957). The sentence completion method: it’s diagnostic and clinical application to mental disorders. New York, NY: The Ronald Press Company.

Schafer, R, Rotter, J, & Rafferty, J. (1953). Test of personality: word techniques. In R Schafer (Ed.),Contributions toward medical psychology (pp. 577-598). New York, NY: Ronald press company.

Weiner, I, & Greene, R. (2008). Handbook of personality assessment. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

THANK YOU AND GODBLESS

PRESENTED BY:

ANSANO, MIGLENEAGOSTO,RODELIO

AVISADO ANDREW JAMES

HE WAS GENERALLY CREDITED WITH DEVELOPING THE 1ST SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

THE BEGINNING OF USING THE FORMAL SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST METHOD FOR PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR TEST USES OR NATURE OF SCT (4-8)

AREAS THAT ARE MEASURED IN SSCT