Chapter 1: The Concept, Science & Mechanism Behind TAT
In this first chapter, we’ll understand the science, concept and mechanism behind TAT. In the process, we will also understand how TAT images are designed to gauge qualities in the candidates. We all know that all the tests which you undergo during the 5-day SSB process are gauging certain qualities in you. Those qualities are divided into four categories, each of which is called a factor. So namely you have factor 1, factor 2, factor 3 and factor 4.
Under factor 1 you have qualities like effective intelligence, reasoning ability, organizing ability and power of expression. These qualities, as you can understand, mainly relate to your mental faculty. Effective intelligence generally relates to your ability to do your day-to-day work properly. Reasoning ability relates to whether there is a proper logical reason behind what you think and what you do. Organizing ability relates to whether you are able to execute a task properly in a systematic manner if you are given certain resources and a certain time frame to do it. Power of expression mainly relates to whether you are able to express yourself verbally or in a written form in a very clear manner in such a way that it leaves no room for any kind of a confusion or discrepancy in the other person’s mind. All these qualities come under factor 1.
Then under factor 2 you mainly have qualities which relate to social behaviour or what can be called group behaviour. So, you have qualities like social adaptability. Social adaptability mainly relates to how quickly and easily you mingle up amongst a group of people or in a cultural environment which is not your own, and more importantly how
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quickly and easily the group of people from other cultural backgrounds accept you. For instance, if you are a person who is born and raised in Haryana and if you are sent to Kerala, let us say on a posting, how quickly and easily will you mingle up amongst the people there and more importantly, how quickly and easily will the people there accept you? The other important qualities under factor 2 are cooperation and sense of responsibility. Those are self-explanatory terms. These are the main, but not the only qualities, which come under factor 2.
Under factor 3 you have qualities like initiative, again a self-explanatory term. If there is a task at hand which nobody else would like to do, either because it is too difficult or of an unpleasant nature, for example cleaning garbage, then will you come forward to do it. The next quality under factor 3 is self-confidence which is again a self-explanatory term. Next important quality is speed of decision. This is particularly important under stress. When there is an emergency or crisis at hand, are you able to take the right decision quickly? The next important quality is ability to influence a group. Are you having the kind of personality which others will believe in very easily and which others will follow? It is one of the key qualities of a leader. The next important quality is liveliness. How lively are you? Have you done anything in life apart from the routine mandatory things? It is precisely to check your liveliness that during interview your hobbies and interests are checked in a very thorough manner. If you are a person who has not done anything apart from the routine mandatory things then you lack liveliness. In which case it is believed in psychology that even during emergency you will not respond quickly because you are a person who is not having that level of energy. These are some of the important qualities under factor 3.
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Then under factor 4 you have qualities like determination. It is a self-explanatory term. The next important quality under factor 4 is courage-both physical as well as moral. Physical courage means can you fight in Kargil? Moral courage means let us say tomorrow, if a high-ranking officer is sexually harassing a lady officer, will you go ahead and stop him or will you worry about your own ACRs, your promotions and your future and let him do what he wants. Stamina-both mental as well as physical. What is physical stamina? If you can run 5 kms it shows you have good physical stamina. What is mental stamina? If you can read a 500 page book if you can sit and practice guitar for one hour every day for the next 2-3 years then it shows you have good mental stamina and it also shows love for learning. That is why if you are a person who loves to read books or someone who has learnt a musical instrument, it will benefit you a lot in SSB because it will show that in the future you will not be tired of learning and undergoing courses. That is why these kind of qualities are being gauged in you.
Most of the candidates do not know that the images which come to you during your thematic apperception test predominantly belong to one of these factors. The images which come to you are a mixed bag. Out of the images which come to you, 2 or 3 belong to factor 1, 2 or 3 belong to factor 2, 2 or 3 belong to factor 3 and 2 or 3 belong to factor 4.
What kind of an image will come under factor 1? To check your factor 1, one of the most common images that comes is shown as an example in figure 1.1 in which a boy is shown studying under a lamp.
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Figure 1.1
In figure 1.1 above, there is a boy studying under a lamp. The very fact that the lamp is on shows he is studying till late night. Nobody needs a lamp during daytime. At times there is also a wall clock shown in the background having the time being displayed as 1 o’clock in it. It takes common sense to understand that if it is 1 pm then he won’t be keeping the lamp on. So definitely he is studying till late night for something. Studying till such late hours also shows that he is working with lot of determination and efforts. He might be preparing for 10th board/12th board/NDA written/IIT-JEE, NEET or any such exam. What is he preparing for & how will he go about it is what will reflect his organizing ability and his work sense. That is why this kind of an image belongs to factor 1.
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Then what kind of an image will come under factor 2? One of the most common examples I can give is of an image which you can see in figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2
In the image shown in figure 1.2, you can see a boy who is very well dressed. He is wearing a blazer and is nicely dressed. Hair combed nicely. He is wearing formal shoes. The way he is dressed makes it look like he is a well-educated urban young man who is probably financially also in a very stable position if not very strong. He is standing under a tree and talking to a group of villagers. How you can understand that they are a group of villagers? The way they are dressed gives a clear indication of the fact that they are villagers. Some of them are wearing a Gandhi topi. Some are wearing a pagdi. Most of them are wearing a dhoti. All this clearly implies that they are villagers. So, he is a person who is interacting with a group of people who do not belong to his
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background. What is he doing there? How comfortable he is with them? Will he be able to get his work done? How you write about these points in the story will show whether your own factor 2 is strong or not.
Let us discuss what kind of an image will come under factor 3? Generally, images which relate to an emergency or where there is life at risk come under factor 3. So, under factor 3, you generally have images like that of an accident or of a building on fire. How you write the story will help the assessor understand whether your own factor 3 is strong or not. Figure 1.3 and figure 1.4 show examples of images which come under factor 3.
Figure 1.3
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Figure 1.4
Under factor 4, you mainly have images in which a group activity or an activity which takes a long concerted effort is visible. For example, two people running, a group of people playing football or a person playing a musical instrument. These types of images relate to factor 4. Games like football involve physical stamina and I have already explained earlier that physical stamina comes under factor 4. Learning and practising a musical instrument over a long period of time shows mental stamina and I have already explained earlier how mental stamina comes under factor 4.
I am sure now you understand how the images which come during the thematic apperception test belong predominantly to one of the four factors. In the next chapter I will help you understand how to view and analyse an image and what should be the structure of the story.
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