Chapter Six-How To Master Thematic Apperception Test
In this chapter there is analysis of a story which will help gain deep insights into the evaluation pattern of the Thematic Apperception Test.
Chapter 6: Analysis Of Second Story
In this chapter, we will analyse a story written by a serving candidate of the IAF who is trying for AFCAT entry. The story has been written on the image discussed in chapter 4.
Story-Ramesh, 23, pursuing Masters in Environment Studies from RS College. He observed that municipality authority was indiscriminately cutting the trees in proximity of college. He approached environment officer persuaded to stop cutting trees in name of development but no action was taken. He formed a group of students, planned a peaceful march against cutting trees, took permission from local police, conducted the march, aware people about march, took attention of local media and officers of municipal authorities. Got ready to stop tree cutting. He was happy and satisfied with his group efforts and celebrated their victory.
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Let us analyse this story.
The first thing which you should check in the story is whether the theme of the story is matching with the image. The answer is yes. The image is about protest and strike and the story is about protest and strike.
The second thing we should check is whether the story has the right structure and body. Now you will see that in the story the candidate has indeed made a good effort to try and follow the ideal structure. In the first part of the story, he has introduced the theme. Then he has written about what he did to solve the problem and in the end he has concluded.
However, there are weaknesses in the quality of writing and the quality of story itself.
The first thing is that the candidate has made a student the central character and that is a very negative thing when it comes to the quality of the story. There is a very good reason why I am saying this. If you observe the image carefully, you will notice that in the image there is one character given who is a standout from the crowd of students. He is much more older in terms of age. To make it loud and clear to the candidate that he is much more older, he has been made bald and he has also been shown wearing glasses. The baldness and glasses are deliberately added to the character to ensure that the candidate knows he is much more older than the students. Rules of psychology say that such a standout character will attract the attention of the candidate and due to this, it will strike the candidate’s mind that making this older man a central character will be a far more sensible thing to do. However, the candidate has completely ignored the older man and
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rather made a student the central character. Due to this, the very perception of the candidate will come into question. Candidate’s rationality and honesty will come into question.
The next thing you need to realize is that in this kind of a story, if you choose a student as the central character, then most definitely you will say something negative about the school’s authorities or government authorities and by doing that, you will reveal your own negative quality. One of the most basic principles of psychological evaluation is how you are is how you see the world. So, if you are going to portray your school authorities or government authorities in a negative way, then the only thing you will be confirming is that you yourself are a very negative minded person and that is why you have negative view of the people and of the outside world in general. You will see that in this story, the candidate has indeed ended up doing that. He has written very clearly that he did approach government officers, but no action was taken, implying that they all are lazy and useless and don’t bother if anyone approaches them with any issue or concern. Even towards the end, it has been shown that the government officers relented and took corrective action only because they were pressurized by public protest and media pressure. They did not relent because they were convinced by the candidate’s argument. They did not relent because they realized that cutting trees is harmful for environment and society. It was not a corrective action born out of their conscience making them realize that what was happening was wrong. Hence, it can be said that by writing the story in this manner, the candidate has not only missed out an opportunity to show his ability to convince others logically, but also showed that he is someone who will indulge in arm twisting tactic and even pressurize to achieve his end.
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Now let us look at the story in a more systematic manner to understand what is negative and what is positive.
The first point to note is that the theme could have been introduced in the first sentence itself. However, in order to do that, the character from the image whom you will choose as the central character matters a lot. Here, the selection of the central character has been done in a very incorrect manner and hence it wouldn’t have been possible for the candidate to bring the theme in the first sentence itself. Since the selection of central character is wrong, the candidate was required to build background for the theme. This not only ended up taking precious time, but also took space on paper. Now you must be wondering how selecting the correct central character would have helped bring the theme in the first sentence itself. Let me help you understand how, as I had discussed earlier, the image has been designed in such a way that the candidate should be enticed to take the old man as the central character. Had the candidate done that, then it would have been possible to bring the theme in the first sentence itself. Let us say that the candidate would have thought of the old man as a professor or principal of the college. Then the first sentence could have been conveniently framed as Professor Ramesh saw students protesting upon reaching college one morning. This way the theme would have got introduced in the first sentence itself. It could have been further refined by including the reason of protest. For instance, if cutting tree was the reason, then the candidate could have framed the sentence as Professor Ramesh saw students protesting about tree cutting upon reaching college one morning. This is how your performance in writing a story can be improved and refined. Bringing theme in the first sentence itself would have allowed the candidate to quickly jump into
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action and write about the steps he will take to solve the problem. As I have already explained earlier, this not only saves time but also makes the candidate come across as an articulate and intelligent person.
Now let us understand how the story is revealing further negative qualities.
You will notice that in the story the candidate has written about getting students together and then going for a peaceful march. From my experience, I can tell you that the candidate has written this with the thought in mind that this will show his organizing ability and his ability to influence a group. This is where the candidate is wrong. Rather than emerging as a leader, the candidate has ended up emerging as a ringleader. What is the difference? To give you a simple example, Gandhiji was a leader and that too a great leader whereas Ata Mohammed, who was the head of the group that orchestrated the 9/11 attacks will be called a ringleader. Terrorist leaders are called ringleaders. There are two words in Hindi: Saahas and dussaahas. A soldier fighting for his country is saahas. A person robbing a bank in broad daylight is dussaahas. Courage too can have a negative or positive form. The candidate, unknowingly and in his innocence has ended up displaying a very negative form of courage. A person with this negative form of courage will not be obedient to his senior officers in the future and will easily rebel against them if something happens that he doesn’t like. He will be the kind of person who will easily break rules if he feels like it.
There are one or two more things that I can add to help you understand where the story is going wrong. For instance, he has been able to make the government officers agree to stop cutting trees but I am sure the
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officers were cutting trees for some development purpose or for some work related to the government projects. What is the solution regarding that? Did he come up with any alternative? Did he give them any alternate solution? If he has not, then he has not really resolved the issue completely. So that is another problem.
I am sure my simple and deeply scientific manner of analysing the story has helped you understand how your stories reveal your good or bad qualities in a very clear manner.
In the next chapter we will analyse another story written by a different candidate.
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