-1"

THE SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST AS A PROJECTIVETECHNIQUE

BY PERCIVAL M. SYMONDS .

Teachers College, Columbia University

FOR years the sentence completiontest has been an important tool inpsychology, but its use has been re-

stricted to the study of mental capacityand reasoning ability. First devised byEbbinghaus,1 this test was adopted forwider use in this country by Trabue 2

and Kelley.3 Its use as a projective tech-nique was proposed in an article byTendler in 1930,* but this was anisolated piece of work and apparentlydid not immediately stimulate others tofollow it up. More recently a sentencecompletion test to be used as aprojective technique was assembled byGertrude Hildreth and Amanda Rhodeof the Lincoln School of Teachers Col-lege, Columbia Unviersity.4a

The present report deals with theuse of a sentence completion test as aprojective technique in the assessmentprogram of the Office of Strategic Serv-ices and presents data which help tothrow light on the significance of theresults. The sentence completion testas used at OSS consisted of two blanks,the first containing items i to 50, thesecond items 51 to 100. These were

1 H. Ebbinghaus. Ueber eine neue Methode imPriifung geistiger Fahigkeiten und ihre Awend-ung bei Schulkindern. Z, Psycho!. Physiol.' d,Sinnesorg., 1897,. 13, 401-457.

2 M. R. Trabue. Completion-test languagescales. (Contr. Educ., No. 77.) New York:Bureau of Publications, Teachers College,Columbia University, 1916.

8 T. L. Kelley. Individual testing with com-pletion test exercises. Teach. Coll. Rec.., 1917,18, 371-382.

4 A. D. Tendler. A preliminary report on atest for emotional insight. /. appl. Psychol.,1930, 14, 122-136.

48 A. R. Rhod£, Explorations in personalityby the sentence completion method. /. appl.Psychol., 1946, 30, 169-181.

filled out at a single sitting, but wereseparated into two parts in order tobreak the monotony of taking the test.

The sentence completion test, alongwith other pencil-and-paper tests,was filled out during the first eve-ning in the assessment of a givenclass of men, and the results for eachman were interpreted so as to be avail-able for the interviewer before he con-ducted his interview. In a reportingblank, items were grouped so as to beable to summarize responses with re-gard to family, past history, drives,inner states, goals, cathexes, energy, andtime perspective (optimism-pessimism).

In an attempt to ascertain the valueof the sentence completion test and todiscover how it operated, certain com-parisons have been made between thetest responses and data from the OSSrecords.5 First, the sentence completiontest responses of eight individuals, fourwith high overall ratings and high emo-tional stability ratings and four withlow overall rating's and low emotionalstability ratings, were recopied so thatthey might be compared. From acasual inspection, it appeared that in noitem was a clear trend observable which

6 In this paper " OSS record " and " report "refer to a descriptive statement of an individualprepared by the assessment staff as the reportof its findings about an individual. This reportin general consisted of three parts. The firstpart prepared by the person who interviewed acandidate described him in general terms, gavehis family background, education, previous workexperience, and pronounced personality charac-teristics. The second part described the candidateas he was observed during the assessment period.The third part summarized and presented therecommendations of the assessment staff.

320

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST AS, A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE 321

differentiated markedly between an-swers of the high group and those of thelow group. Although the number ofcases was very small, this preliminarysurvey discouraged further search inthis direction and led to the tentativeconclusion that answers to individualitems did not serve as a basis for differ-entiating between superior and inferiorindividuals.

Following this sortie, the sentencecompletion test and the OSS recordswere studied and compared with re-spect to six variables: (i) persistence(keeping on with a task in spite offailure and discomfort), (2) striving forsuccess, (3) feelings of inferiority,doubt, worry, (4) depression, discour-agement following failure, (5) highstandards, and (6) emotional stability instressful situation. Two contrastinggroups of 25 individuals each werestudied—those within a given period oftime with the highest overall ratingsand those with the lowest overall rat-ings. These two groups were alsowidely separated in emotional stability,the first group with ratings of 2, 3, 4,and 5, averaging 3.7; and the secondgroup with ratings of o, i, 2, and 3,averaging 1.4.

From this study it was noted that asfar as the OSS record goes the high andlow groups were sharply differentiatedfor each characteristic. But there wasno discernible trend for the same char-acteristics as taken from the sentencecompletion test.

Although there were only 10 cases inwhich inferiority trends, for example,were shown as compared with 40 inwhich they were not shown, the pro-portion showing the same trend wasabout equal in both the high and lowgroups on the sentence completion test.The OSS record sharply differentiatesindividuals on six personality character-istics, but the sentence completion test,

at least on the six characteristics studied,does not differentiate them.

A tabulation was also made of thosecases in which there was agreement be-tween the sentence completion test andthe OSS record and those in whichthere was disagreement. Here againthere was no certain or pronouncedtrend. Hypothetically, one might ex-pect' that those with ,poor adjustmentand low emotional stability would showgreater agreement because there isgreater pressure to work out and revealtheir conflicts both in the situations andinterviews, on the one hand, and thesentence completion tests, on the other;whereas those with good adjustmenthave no such need so that .there wouldbe less to tie the reports and the sen-tence completion tests together. Indeed,unconscious fantasy trends, as theymight be revealed by the sentencecompletion test, would not necessarilyfind a counterpart in behavior in reallife. But this hypothesis was not borneout by the tabulations. In the case offeelings of inferiority and emotional in-stability, the opposite trend seemed tobe indicated., This agreement may beexplained, however, by the fact that thewell-adjusted group showed few feel-ings of inferiority and good emotionalstability by both sources.

From these comparisons it is tenta-tively concluded .that the sentencecompletion test cannot be used todifferentiate good and bad adjustmentby any direct comparison of items or bypsychometric methods. The sentencecompletion test is descriptive and notevaluative. Any trend shown by thesentence completion test can charac-terize both the well- and poorly ad-justed individual. For instance, bothwell-adjusted and poorly adjusted menmay state in their sentence completionsthat they strive for success, have highstandards, and persist after failure. But

322 PERCIVAL M. SYMONDS

both well-adjusted and poorly adjustedmay disdain success as a goal, may nothave high standards, or may quit afterfailure. The clue as to whether a per-son's fantasies agree with his actual ex-pressed personality and behavior cannotbe found' in the general quality of hisadjustments. Evidently this agreementor disagreement is more deeply hiddenin the dynamics of the personalityadjustment.

In order to explore this further tencases were studied in detail for the pur-pose of learning exactly in which areasthere is agreement and disagreement.The analysis of these cases follows.Items taken from the record are fol-lowed by an R, while items taken fromthe sentence completion test are fol-lowed by SC together with the numberof the item or items in the sentencecompletion test which indicates thepresence of the particular personalitytrend. In taking items from the sen-tence completion test it is assumed thatany item, whether in the first or thethird person, actually refers to the in-dividual answering the questions, al-though those in the third person mayrefer to unconscious trends in theindividual answering.

INDIVIDUAL i

This report made little mention ofthis individual's childhood (SC—19, 57,96) and failed to mention his hostilitytoward his father (SC—34, 38, 68).Neither did it mention his married life(SC—4, 5, 12, 23,-80), which evidentlycaused concern according to the SC.But his unhappy childhood had leftscars which appeared clearly in variouspersonality trends and neurotic symp-toms in the record. Childhood aggres-sion was managed by passivity (SC—3,22, 54, 64, 66, 91, 99) against whichthere were strong reaction formations(R—college athletics, coach and athletic

director, and in the Army provost mar-shall and commanding officer of aprison stockade). It was said that he" rarely asserts himself in an objectivemanner" (R). However, his repressedaggressions revealed themselves throughvarious symptoms. Sometimes theywere turned inward in depression (Rand SC—14, 15, 17, 31, 37, 49, 73, 100),even with thoughts of suicide (SC—66).There were inferiority feelings (R andSC—30, 42). There were worries (R)and fears (SC—8,13, 55, 56). But theseanxieties were managed by the adoptionof an easy-going manner (R) andboasting (R). His anxieties also wereturned in hypochondriacally and he hadmany concerns about his health (R andSC—13, 69, 74, 95). There was evenguilt deriving from a strong superego(SC—39, 42) and probably also fromhis repressed aggressive fantasies. Thesehostilities directed against the self wereagain projected outward in suspicious-ness of other people (R and SC—62,78, 90). He professed an aptitude forteaching (R and SC—66), but his per-formance failed to measure up toexpectations.

In summary, for this candidate theSC pointed to childhood and familyrelationships not covered in the R.Strong hostilities have been managed bythe adoption of passive trends (SC), butthese were covered up by compensatingreaction formations (R). The repressedaggressions showed themselves symp-tomatically in both the R and SC, butthere were some symptoms, notablycompulsive tendencies, which werefound only in the R and some, notablyguilt and suicidal thoughts, which werefound only in the SC. In this case theSC reported attitudes which stem fromthe individual's past, present underlyingtrends, and how these trends were man-aged, particularly with reference to thefeelings and attitudes. The R showed

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST AS A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE 323

how these trends worked themselves outin behavior and life-station, and also bysuch inner feelings and attitudes asthe subject cared to reveal to theinterviewer.

INDIVIDUAL 2

In the case of this individual the SCtest and report fitted like glove andhand. The report indicated how he hadbeen driven by an overambitiousmother. The sentence completion testshowed how he identified with hismother (SC—72) and later had a strongattachment for his wife (SC—51, 88,98). From his mother he derived highambition (SC—29, 59 and R) and adrive to succeed (SC—20, 24, 29,33, 49, 65, 80, 100, and R), afeeling of frustration because hemight be blocked from reaching hisgoals (SC—7, 10, 21, 24, 30, 46, 58, 60,61, 67, 68, 76, 85, and R), a tendency tostrive after failure (SC—17, 64, 66, 84,87, 99, and R), and aggressive attack ifhe was opposed (SC—54, 91). Therewas a tendency to anger if opposed(SC—9, 27, 73). His drive to succeedwas so strong and it had been held upas an ideal so persistently that he hadconscience reactions to failure (SC—10,24, 30, 74, and R—conscientious).

He liked to think of himself as intel-ligent (SC—44, 47, actually he was in-telligent—R) and important (SC—85).He had a mission for mankind(SC-77, 89, 96, and R).

These ambitions and ideals made himnervous (SC—81, 95); tense, energetic(R).

He wanted to be thought likeable—agood fellow (SC—42 and R). Torejection he became sulky (SC—18).

There was undoubtedly a conflict be-tween the demands of his ambitionsand his attachment to mother and wifeon the one hand and the demands ofthe Army on the other. It was possible

that his physical symptom was uncon-sciously welcomed—a hysterical phen-omenon—as it let him out of his pro-posed overseas assignment honorablyand hence permitted him to fulfill hisdeepest wish—to be with his family.This explanation might help to explainhis lack of concern over his symptomsand his willingness to talk about them.The report made the conflict one be-tween desire to reveal his condition andfear of being discharged from theArmy. The conflict as hinted at by theSC test was between his wish for adischarge from the Army and his fearof being thought a malingerer. Prob-ably both explanations are true atdifferent levels.

There is remarkable agreement be-tween the report and the sentence com-pletion test in this case. However, thesentence completion test revealed - thestudent's identification with his mother,helped to explain his ambition anddrive to succeed, and presented a pos-sible yet speculative hypothesis as to thenature of his physical symptom and itsrelation to the individual's proposedassignment with OSS.

INDIVIDUAL 3

The sentence completion test threwlight on statements in the report andindicated that trends which were lightlystressed in the report had deep reper-cussions in the man's inner personality.The father had been a weak, ineffectiveperson (R), the mother dominating(R). The subject looked on his fatherwith some hostility as sick (SC—48)and on his mother as old (SC—72).His wife was also dominating (R andSC—4, 23, 80). He fantasied hittingher (SC—58) and of not being married(SC—i, 10, 98). In the report he ra-tionalized his projected OSS assign-ment as one that his wife was happy

324 PERCIVAL M. SYMONDS

about (R), and he believed she couldtake care of herself (R).

His mother's dominance had left itsimprint on his personality. He let him-self get pushed around (SC—7, 30), al-though he denied it in the interview(R), tended to be conciliatory (R), butlost his temper when things went toofar (SC—68), and his temper got himinto trouble (80—54). ^e needed thesupport of his elders (80—51) whowould recognize his abilities (R), buttended to' deprecate older people(SC—62, 78), was critical of men overhim (SC—53) and became angry whenslighted (SC—61). Although an onlychild (R), he was envious of the successof others (SC—17, 27). He was notquite sure of his potency (SC—47, 89)and was uncomfortable around women(SC—46). This spread to generalsocial insecurity (SC—95). To him,success in a career was all important(SC—88). He tended to leave whenfrustrated (SC—90, 93). All this madehim pessimistic and depressed (SC—14,21, 31). He worried about his eyesight(SC-85)56).

The record gave us the picture in amild form of this man's social in-security, but indicated that his socialrelations were good on the whole. Ther.eport also pointed out that he was orhad been dominated by mother or wife.His resistance to this domination andhis efforts to assert himself as a manwere hinted at by the sentence comple-tion test. His statement concerning hiswife's attitude toward his projectedassignment with OSS was seen as arationalization in relation to his deeperfeelings of hostility toward her.

INDIVIDUAL 4

In the case of this man, the reportand the sentence completion test werein good agreement. ,The report said

little about his early home relationships—" strictly religious home environ-ment " (R). The sentence completiontest said that his father was dead(SC—38) and that his mother was old1

(SC—72), indicating either unconsciousdisrespect or hostility. His was the pic-ture of a man without much push ordrive (R arid SC—47) and rather quiet(R), who did,not strive :for the highestfor fear that he would not make it(SC—14). He fantasied himself rich(SO—5, 34, 67), and was happiest whendreaming (SC—98). This did notagree with the report which said he wasunimaginative and that, he wanted toachieve only enough to make life com-fortable for himself and his wife (R).So he frankly said he did not have highstandards (R and SC—29, 31). Afterfailure or frustration he worked harder(SC—48, 84, 87, 99). When he thoughthe had a chance to succeed he workedhard (R and 80—48, 84, 88, 89), butwhen he had failed or was ridiculed hewithdrew (SC—17, 90). Indeed, hewas much concerned: about sleep(SC—2, 10, 33, 36, 69, 74) and wasneedlessly concerned about his health(R and SC—65; health was good—R).

His lack of faith in himself made himdepressed (SO—22, 73), and he assertedthat he wanted to be a :man (SC—42,45). The report suggested that his in-terest in sports was boyish and that hissocial relationships were not whollymature (R).

War interfered with marriage(SC—21), but there was dominationby his wife (SC—80), so the inter-ference may have been a wish.

His lack of entire confidence in him-self (R and SC—17, 90). had interferedwith his warmth of social relations (R)—something of the burnt-child attitude.This distrust also showed itself in his1

independence and self-sufficiency asreaction formations (R).

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST AS A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE 325

On the whole, there was good agree-ment between the report and sentencecompletion test in depicting a manwho, because of his fears that hemight not achieve his lofty ambitions,put them aside and held only reasonablestandards for himself without too muchpush or drive. His modest front to theworld' (R) did not agree with hisvisionary ambitions (SC—5, 34, 67).This repression of far-away goals andambitions helped to explain his quiet-ness and passivity (R), his lack ofwarmth in social relations (R), and hisindependence and self-sufficiency (R).So the sentence completion test helpedin the understanding of the dynamicfactors underlying the man's manifestpersonality as shown by the record.

INDIVIDUAL 5The sentence completion test helped

measurably to illuminate the descriptionof this complicated man as given in thereport. Although the report did notmention his mother, one got the im-pression from the sentence completiontest that he yearned for the security ofhis childhood relations with his mother(SC—i), who had been good to him(SC—72). The report mentioned hisadmiration of and identification withhis father (R and SC—n), but did notmention his rivalry with and fear of hisfather (SC-61), his brother (80-56,68), and the boss. (SC—6). His loss ofcountry and friends (R) had hurt him(SC—95) and he yearned to belong tosomeone or something and to be ac-cepted by friends (SC—-34, 51, 55). Itwas out of this feeling of loneliness andisolation that many of his difficultiesarose. He worried about finding work(SC—65, 79) and became desperatewhen luck turned against him (SC—66)and he feared that no one would help(SC—22). He became sad, bitter, de-pressed, and pessimistic (R) on account

of rejection and failure (SC—17, 18, 31,73, 74, 97). He was anxious about hishealth (SC—8), and his depressionwent as far as the thought, of suicide(SC—3). Rejection and failure alsomade him angry (SC—9, 27, 90, 93).He turned to drink in despair, but atthe cost of loss of self-esteem (SC—12,54)-

Sometimes he managed his feelings ofloss and isolation by asserting his inde-pendence (R), by driving under his willpower (SC—23) which made him inde-pendent to the point of stubbornness(R and SC—23, 91) and rigid and un-adaptable to the point of compulsive-ness (R and SC—75). He felt he couldrely only on himself (SC—49). Some-times he built around himself a protec-tive wall of fantasy and thought of him-self as a genius (SC—47, 89) and he be-came self-righteous and conceited (R),but in his actual relation he was uncer-tain of himself (R). This made himcritical of others (R) and defensive,complaining and irritating (R). Hewas sensitive to humiliation ,(R).

But he wanted to achieve (SC—94,100) and he had a drive to help othersand to be kind (SC—40, 62, 63, 77, 78,96), partly because he wanted others tolike him and to be kind to him(80-40,62,63,78).

This reports showed a personalitywhich had resulted from unfortunateexperience in losing country andfriends. But the sentence completiontest showed how this loss was felt asrejection and loneliness which plungedhim into depression and despair, andmade him angry. His independence,rigidity, criticalness of others, conceit,uncertainty, pessimism, and defensive-ness (R) could be traced back to thesefeelings of isolation and rejection (SC).But there was a suggestion that thesefeelings and traits sprang originally notout of his later experiences in loss of

326 PERCIVAL M. SYMONDS

country and friends (these had merelyaccentuated and revived them) butout of his revolt against his father (R).

INDIVIDUAL 6

In this case the report was the moreexplicit about family background (R).The individual had lived with hisdivorced father part of the year in child-hood and he never had been fond ofhis stepfather (R), who had usurpedhis place with his mother. Consequentlyhis life was without male identification(R) or purpose (SC—100). But therehad been dim indications of fatherrivalry (80—38), fear of father(SC—71), and hence identification(SC—94) and guilt over this rivalry(SC—68). There were also indicationsthat his mother had tried to possesshim which he then resisted [SC—80and R—" So far in life he has been ableto do pretty much as he pleased, withlittle necessity for concentrated effort(SC—34), and he is sometimes pro-voked when people interfere with hisfreedom"], and there was an uncon-scious undertone of hatred toward her(SC—72). But the scars of the rela-tionship remained in the form of afixation that prevented him from grow-ing up (R—immature) and made himlook on childhood with nostalgia(SC—19, 57, 98). He had met hisdifficulties by sublimations in the formof art (SC—i, n, 83) and reading andstudy (SC—-2, 49, 67, 79, 88) and hewanted to write (R).

This mother tie and lack of masculineidentification had made him inadequate(SC—34, 47, and R) and had deprivedhim of self-confidence (R). He becamedespondent and angry over failure(SC—17, 27, 6t, 73, 86, 87), believed hewas disliked (SC—18) and that peoplethought him a fool (80-42). He be-lieved he was selfish and unworthy(SC—81), was bothered by conscience

(80-54), which made him uneasy incompany (SC—46), and he was carefulnot to offend others (R). He wasafraid of being rejected (80-93), an^his fears of the dark (SC—8, 13, 56)indicated that this fear of rejection wentback to early childhood.

He had dim and shadowy goals ofbecoming a doctor or surgeon (SC—5,45) and strove to succeed (SC—20, 33)with a stoical masochistic philosophy ofenduring (SC—77) his hard lot in life(80—31). But he quit when the goinggot too tough (80—64, 66).

He complained of illness (SC—70,74), indigestion (SC—95), and lame-ness (SC—10), but did not mention inthe sentence completion test his facialparalysis (R).

One got the impression from thestudy of the sentence completion testthat the man had not been so hurt bythe divorce in the family (R) as by theusual father rivalry (SC) and mothertie (SC), which in this case becameextremely possessive and difficult tobreak. The sentence completion sug-gested possible reasons for this man'slack of self-confidence. His referenceto lameness (SC—10) might have beena displacement of his concern over hisfacial paralysis. This, if true, would in-dicate the difficulty of interpreting tooliterally and narrowly the sentencecompletions.

EXAMPLES OF DIVERGENCES BETWEENREPORT AND SENTENCE COMPLETION

TEST1. Passive trends (SC) covered up by

compensating reaction formation ofdangerous and aggressive occupationand sports (R). (Individual i)

2. Physical symptom rejected in Rwas welcomed in SC as a possibleescape from Army duty. (Individual2>

3. Low ambition (R); high but

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST AS A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE 327

shadowy ambitions (SC). (Individual

4)4. Man rationalized that his wife

wanted him to join OSS (R)— uncon-sciously he wanted to escape from her(SC). (Individual 3)

5. A man let himself get pushedaround (SC) but denied it in theinterview (R). (Individual 3)

6. Burnt-child mechanism—failure tostrive for highest (R) for fear of notachieving a high ambition (SC) or thatothers would let him down (SC).(Individual 4)

7. Unconscious high goals and am-bitions (SC)—reaction formation in theform of passivity (R). (Individual 4)

8. Feeling of isolation, loneliness,and rejection (SC) were covered byindependence (R). (Individual 5)

CONCLUSIONS

1. The OSS report deals largely withfacts which the candidate has chosen toreveal, his attitude toward those factswhich are acceptable to him, and alsothe personality of the candidate as hewas observed in situations.

2. The sentence completion test givesunconscious projections in the thirdperson of basic trends in the form ofwishes, hostilities, loves, fears, and im-pulses and motives in general. It mayalso include completions in the firstperson of trends which he is willingand able to admit about himself.

3. Experiences in the report areusually in terms of the more immediateexperiences; explanations derived fromthe sentence completion test go back tomore basic relationships and experiencesin childhood.

4. In general, there is a close weavingof trends in the sentence completion testand the report. The agreements aregreater than the disagreements: But thesentence completion test covers a much

'greater area than the report, includingthe unconscious and childhood trendsand impulses.

5. The sentence completion test il-luminates the report by pointing towardsome possible underlying trends, drives,and mechanisms which may havecaused the candidate's present person-ality, behavior, and attitudes.

6. An unconscious trend (SC) maybe hidden in personality (R) by itsopposite as a reaction formation.

7. The report shows how a subjectmanages underlying trends (SC) by hisfeelings and attitudes (R), and howthese feelings and attitudes workthemselves out in behavior and life-station.

8. The report may give the candi-date's rationalization of himself and hisbackground.

9. The sentence completion test helpsto point out -inconsistencies in the re-port. For instance, a man is said tobe attached to his family but leaveswillingly to join OSS. The SCindicates that there is unconsciousresentment of his wife's domination.

10. The same trend may be inter-preted as good in the report (energetic)and as bad in the SC (nervous).

n. The report may explain on thebasis of surface wishes; the SC mayexplain on the basis of the oppositeunconscious trends. (See Individual 2.)

12. According to the emphasis givento the interpretation of the sentencecompletions, in many of the cases theunderlying motivation goes back torivalry and hostility to the father andfondness for and devotion to themother. The various degrees to whicheither parent gives, withholds, dom-inates, rejects, praises, or punishesdetermine the type of personalityformed.

13. The report does not always re-veal deeper attitudes shown by the sen-

PERCIVAL M. SYMONDS

tence completion test of resentment andhostility to self, father, mother, brothersand sisters, wife and children, dueto their strictness, punishment, highstandards, rejection, etc.

14. The SC points out identificationswith father or mother as a way ofmastering rivalry and hostility to either.

15. The SC points out the strugglesof immature men to break away fromtheir family ties.

16. The SC may help to indicateorigins of inferiority feelings.

17. A man may describe his home invery glowing terms in the report, butactually it may have been overprotectiveand caused him personal insecurityand anxiety.

18. Anxieties about health are some-times displacements about other anxi-eties, particularly anxieties about pres-tige and acceptance.

19. The interpretation of sentencecompletions as projections is doubtful,

questionable, hypothetical, conjectural,and suppositious, and cannot be thesubstitute for a complete analysis. Ac-cording to the projective hypothesis, thesentence completions refer only tofantasies or unconscious impulses andmay or may not have counterparts inbehavior and attitudes of real life.

20. The sentence completion test isnot a safe guide at the present time forprediction or assessment. Predictionmust be based on the history anddescription of the individual in his cur-rent behavior and personality. Onemust predict the future on the basis ofpast performance. Not enough isknown about the dynamics of uncon-scious processes to use them in predict-ing how they will influence -futurebehavior, but future behavior can beexplained in terms of the breaking-through into reality of unconsciousforces which the sentence completiontest may help to reveal.

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

• Name.

PART I

1. Charlie was happiest when2. He' liked nothing better than to3. When caught behind the enemy's lines,

Ted4. Nothing 'annoyed Bob more than5. Mike's fondest ambition6. When Frank saw his boss coming, he7. Bill got irritated when they '8. My greatest fear is9. When told to keep in his place, Henry

10. What Tom regretted most wasn. I admire12. Nothing made Harry more furious than13. Joe was uneasy because14. John thought that his future15. The fact that he failed16. A person's life17. When he saw that the others were doing

better than he, John18. Evefytime he wasn't invited, Ralph

19. As a child20. I try hard21. The war interfered with his plans for22. Finding no one who could help him,

Will23. The main driving force in my life is24. The thing which bothered Harry's

conscience was25. Bud's family26. On his evening off, Paul27. Bob's defeat made him

. 28. I usually feel awkward when.29. My standards are30. Nothing is as frustrating as31. My lot in life32. He was confused about33. Fred would do anything in order to34. Joe feels that he suffers most from35. The men under me36. Bud would rather do without

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST AS A PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE

37. After Bob left the interview, he thought38. His father39. George Was sorry after he40. What they like about him most was41. Whenever there was overtime work to

be done, Bob felt42. People think of me as43. They made fun of his accent so Tom44. Bud could work best at

329

45. He always wanted to be46. He is often at a loss when47. He often thinks of himself as48. When they said that it was dangerous,

Bert49. From past experience Bill learned that

he50. I take pains

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

Name.

PART II

51. John prefers the company of52. He didn't like Bill because he was too5,3. Dave felt that the men over him were54. The thing which got him into trouble55. It was irritating to be56. Bill is afraid of57. His younger days58. Roger would have done anything to

forget the time he59. Others think my standards are60. What bothered Jack was their61. Jack really became angry when62. Charlie felt that his acquaintances63. My family >64. When Dick failed the course, he65. My greatest worry66. When his luck turned against him, Joe67. If I would only68. He went mad when69. I often70. He is apt to complain about71. I dream a good deal about72. His mother73. Discouragement made him74. Joe is most troubled by75. He made a point of76. If Fred could only77. My philosophy of life is

78. The people who worked in Jerry'sdepartment

79. Most of the time80. He was dominated by81. My worst fault82. When I have something to say and

others are around83. I enjoy ,84. When they turned him down for the

job, Bill85. Most people do not know that I86. It is embarrassing87. When they told him that the job may

be too much for him, Donald88. The main thing in my life89. He thinks of himself as90. When they laughed at Fred he91. When they decided to put him under

pressure, Frank92. I would rather93. When the other men avoided him, Bob94. My greatest ambition95. I suffer most from96. I often think about how I97. The worst thing was98. I was happiest when99. When he thought that the odds might

be against him, Bill100. My goals