Shreya Prasad – MA CLP

Psychology – Advanced Practical – PSYC624 A0403421488

Assignment – 1

Topic: SACKS COMPLETION TEST

AIM: To assess the personality, attitude and adjustment of the subject using SACKS completion test.

Introduction:
What Is Personality?
The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which refers to a theatrical mask worn by
performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities.
At its most basic, personality is the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make a
person unique. It is believed that personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent
throughout life. Explanations for personality can focus on a variety of influences, ranging from genetic
explanations for personality traits to the role of the environment and experience in shaping an individual's
personality.

What is attitude?
Psychologists define attitudes as a learned tendency to evaluate things in a certain way. This can include
evaluations of people, issues, objects, or events. Such evaluations are often positive or negative, but they can
also be uncertain at times.
For example, you might have mixed feelings about a particular person or issue. Researchers also suggest that
there are several different components that make up attitudes. The components of attitudes are sometimes
referred to as CAB or the ABC's of attitude.
Attitudes can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and that
clearly influence our behaviors and beliefs. Implicit attitudes are unconscious but still have an effect on our
beliefs and behaviors.

What is adjustment?
The word ‘Adjustment’ means ‘to fit’, ‘make suitable’, ‘adapt’ etc.
Adjustment is the process through which a person tries to strike a balance between his requirements (need,
desires, and urges) and varying life situations.
Webster: “adjustment is the establishment of a satisfactory relationship, as representing harmony, conformance,
adaptation or the like”.
C. V. Good: “Adjustment is the process of finding and adopting modes of behaviour suitable to the
environment or the changes in the environment”.
Shaffer: “Adjustment is the process by which a living organism maintains a balance between its needs and the
circumstances that influence the satisfaction of these needs”.
·Adjustment is a process that helps a person to lead a happy and contented life while maintaining a balance
between his needs and his capacity to fulfill them.

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY:
– PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE
Developed by Sigmund Freud, the psychoanalytic theory of personality puts central focus on three fundamental
elements of the mind, namely id, ego and superego. Personality is formed through the complex interactions of
these three forces in the mind.

• Id: The most primal component of personality, the id works on the pleasure principle which seeks
immediate gratification of needs. If needs are not met immediately, it leads to tension and anxiety.
According to Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy. The id is irrational, has no comprehension
of time or reality and operates in the unconscious.

NOIDA
 • Ego: The ego develops out of the id and ensures that gratification of needs is carried out through
socially acceptable methods i.e. ego works on the reality principle. The ego has to expend a
considerable amount of mental energy to ensure the needs of id are under control and there is no tension
or anxiety.

• Superego: The last component of personality is superego which emerges through a person’s value and
belief system. The superego consists of an individual’s highest moral standards, ethics and ideals that is
learnt through parents and society. The superego has two components - the conscience and ego ideal.
The superego is also detached from reality and works to suppress all unacceptable urges of the id.

These three elements are dynamic in nature and constantly interact with each other. However, since all 3 are
competing forces, conflict is inevitable. This conflict between the id, ego and superego is what makes up a
person’s personality.
According to Freud, the balance between these three forces is essential for a healthy personality. If the ego is
able to maintain a balance between the id and superego, then the person is said to have a healthy and well
adjusted personality. An imbalance leads to maladaptive personality.
In case of a dominant id, the person might act irrationally and impulsively. On the other hand, if the superego
has an upper hand, it might lead to an unrealistically moral and judgemental personality.
Conflict within these elements gives rise to anxiety and tension. In order to reduce this anxiety without
exhausting a lot of mental energy, the ego develops defense mechanisms, a tactic used to delay the needs of the
id and superego. Defense mechanisms can be grouped into 3 categories: (i) those that deny reality (repression,
sublimation, regression), (ii) those that falsify reality (projection) and (iii) those that distort reality (reaction
formation, displacement).

– HUMANISTIC THEORY
Carl Rogers is the founder of Humanistic theory. He is a humanistic psychologist, he believed that human
beings have the potential to reach excellence and self-actualization. They are always inclined towards a positive
self-role. He believed that people have some degree of free choice i.e the capacity to choose and to be self-
directed. People are basically trustworthy, socialized and constructive. They know what is best for them. People
are coward moving and under proper conditions they will move towards self-actualization. People have
potential needs and desire for growth. Under Nurturing conditions people become more aware, trustworthy,
congruent and self-directed, and under poor conditions they do not realize their full potential. Carl Rogers has
given the concept of “self”. The self is an outgrowth of what a person experiences helps a person to
differentiate himself/ herself from the others. The self is again understood in the light of ideal self and real self.
Ideal self is what a person wants to become and real self is what the person actually is. In order to reach self-
actualization the ideal self and the real self should be incongruent with each other. This happens when the
person receives unconditional positive regard (love, care, acceptance, etc) from their parents and others. In this
way the person is a well- adjusted person. In those cases where a person gets conditional regard i.e he has to
comply with the wishes of the others, where the other’s wishes are different as a result there is incongruence
between the real self and the ideal self. This incongruence leads to maladjustment.

Incongruence: Poorly adjusted individual

Congruence: Well-adjusted Individual

NOIDA
Empathy may be subjective, interpersonal or objective. (Clark, 2004; Rogers, 1964)
Subjective empathy enables a counselor to momentarily experience what it is like to be a client.
Interpersonal empathy relates to the understanding a client's phenomenological experience and objective
empathy uses reputable knowledge sources outside of a client’s frame of reference. (Clark, 2010).
Unconditional positive regard also known as acceptance is a deep and genuine caring for the client as a person,
i.e. prizing the person just for being. (Rogers, 1961).The caring is non-possessive and it is not contaminated by
evaluation or judgment of the client’s feelings, thoughts and behavior as good or bad.
Therapists value and warmly accept clients without placing stipulations on their acceptance. It is not an attitude
of “I will accept you when…” rather it is one of I will accept you as you are”.
Congruence is the condition of being transparent in the therapeutic relationship by giving up roles and facades.(
Rogers,1980).It is the “counselor’s readiness for setting aside concerns and personal preoccupations and for
being available and open in relationship with the client”.(Moon,2007).

Review of Literature:
• Mohammed K. Faizel conducted a study to test the responses of a group of juvenile delinquents and a
group of normal adolescents to a sentence completion test. The subjects were thirty male juvenile
delinquents. School formed one group, their age ranging from 14-18yrs (Group D). They were further
divided into sub groups of 15 each. The other group were 30 normal males who were taken from the
Logan Junior High School, their age group being 14-15yrs. (Group N).They were also further sub
divided into two groups of 25 each. The SACKS test was modified into two forms, one of into first
person (Form A) and other into that of third person (Form B). After the scoring was done, it was
interpreted that on Score unit 0 both the groups scored higher on Form A than on Form B, with group N
scoring appreciably higher on Form A. And on Score unit 2 both the groups scored higher on Form B
with the D group having a higher score on Form B. However, the results bear out all three hypotheses.
• Krostomina carried out a study that reviews the problem of children's trust in relation to children's
perception of parents. The sample consisted of 119 children of different age. The following tools were
used: the projective techniques, Kinetic family drawing, The Sacks sentence completion test, Children's
coping questionnaire. The study has revealed that as children grow older their perception and
understanding of trust shifts from family relationships to friendships. Relationships with peers start to
“oust” close family relationships spurred by the emerging need to share information and to find an
object of trust which would demonstrate specific qualities.

• The aim of the study conducted by Shourya Gupta and M. Anuradha (2020) was to assess
dominating feelings and emotions in individuals with Somatoform Disorders and compare those
dominating feelings and emotions with a non-clinical control group. Individuals with Somatoform
Disorders were screened using
(i) Somatic Symptoms Scale - 8,
(ii) General Health Questionnaire - 12 and
(iii) Eysenck’s Series of Digit Span Test.

Two test tools were used in this study –

(i) SACKS Sentence Completion Test and
(ii) Thematic Apperception Test.

The study concluded that feelings and emotions of anxiety, jealousy, inferiority, fear, dejection, anger and pity
predominate in the individuals with Somatoform Disorders. It was also found that people with Somatoform
Disorders are lower on feelings and emotions of love and affection, confidence and independence as compared
to the non-clinical control group.
Researchers conducted research that aimed highlighting the centrality of the need for achievement which
influences adjustment of expedition members to harsh climatic conditions. Tools used were semi-structured
Performa, Sack’s sentence completion test, Multidimensional Personality Inventory, and interviews. The
sample consists of Indian male expedition members (n=248) in the age group of 22 to 56 years. Result
concluded that positive personality characteristics such as high enthusiasm, adaptability, optimistic future

NOIDA
orientation, and determination and need for achievement, success, high status, and monetary compensation
influence adjustment and for joining Indian expedition teams motivate people.

Description of Tool:
Theoretical Background-
The sentence completion test gives unconscious projections in the third person of basic trends in the form of
wishes, hostilities, loves, fears, and impulses. The complete test consists of sixty items of which four represent
each of the fifteen attitudes enumerated above. The test was constructed in the following manner: Twenty
clinical psychologists were asked to submit three sentence completion items, purporting to elicit significant
attitudes in each of these categories. To these were added items culled from the literature sentence completions.
In this way 180 items were obtained. They ranged in number from fourteen to twenty-eight items per category.
For example, nineteen items were listed for attitude towards mother, twenty-two items for attitude towards
father, and so on. The twenty psychologists were then requested to select in each category the four main items
they considered best suited to elicit significant attitudes in that category. The items chosen most frequently
became the final test items.
• FAMILY: The family area includes three sets of attitudes:
a) those toward the mother,
b) those toward the father, and
c) those toward the family unit.
Even if the respondent becomes evasive or cautious, it is hoped that at least one of the four items in each
category will disclose a meaningful response.

• SEX: Attitudes toward women and heterosexual relationships are included in the sex category. The 8
items in this category allow the subject to express himself in relation to women, marriage, and sexual
relationships.

• INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP: Attitudes toward friends and acquaintances, colleagues at

work or school, superiors at work or school, and individuals monitored are all examples of interpersonal
relationships. The respondent has the opportunity to express his feelings towards to the 16 items in this
section.

• SELF-CONCEPT: Fear, guilt sentiments, goals and attitudes toward one's own ability, concept of
himself as he is, as he was, and as he wishes to be are all examples of self-concept. This section contains
a total of 24 items.

Reliability and of the test:

Three psychologists rated the degree of disturbance of one hundred subjects in each of the fifteen categories on
the basis of the subject’s sentence completion responses. The psychiatrists who treated these subjects made
independent ratings of their degree of disturbance in each of the fifteen categories, based on their clinical
impressions of the subjects. Reliability of the psychologists’ judgments of degree of disturbance is indicated by
agreement of two out of three psychologists on 92 per cent of 1,500 ratings. The psychiatrists had no
knowledge of the SSCT responses. When the ratings of the psychologists were correlated with those of the
psychiatrists, contingency coefficients of .48 and .57 were found, with standard errors of .02 and .03. These
figures indicate that the ratings of the psychologists had a significant, positive relationship with those of the
psychiatrists.

Validity of the test

For fifty subjects psychologists wrote interpretative summaries of the fifteen attitudes, based upon the subjects’
responses to the four items included under each attitude. These interpretative summaries were submitted to the
psychiatrists, who rated them with respect to their agreement with clinical findings. These results of the SSCT
compare favorably with those found in validation studies of such other methods of personality study as the
Rorschach test and the TAT.

NOIDA
METHOD
Demographic Details
• Name: S.R
• Age: 22
• Gender: Female
• Educational Qualification: Graduate in BA Prog.
• Occupational Background: Student

Materials Required:
• Pen/Pencil,
• Paper,
• SSCT Manual and
• Questionnaire

Precautions:
• The test should be administered in a well-lit room, free from all kinds of disturbance.
• All the instructions must be provided to the participant before the conduction of the test.
• All disturbances that can manipulate the response must be minimised
• The time frame needs to be kept in mind while conducting the test.
• No prompting of responses should be done.

Rapport Formation:
• The test was conducted online.
• The participant was made comfortable and was briefed about the instructions pertaining to the test.
• The participant’s consent was taken prior to the conduction of the test and after receiving their consent
they were thanked for taking out their time for participating in this test.

Instructions:
• Below are sixty partly completed sentences.
• Read each one and finish it by writing the first thing that comes to your mind.
• Work quickly as you can.
• If you cannot complete an item, circle the number and return to it later.

Administration of the Test:

• The SSCT can be administer individually or to groups and requires about 20-40 minutes.
• The subject is asked to read the instructions and to ask any questions they may have about them.
• The subject was called into the lab and rapport formation took place through informal conversation.
• Formal consent was taken, after it was accepted the administration took place.
• Further instructions were given to her and she was told that she can leave the question by circling it.
• A gentle reminder was given for the completion of the test in the case if she is taking more time.
• The participant was thanked for participating and was assured regarding the confidentiality of the data.
• After the completion of administration, scoring was done according to scores mentioned in each attitude
list further interpretation was done according to the results obtained.

Introspective Report:
• The test was quite interesting and unique. I enjoyed doing it.

Observational Report:
• The participant was calm and filled the questionnaire in time.
• No discomfort in the participants actions or behaviour was noticed as such.

NOIDA
Scoring of the Test:
• A rating sheet has been devised for SSCT which bring together, under each attitude the four-stimulus
item and the subject responses to them for example in attitude towards father, question 1,16,31 and 46
were observed and then a score was given from range (2-0) as mentioned in the manual.
• A rating is then made of the respondent’s degree of disturbance in that area according to the following
scales:–
o 2 – Severely Disturbed – Appears to require therapeutic aid in handling emotional conflicts in
this area.
o 1 – Mildly disturbed – Has emotional conflicts in this area, but appears able to handle them
without therapeutic aid.
o 0 – No significant disturbance noted in this area.
o X – Unknown. Insufficient evidence.

Result:
The following are the results of respondent in categories are:–

STATEMENT ITEM NO SCORING FINAL SCORE

Attitude towards mother 14,29,44,59 0+0+0+1= ¼ = 0.25 0
Attitude towards father 1,16,31,46 0+1+1+0=2/4= 0.5 1
Attitude towards family unit 12,27,42,57 0+0+0+0= 0/4=0 0
Attitude towards women 10,25,40,55 0+0+0+1=1/4=0.25 0
Attitude towards homosexual relationship 11,26,41,56 1+0+0+0 = 1/4= 0.25 0
Attitude towards friends and acquaintances 8,23,38,53 0+1+0+0= 1/4= 0.25 0
Attitude towards people supervised 4,19,34,58 0+x+x+0= 0/2 =0 0
Attitude towards supervisors at school or work 6,21,36,51 x+0+x+0= 0/2= 0 0
Attitude towards colleague at work/school 13,28,43,58 0+0+0+0= 0/4= 0 0
Attitude towards fear 7,22,37,52 2+2+2+1= 7/4= 1.75 2
Attitude towards guilt feelings 15,30,45,60 1+1+1+1= 4/4=1 1
Attitude towards own ability 2,17,32,47, 1+0+1+0 =2/4 =0.5 1
Attitude towards past 9,24,39,54 1+x+1+0 = 2/3= 0.66 1
Attitude towards future 5,20,35,50 1+0+0+0 = ¼ =0.25 0
Attitude towards goals 3,18,53,49 0+0+0+0 =0/4 =0 0

Interpretation and Discussion:

The aim of the practical was to assess the personality of the individual using the Sacks Sentence Completion
Test. Sentence completion test is a type of projective test which gives respondents the beginnings of sentences,
known as "stems," and then asks them to finish the sentences in ways that are meaningful to them. Sacks and
Levy developed their sentence completion test in 1950 which focuses on four categories which are family, sex,
interpersonal relationship, and self-concept which are further divided into fifteen sub-categories.
According to a study by Portia R Marasigan (2018), it was found that children of age 18-21 whose parents work
abroad average cognitive functioning, emotional conflict with their fathers and mothers, family unit, fear, guilt
feelings, and own abilities, and higher scores in deviation, persecutory ideas, thinking disorder, and social
introversion.
For administration subject was called to the testing room, she was a 22-year female, completed her graduation.
An overall analysis of the responses by the respondent shows mild amount of distress in categories.

Family – This category has three major sub-categories which are attitude towards mother, father, and family
unit. Subject’s attitude towards mother shows no distress, she views her mother as her everything, more like her
best friend with a caring personality. They both share an amazing bond and it portray feelings of love and care.
Whereas, in the area of attitude towards father shows mild distress as the subject lovers her father but wishes
that her father could be more empathetic and vocal so that it enhances their relationship. She feels that her

NOIDA
father does not have good communication skills, if he could communicate in a better manner there relationship
would definitely improve . Whereas, positive feelings were interpreted in attitude towards the family unit. She
feels that her family is frank, let her do what she wants, is not conservative and gives freedom, and treats her
with equal respect and love and still pampers her like a kid, which she likes the best.

Sex – This category has two sub-categories, attitude towards women and attitude towards heterosexual
relationships. Attitude towards women showed no distress gives an insight on only minor or superficial
criticism. Her idea of perfect women is that she accepts her flaws and work on improving it also she believes
that women are amazing which indicated a positive attitude. However she dislikes when a female plays women
card unnecessarily, which indicates high ideas but ambivalent feelings, though overall the it shows positive
attitude towards women. On the other hand, attitude towards heterosexual relationships indicates satisfaction in
this area. Her views about married life are that it’s a beautiful journey and she perceives her sexual life as
satisfactory and she can only get intimate with whom she has an emotional connect, however when she sees a
couple together, she hopes that she had this type of relationship which perhaps indicates mild distress, but
overall this area shows positive attitude towards heterosexual relationships.

Interpersonal Relation – This category has 4 sub-categories which are attitude towards friends and
acquaintance, attitude towards superiors at work/school, attitude towards people supervised, attitude toward
colleagues at work/school .
In the first category i.e. attitude towards friends and acquaintances the subject expresses a mutual relationship
with friends and self, overall but she has mentioned that she doesn’t like people who are hypocrite or fake,
which can be a cause of distress. She feels that a real friend is the one who understands and accepts you as a
person and respects your boundaries and opinions. Her friends trust her when she’s not around.

In attitude towards supervisors at work/school subject, there was no distress she thinks her teachers were
amazing and she missed them, she considers her supervisors as emotionally mature people who are consistent
and displine in life and have greater knowledge, however insufficient evidence was there, in statements like
when I see the boss coming and the men over me.

In attitude towards people supervised it was interpreted that she feels controllable and well accepted by
subordinates. She says if she was in charge she would change the world into a better place which indicates
positive attitude and she has mentioned that people who work with her usually find her helpful. Hence this area
shows no disturbance. However two statements gives insufficient evidence, if people work for me and people
who work for me.

Whereas, attitude towards colleague at work/school shows no distress as her responses gave insight on good
mutual feelings. She expressed that at work, I get along best with everyone ,and those who work with her are
helpful and cooperative, she likes working with people who are consistent and from whom she can learn and
people who work with her find her helpful.

Self – concept – There are five sub-categories included in this area, fear, guilt feeling, attitude towards own
ability, attitude towards past and future, and lastly attitude towards goal. The subjects shows major distress
attitude with towards fear . She has mentioned that, I know it’s silly but I am afraid of being alone, most of her
friends don’t know that she is afraid of being alone, she says that she wishes she could lose the fear of not able
to find someone who will accept her. This shows severe distress, gives an insight on that she’s disturbed by the
apparent fear of loving. However she says that her fears sometimes force her to not do the things she wants to
do, which indicates the fear of self-assertion, which is common. But overall it indicates severe distress and
requires therapeutic aid.

In attitude towards guilt feelings, it indicates mild distress, which gives an insight on that she has a regret over
past and seems mildly disturbed.
She has mentioned that she would do anything to forget the time she had a breakup with her first boyfriend, she
states that her greatest mistake was she let others used her emotionally. She states that when she was younger

NOIDA
she wanted to participate more in curricular activities lastly she mentioned the worst thing she did she let others
used her in the name of friendship, all these statements indicates a strong regret over her past.

Attitude towards own ability indicates that subject views herself as that she has specific ability but tends to fear
her difficulty, which shows mild distress. She feels that when the odds are against her, she feels scared, her
greatest weakness is that she’s inconsistent, this indicates that mild distress however when luck turns against
her, she is chill She believes that she has the ability to achieve anything in life if she becomes consistent and
displined, this put lights on that she is confident on her ability to overcome obstacles.

Attitude towards past – responses indicates mild distress and little significant disturbance was observed in
the past. When she was a child she always wanted to participate in curricular activities, and if she were young
again she would participate in every sport, dance, debate she could, these statements shows that she has a regret
feeling towards her past. Whereas her most vivid childhood memory is the time spent with her parents which
indicates she has spent good time in her childhood. However in the statement before the war, she hasn’t
mentioned anything it shows insufficient Evidence. Overall it indicates that he has mild distress towards her
past.

Attitude towards future – The responses suggest that the subject seems confident in achieving her goals. She
looks forwards to achieve her goals, someday she will achieve all her goals, when she becomes older she wants
to be independent, emotionally mature and successful these statements indicates positive attitude towards
future, however she thinks that future is uncertain, anything can happen at any moment, this statements
indicates mild distress, but overall she has a positive attitude towards future.

Attitude towards goals – The subject does not desire materialistic things rather desires experiences and
happiness. She always wanted to become consistent, hardworking and a disciplined . The thing that she wants
the most out of life is to become the best version of herself . This indicates that the subject has positive attitude
towards goals

Conclusion:
The Sacks Sentence Completion Test (1950) was used in the study to assess the individual's personality. The
overall analysis of the subject's results shows that in the self-concept category, she had major distress with
attitude towards fear also her attitude towards guilt, abilities, and past show mild distress, however there is no
distress shown with attitude towards goals and future. There was no distress in the sex area category. In the
family category she had mild distress with attitude towards father, whereas no distress is shown with attitude
towards mother and family unit. Lastly there is no distress shown in the interpersonal relationship category.

NOIDA