Projective tests have been devised as one method for uncovering unconscious motives. This test us used by psychoanalysis by interpreting the symbolic meaning of the persons behaviour to arrive at the underlying motives.
A projective test presents an ambiguous stimulus to which the individual may respond as he wishes. Theoretically, because the stimulus is ambiguous and does not demand a specific response, the individual projects his personality through his responses, just as a movie camera projects an image on the screen. Projective tests tap the subject’s imagination, and through his imaginative productions it is assumed that he reveals something about himself.