Final answer:
Showing a client three TAT cards before administering the full test is intended to lessen anxiety and help familiarize them with the test, which is a projective test used to understand unconscious thoughts and personality traits.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of showing a client three cards from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) before administering the test is a technique used to reduce anxiety and familiarize the individual with the test format.
The TAT is a projective test designed to reveal a person's underlying unconscious thoughts, motivations, and personality traits through the stories they create about ambiguous images.
Since TAT administration and scoring can vary among clinicians and the test's reliability and validity are considered modest to low, introducing the test format in advance can help put a client at ease, which may lead to more accurate and revealing responses.