The Projective Differntial (PD) is a general purpose nonverbal projective technique for engaging participants with denotable objects (“topics”) of interest. Why use the PD (instead of SD, questionnaires, etc.)? The PD becomes valuable when deeper (less biased) meaning, associational information, or more creative thinking is sought about some issue, quality, or entity than is usually available through conventional methods. 

The PD creates a forced-choice situation employing abstract images displayed too briefly for the conscious mind to influence the choice through rational thought and analysis; instead, the a-logical right-brain processes are engaged and the choices are made at an intuitive level. The results of a PD session therefore provide us with information about how the participants perceive the topics at a deep level, in ways of which even they may be quite unaware.