The Rorschach test is a in which subjects' perceptions of are recorded and then analyzed using interpretation, complex, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect underlying, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly. The test is named after its creator, Swiss psychologist. In the 1960s, the Rorschach was the most widely used. Although the (developed since the 1960s) claims to have addressed and often refuted many criticisms of the original testing system with an extensive body of research, some researchers continue to raise questions.
The areas of dispute include the objectivity of testers, the verifiability and general of the test, of the test's scales towards greater numbers of responses, the limited number of psychological conditions which it accurately diagnoses, the inability to replicate the test's norms, its use in court-ordered evaluations, and the, potentially invalidating the test for those who have been exposed to them. Created the inkblot test in 1921 Using interpretation of 'ambiguous designs' to assess an individual's personality is an idea that goes back to. Interpretation of inkblots was central to a game, from the late 19th century. Rorschach's, however, was the first systematic approach of this kind. The ink blots were hand drawn by Rorschach. It has been suggested that Rorschach's use of inkblots may have been inspired by German doctor who, in 1857, had published a popular book of poems, each of which was inspired by an accidental inkblot. French psychologist had also experimented with inkblots as a, and, after the turn of the century, psychological experiments where inkblots were utilized multiplied, with aims such as studying imagination and consciousness.
The Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS): Overview and Case Illustrations Gregory J. Normative reference data, and interpretation, and apply the system to two cases. Which include a Portable Form Quality Tables and Coding Guide, Hermann Rorschach’s Official Inkblots, Reference Sheet for R-PAS Administration.
After studying 300 mental patients and 100 control subjects, in 1921 Rorschach wrote his book, which was to form the basis of the inkblot test (after experimenting with several hundred inkblots, he selected a set of ten for their diagnostic value), but he died the following year. Although he had served as Vice President of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society, Rorschach had difficulty in publishing the book and it attracted little attention when it first appeared. In 1927, the newly founded Hans Huber publishing house purchased Rorschach's book from the inventory of. Huber has remained the publisher of the test and related book, with Rorschach a registered trademark of Swiss publisher Verlag Hans Huber, Hogrefe AG.
The work has been described as 'a densely written piece couched in dry, scientific terminology'. After Rorschach's death, the original test scoring system was improved by Samuel Beck, and others. Summarized some of these later developments in the comprehensive system, at the same time trying to make the scoring more statistically rigorous. Some systems are based on the psychoanalytic concept of. The Exner system remains very popular in the, while in other methods sometimes dominate, such as that described in the textbook by, which is closer to the original Rorschach system and rooted more deeply in the original principles. Rorschach never intended the inkblots to be used as a general personality test, but developed them as a tool for the diagnosis of. It was not until 1939 that the test was used as a projective test of personality, a use of which Rorschach had always been skeptical.
Interviewed in 2012 for a documentary, Rita Signer, curator of the Rorschach Archives in, suggested that far from being random or chance designs, each of the blots selected by Rorschach for his test had been meticulously designed to be as ambiguous and 'conflicted' as possible. Method The Rorschach test is appropriate for subjects from the age of five to adulthood.
The administrator and subject typically sit next to each other at a table, with the administrator slightly behind the subject. Side-by-side seating of the examiner and the subject is used to reduce any effects of inadvertent cues from the examiner to the subject. In other words, side-by-side seating mitigates the possibility that the examiner will accidentally influence the subject's responses. This is to facilitate a 'relaxed but controlled atmosphere'. There are ten official inkblots, each printed on a separate white card, approximately 18 by 24 cm in size. Each of the blots has near perfect.
Five inkblots are of black ink, two are of black and red ink and three are multicolored, on a white background. After the test subject has seen and responded to all of the inkblots ( free association phase), the tester then presents them again one at a time in a set sequence for the subject to study: the subject is asked to note where he sees what he originally saw and what makes it look like that ( inquiry phase). The subject is usually asked to hold the cards and may rotate them. Whether the cards are rotated, and other related factors such as whether permission to rotate them is asked, may expose personality traits and normally contributes to the assessment. As the subject is examining the inkblots, the psychologist writes down everything the subject says or does, no matter how trivial.
Analysis of responses is recorded by the test administrator using a tabulation and scoring sheet and, if required, a separate location chart. The general goal of the test is to provide data about and variables such as, response tendencies, cognitive operations, and personal/interpersonal. The underlying assumption is that an individual will class external stimuli based on person-specific perceptual sets, and including, and that this clustering process is representative of the process used in real-life situations. Methods of interpretation differ. Rorschach scoring systems have been described as a system of pegs on which to hang one's knowledge of personality. The most widely used method in the United States is based on the work of Exner. Administration of the test to a group of subjects, by means of projected images, has also occasionally been performed, but mainly for research rather than diagnostic purposes.
Test administration is not to be confused with test interpretation: The interpretation of a Rorschach record is a complex process. It requires a wealth of knowledge concerning personality dynamics generally as well as considerable experience with the Rorschach method specifically. Proficiency as a Rorschach administrator can be gained within a few months.
However, even those who are able and qualified to become Rorschach interpreters usually remain in a 'learning stage' for a number of years. Features or categories The interpretation of the Rorschach test is not based primarily on the contents of the response, i.e., what the individual sees in the inkblot (the content).
In fact, the contents of the response are only a comparatively small portion of a broader cluster of variables that are used to interpret the Rorschach data: for instance, information is provided by the time taken before providing a response for a card can be significant (taking a long time can indicate 'shock' on the card). As well as by any comments the subject may make in addition to providing a direct response. In particular, information about determinants (the aspects of the inkblots that triggered the response, such as form and color) and location (which details of the inkblots triggered the response) is often considered more important than content, although there is contrasting evidence.
'Popularity' and 'originality' of responses can also be considered as basic dimensions in the analysis. Content The goal in coding content of the Rorschach is to categorize the objects that the subject describes in response to the inkblot. There are 27 established codes for identifying the name of the descriptive object. The codes are classified and include terms such as 'human', 'nature', 'animal', 'abstract', 'clothing', 'fire', and 'x-ray', to name a few. Content described that does not have a code already established should be coded using the code 'idiographic contents' with the shorthand code being 'Idio.'
Items are also coded for statistical popularity (or, conversely, originality). Main article: Rorschach performance assessment system (R-PAS) is a scoring method created by several members of the Rorschach Research Council.
They believed that the Exner scoring system was in need of an update, but after Exner's death, the Exner family forbade any changes to be made to the Comprehensive System. Therefore, they established a new system: the R-PAS. It is an attempt at creating a current, empirically based, and internationally focused scoring system that is easier to use than Exner's Comprehensive System. The R-PAS manual is intended to be a comprehensive tool for administering, scoring, and interpreting the Rorschach. The manual consists of two chapters that are basics of scoring and interpretation, aimed for use for novice Rorschach users, followed by numerous chapters containing more detailed and technical information. In terms of updated scoring, the authors only selected variables that have been empirically supported in the literature. To note, the authors did not create new variables or indices to be coded, but systematically reviewed variables that had been used in past systems.
While all of these codes have been used in the past, many have been renamed to be more face valid and readily understood. Scoring of the indices has been updated (e.g. Utilizing and ) to make the Rorschach more in line with other popular.
In addition to providing coding guidelines to score examinee responses, the R-PAS provides a system to code an examinee's behavior during Rorschach administration. These behavioral codes are included as it is believed that the behaviors exhibited during testing are a reflection of someone's task performance and supplements the actual responses given. This allows generalizations to be made between someone's responses to the cards and their actual behavior. The R-PAS also recognized that scoring on many of the Rorschach variables differed across countries. Therefore, starting in 1997, Rorschach protocols from researchers around the world were compiled.
After compiling protocols for over a decade, a total of 15 adult samples were used to provide a normative basis for the R-PAS. The protocols represent data gathered in the United States, Europe, Israel, Argentina and Brazil. Cultural differences Comparing North American Exner normative data with data from European and South American subjects showed marked differences in some features, some of which impact important variables, while others (such as the average number of responses) coincide. For instance, texture response is typically zero in European subjects (if interpreted as a need for closeness, in accordance with the system, a European would seem to express it only when it reaches the level of a craving for closeness), and there are fewer 'good form' responses, to the point where schizophrenia may be suspected if data were correlated to the North American norms. Form is also often the only determinant expressed by European subjects; while color is less frequent than in American subjects, color-form responses are comparatively frequent in opposition to form-color responses; since the latter tend to be interpreted as indicators of a defensive attitude in processing affect, this difference could stem from a higher value attributed to spontaneous expression of emotions. This article may lend to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies.
Please help to create a more balanced presentation. And this issue before removing this message. (February 2015) Shortly after publication of Rorschach's book, a copy found its way to Japan where it was discovered by one of the country's leading psychiatrists in a second-hand book store.
He was so impressed that he started a craze for the test that has never diminished. The Japanese Rorschach Society is by far the largest in the world and the test is 'routinely put to a wide range of purposes'. In 2012 the test was described, by presenter Jo Fidgen, for 's programme Dr Inkblot, as 'more popular than ever' in Japan. Controversy Some consider the Rorschach inkblot test, as several studies suggested that conclusions reached by test administrators since the 1950s were akin to.
In the 1959 edition of Mental Measurement Yearbook, (former President of the Psychometric Society and American Psychological Association) is quoted in a review: 'The test has repeatedly failed as a prediction of practical criteria. There is nothing in the literature to encourage reliance on Rorschach interpretations.' In addition, major reviewer Raymond J. McCall writes (p. 154): 'Though tens of thousands of Rorschach tests have been administered by hundreds of trained professionals since that time (of a previous review), and while many relationships to personality dynamics and behavior have been hypothesized, the vast majority of these relationships have never been validated empirically, despite the appearance of more than 2,000 publications about the test.' A moratorium on its use was called for in 1999.
A 2003 report by Wood and colleagues had more mixed views: 'More than 50 years of research have confirmed Lee J. Cronbach's (1970) final verdict: that some Rorschach scores, though falling woefully short of the claims made by proponents, nevertheless possess 'validity greater than chance' (p. 636). Its value as a measure of thought disorder in schizophrenia research is well accepted. It is also used regularly in research on dependency, and, less often, in studies on hostility and anxiety. Furthermore, substantial evidence justifies the use of the Rorschach as a clinical measure of intelligence and thought disorder.' Test materials The basic premise of the test is that objective meaning can be extracted from responses to blots of ink which are supposedly meaningless.
Supporters of the Rorschach inkblot test believe that the subject's response to an ambiguous and meaningless stimulus can provide insight into their thought processes, but it is not clear how this occurs. Also, recent research shows that the blots are not entirely meaningless, and that a patient typically responds to meaningful as well as ambiguous aspects of the blots. (1985) describes the blots as merely '. The vehicle for the interaction.' Between client and therapist, concluding: '. The usefulness of the Rorschach will depend upon the sensitivity, empathy and insightfulness of the tester totally independently of the Rorschach itself. An intense dialogue about the wallpaper or the rug would do as well provided that both parties believe.'
Illusory and invisible correlations In the 1960s, research by psychologists Loren and Jean Chapman showed that at least some of the apparent validity of the Rorschach was due to an illusion. At that time, the five signs most often interpreted as diagnostic of were 1) buttocks and anuses; 2) feminine clothing; 3) male or female sex organs; 4) human figures without male or female features; and 5) human figures with both male and female features.
The Chapmans surveyed 32 experienced testers about their use of the Rorschach to diagnose homosexuality. At this time homosexuality was regarded as a, and the Rorschach was the most popular projective test.
The testers reported that homosexual men had shown the five signs more frequently than heterosexual men. Despite these beliefs, analysis of the results showed that heterosexual men were just as likely to report these signs, which were therefore totally ineffective for determining homosexuality. The five signs did, however, match the guesses students made about which imagery would be associated with homosexuality.
The Chapmans investigated the source of the testers' false confidence. In one experiment, students read through a stack of cards, each with a Rorschach blot, a sign and a pair of 'conditions' (which might include homosexuality).
The information on the cards was fictional, although subjects were told it came from case studies of real patients. The students reported that the five invalid signs were associated with homosexuality, even though the cards had been constructed so there was no association at all. The Chapmans repeated this experiment with another set of cards, in which the association was negative; the five signs were never reported by homosexuals. The students still reported seeing a strong positive correlation. These experiments showed that the testers' prejudices could result in them 'seeing' non-existent relationships in the data. The Chapmans called this phenomenon ' and it has since been demonstrated in many other contexts.
A related phenomenon called 'invisible correlation' applies when people fail to see a strong because it does not match their expectations. This was also found in clinicians' interpretations of the Rorschach. Homosexual men are more likely to see a monster on Card IV or a part-animal, part-human figure in Card V. Almost all of the experienced clinicians in the Chapmans' survey missed these valid signs.
The Chapmans ran an experiment with fake Rorschach responses in which these valid signs were always associated with homosexuality. The subjects missed these perfect associations and instead reported that invalid signs, such as buttocks or feminine clothing, were better indicators. In 1992, the psychologist argued that these artificial experiments are easier than the real-world use of the Rorschach, and hence they probably underestimated the errors that testers were susceptible to. He described the continuing popularity of the Rorschach after the Chapmans' research as a 'glaring example of irrationality among psychologists'.
Tester projection Some critics argue that the testing psychologist must also project onto the patterns. A possible example sometimes attributed to the psychologist's subjective judgement is that responses are coded (among many other things), for 'Form Quality': in essence, whether the subject's response fits with how the blot actually looks. Superficially this might be considered a subjective judgment, depending on how the examiner has internalized the categories involved. But with the Exner system of scoring, much of the subjectivity is eliminated or reduced by use of frequency tables that indicate how often a particular response is given by the population in general. Another example is that the response 'bra' was considered a 'sex' response by male psychologists, but a 'clothing' response by females. In Exner's system, however, such a response is always coded as 'clothing' unless there is a clear sexual reference in the response.
Third parties could be used to avoid this problem, but the Rorschach's has been questioned. That is, in some studies the scores obtained by two independent scorers do not match with great consistency. This conclusion was challenged in studies using large samples reported in 2002.
Validity When interpreted as a projective test, results are poorly verifiable. The Exner system of scoring (also known as the 'Comprehensive System') is meant to address this, and has all but displaced many earlier (and less consistent) scoring systems. It makes heavy use of what factor (shading, color, outline, etc.) of the inkblot leads to each of the tested person's comments. Disagreements about test validity remain: while the Exner proposed a rigorous scoring system, latitude remained in the actual interpretation, and the clinician's write-up of the test record is still partly subjective. Reber (1985) comments '.
There is essentially no evidence whatsoever that the test has even a shred of validity.' Nevertheless, there is substantial research indicating the utility of the measure for a few scores.
Several scores correlate well with general. Interestingly, one such scale is R, the total number of responses; this reveals the questionable side-effect that more intelligent people tend to be elevated on many pathology scales, since many scales do not correct for high R: if a subject gives twice as many responses overall, it is more likely that some of these will seem 'pathological'. Also correlated with intelligence are the scales for Organizational Activity, Complexity, Form Quality, and Human Figure responses. The same source reports that validity has also been shown for detecting such conditions as and other;; and (including ). There is some evidence that the Deviant Verbalizations scale relates to. The authors conclude that 'Otherwise, the Comprehensive System doesn't appear to bear a consistent relationship to psychological disorders or symptoms, personality characteristics, potential for violence, or such health problems as cancer'. (Cancer is mentioned because a small minority of Rorschach enthusiasts have claimed the test can predict cancer.) Reliability It is also thought that the test's reliability can depend substantially on details of the testing procedure, such as where the tester and subject are seated, any introductory words, verbal and nonverbal responses to subjects' questions or comments, and how responses are recorded.
Exner has published detailed instructions, but Wood et al. Cites many court cases where these had not been followed. Similarly, the procedures for coding responses are fairly well specified but extremely time-consuming leaving them very subject to the author's style and the publisher to the quality of the instructions (such as was noted with one of Bohm's textbooks in the 1950s ) as well as clinic workers (which would include examiners) being encouraged to cut corners. United States courts have challenged the Rorschach as well. Jones v Apfel (1997) stated (quoting from Attorney's Textbook of Medicine) that Rorschach 'results do not meet the requirements of standardization, reliability, or validity of clinical diagnostic tests, and interpretation thus is often controversial'. In State ex rel H.H. (1999) where under cross examination Dr.
Bogacki stated under oath 'many psychologists do not believe much in the validity or effectiveness of the Rorschach test' and US v Battle (2001) ruled that the Rorschach 'does not have an objective scoring system.' Population norms. This section may be too for most readers to understand. Please help this section to, without removing the technical details. The may contain suggestions. (September 2010) Another controversial aspect of the test is its.
Exner's system was thought to possess normative scores for various populations. But, beginning in the mid-1990s others began to try to replicate or update these norms and failed.
In particular, discrepancies seemed to focus on indices measuring, disordered thinking, and discomfort in close relationships. Lilienfeld and colleagues, who are critical of the Rorschach, have stated that this proves that the Rorschach tends to 'overpathologise normals'. Although Rorschach proponents, such as Hibbard, suggest that high rates of pathology detected by the Rorschach accurately reflect increasing psychopathology in society, the Rorschach also identifies half of all test-takers as possessing 'distorted thinking', a false positive rate unexplained by current research.
The accusation of 'over-pathologising' has also been considered by Meyer et al. They presented an international collaborative study of 4704 Rorschach protocols, obtained in 21 different samples, across 17 different countries, with only 2% showing significant elevations on the index of perceptual and thinking disorder, 12% elevated on indices of depression and hyper-vigilance and 13% elevated on persistent stress overload—all in line with expected frequencies among nonpatient populations. Applications The test is also controversial because of its common use in court-ordered evaluations. This controversy stems, in part, from the limitations of the Rorschach, with no additional data, in making official diagnoses from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). (co-developer with John Exner of the Comprehensive system) has stated that the Rorschach 'is a measure of personality functioning, and it provides information concerning aspects of personality structure and dynamics that make people the kind of people they are. Sometimes such information about personality characteristics is helpful in arriving at a differential diagnosis, if the alternative diagnoses being considered have been well conceptualized with respect to specific or defining personality characteristics'.
In the vast majority of cases, anyway, the Rorschach test wasn't singled out but used as one of several in a battery of tests, and despite the criticism of usage of the Rorschach in the courts, out of 8,000 cases in which forensic psychologists used Rorschach-based testimony, the appropriateness of the instrument was challenged only six times, and the testimony was ruled inadmissible in only one of those cases. One study has found that use of the test in courts has increased by three times in the decade between 1996 and 2005, compared to the previous fifty years. Others however have found that its usage by forensic psychologists has decreased. Exner and others have claimed that the Rorschach test is capable of detecting. Protection of test items and ethics Psychologists object to the publication of psychological test material out of concerns that a patient's test responses will be influenced (' ') by previous exposure. The takes the position that, 'Publishing the questions and answers to any psychological test compromises its usefulness' and calls for 'keeping psychological tests out of the public domain.'
The same statement quotes their president as saying, 'The CPA's concern is not with the publication of the cards and responses to the Rorschach test per se, for which there is some controversy in the psychological literature and disagreement among experts, but with the larger issue of the publication and dissemination of psychological test content'. From a legal standpoint, the Rorschach test images have been in the for many years in most countries, particularly those with a of up to 70 years. They have been in the public domain in Hermann Rorschach's native Switzerland since 1992 (70 years after the author's death, or 50 years after the cut-off date of 1942), according to. They are also in the public domain under where all works published before 1923 are considered to be in the public domain. This means that the Rorschach images may be used by anyone for any purpose.
Was, perhaps, first to make them public in his 1983 book, where he also described the method of administering the test. The (APA) has a code of ethics that supports 'freedom of inquiry and expression' and helping 'the public in developing informed judgments'. It claims that its goals include 'the welfare and protection of the individuals and groups with whom psychologists work', and it requires that psychologists 'make reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity and security of test materials'. The APA has also raised concerns that the dissemination of test materials might impose 'very concrete harm to the general public'. It has not taken a position on publication of the Rorschach plates but noted 'there are a limited number of standardized psychological tests considered appropriate for a given purpose'. A public statement by the expresses similar concerns about psychological tests (without mentioning any test by name) and considers the 'release of test materials to unqualified individuals' to be misuse if it is against the wishes of the test publisher.
In his 1998 book Ethics in Psychology, notes that some believe 'reprinting copies of the Rorschach plates. And listing common responses represents a serious unethical act' for psychologists and is indicative of 'questionable professional judgment'. Other professional associations, such as the Italian Association of Strategic Psychotherapy, recommend that even information about the purpose of the test or any detail of its administration should be kept from the public, even though 'cheating' the test is held to be practically impossible. On September 9, 2008, Hogrefe attempted to claim copyright over the Rorschach ink blots during filings of a complaint with the against the psychologist Ney Limonge. These complaints were denied. Further complaints were sent to two other websites that contained information similar to the Rorschach test in May 2009 by legal firm Schluep and Degen of Switzerland.
Psychologists have sometimes refused to disclose tests and test data to courts when asked to do so by the parties citing ethical reasons; it is argued that such refusals may hinder full understanding of the process by the attorneys, and impede cross-examination of the experts. APA ethical standard 1.23(b) states that the psychologist has a responsibility to document processes in detail and of adequate quality to allow reasonable scrutiny by the court. Controversy ensued in the psychological community in 2009 when the original Rorschach plates and research results on interpretations were published in the 'Rorschach test' article on.
Hogrefe & Huber Publishing, a German company that sells editions of the plates, called the publication 'unbelievably reckless and even cynical of Wikipedia' and said it was investigating the possibility of legal action. Due to this controversy an was temporarily established on Wikipedia to prevent the removal of the plates., an physician involved in the debate, compared it to the publication of the: though people are likewise free to memorize the eye chart before an eye test, its general usefulness as a diagnostic tool for eyesight has not diminished. For those opposed to exposure, publication of the inkblots is described as a 'particularly painful development', given the tens of thousands of research papers which have, over many years, 'tried to link a patient’s responses to certain psychological conditions.' Controversy over Wikipedia's publication of the inkblots has resulted in the blots being published in other locations, such as. Later that year two psychologists filed a complaint against Heilman with the medical licensing board, arguing that his uploading of the images constituted unprofessional behavior.
In 2012 two articles were published showing consequences of the publication of the images in Wikipedia. The first one studied negative attitudes towards the test generated during the Wikipedia-Rorschach debate, while the second suggested that reading the Wikipedia article could help to fake 'good' results in the test. Publication of the Rorschach images is also welcomed by critics who consider the test to be., editor of magazine, stated that the Rorschach 'has remained in use more out of tradition than good evidence' and was hopeful that publication of the test might finally hasten its demise.
See also. – a similar inkblot test designed to correct the limitations of the Rorschach. Notes.