The RorschachA Very Short Introduction to the History,

Theory, Administration, and Scoring. Ron Hopkins

Poetic Prelude: Considerations for Art

• “To proceed beyond the limitations of a given level of knowledge the researcher, as a rule, has to break down methodological taboos which condemn as ‘unscientific’ or ‘illogical’ the very methods or concepts which later on prove to be basic for the next major progress.”

» Kurt Lewin

Poetic Prelude: Considerations for Art

• “The person who does not love to the same degree all things present in the art of painting will not be a Universalist; It is the same with the one who does not like landscapes and considers they merit only a brief and simple study.  As the master Boticelli stated, such a study is useful because just by throwing a sponge soaked with various colors against a wall to make a stain, one can find a beautiful landscape. If it is true that in this stain various inventions can be discerned, or rather what one wants to find in it, such as battles, reefs, seas, clouds, forests and other similar things, then surely, this is like the ringing of bells in which one can understand whatever one wants to.  But, even though these smears of color provide you with  inventions, they also show you that they do not come to represent anything in particular.  And this painter produced  very sad landscapes...............”

» Leonardo da Vinci, from “Treatise on Painting”

A Very Brief History of The Rorschach Test

• Early Studies in “Ambiguous Designs” and Assessments of Individual Personality• Leonardo da Vinci• Botticelli

• Justinus Kerner’s book of poetry (1857)–Poems inspired by accidental inkblots.

A Very Brief History of The Rorschach Test

• 1921: Publication of “Psychodiagnostik”– 174 page monograph (183 pages

English trans.) • Rorschach studied 300 mental patients

and 100 control subjects. • Rorschach died at age 37, seven months

after its publication. It received little attention upon publication.• The work was described as being a

“densely written piece couched in dry, scientific terminology.”

A Very Brief History of The Rorschach Test

• What’s in a Name?• Rorschach’s View of his Work– Rorschach’s Original Title• “Method and Results of a Perceptual-Diagnostic Experiment: Interpretation of Arbitrary Forms.”• “I believe you are being modest…”• “I have a sense of responsibility for the title…”

To Rorschach or Not To Rorschach

• When Should It Be Used? – Information Collected

• “The Rorschach does not provide data from which answers to all questions can be derived….” (Exner)

– Limitations• “…complex specimen of behaviors…can be translated into a

series of descriptive statements concerning the individual.” (Ibid.)

– Use• Ordinarily used as part of a battery • Part of a “multi-method” approach to assessment.

– Scope of the test is wide: “testing everything.”– Overlapping tests allow the R. to possible provide “cross-validation”

with other tests.

To Rorschach or Not To Rorschach

• Who Should Use It?– The Three Prerequisites (as proposed by Exner)• Basic Understanding of People and the Notion of

Personality• Good Working Knowledge of Psychopathology

and Maladjustment• Understanding of the Test Itself

To Rorschach or Not To Rorschach

• The Interreleated Data Sets– Verbiage • Language and Responses Given to Examiner

– Sequence• “As responses have occurred as reflected in both the

substance and the coding of them.”

– Structure • “Plot of frequencies for nearly 100 variables from which

data for more than 60 variables, ratios, percentages and indices are derived.”

What Might This Be?

Administering The Rorschach

• Seating–Seated next to client, never across from

each other. • Introducing the Test–“What do you know about this test?”–“What we are looking for is…”

• “What Might This Be?”

Administering The Rorschach

• Time– “Time should not be afforded undue weight when

administering the test.” • Recording Responses– Everything is recorded, verbatim. – The Rorschach Shorthand• E: “It cb a very pretty flower”• S: “Yes, ths cb the stem & here r the petals.”

Scoring the Rorschach

• Clusters (Related to Several Psychological Features)– Affective Features– Capacity for Control Stress Tolerance– Cognitive Mediation– Ideation– Information Processing– Interpersonal Perception– Self-Perception– Situation-Related Stress

Scoring the Rorschach• Cluster Search Order– Changes frequently, often depending upon variables:• Key Variables– Presence of a Key Variable predicts which

combination of two or three clusters will yield the most significant information.

• Tertiary Variables – Does not have predictive power. Highlights which

cluster will yield the most information but does not predict which subsequent clusters will supplement.

“Reading” the Cards

Concluding Remarks• “The full value of the Rorschach is realized only from the

complete sum of its parts. A neglect of any available Rorschach data, whether quantitative or qualitative, is an abuse of the test and a disservice to the client.” (Exner)

• “The most outstanding virtue of the Rorschach method is generally recognized to lie in its power for providing an integrated pattern of total personality, and for at once articulating this pattern in specific quantitative ways into a manifold of personality dimensions.” (Rickers-Ovisankina)