The Rorschach

History
(1921) Hermann Rorschach
Psychodiagnostik
Form Interpretation Test

Diagnostic approach for schizophrenia Original set contained 40 inkblots

15 used regularly (eventually narrowed down to 10 due to printing costs) Devised a set of codes Printing error led to use of shading

History (cont.)
After Rorschachs death - use of blots focused on clinical and/or vocational applications Focus on content analysis David Levy (1926) brought plates to US Samuel Beck (1927)
standardization study of the inkblots

Bruno Klopfer (1922) - Germany

studied under Carl Jung in Zurich immigrated to US in 1934

History (cont.)
Klopfer and his students developed a scoring system(1936) Beck scoring system (1937) David Rapaport - Psychological Diagnostic Testing (1946)
clinical applications of 8 tests including the Rorschach

Roy Schafer (1954)

Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing content analysis

John Exner (1995-2003)

Most extensive and well researched scoring system

Nature of the Rorschach

How they perceive their environment How they process information How they prefer to cope with problem solving situations Provides clues to current and characteristic ways of dealing with life experiences
Psychological states and traits

Use of Projection
Tendency of people to be influenced by their needs, interests and overall psychological organization in the cognitive translation or interpretation of perceptual inputs whenever the stimulus field includes ambiguity
projective hypothesis (Frank, 1939) projective methods

Rorschach: Assumptions
Stimuli from the environment are organized by persons needs, motives, conflicts and by certain perceptual sets These needs become exaggerated when subjects are confronted with ambiguous stimuli These responses are representative of how individuals confront other ambiguous situations Responses are scored along three categories:
location determinants content

Exner
Began collection of broad normative database Integrated system of scoring and interpretation Scoring category included only if showed .85 agreement The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System

Reliability
Excellent interscorer reliabilities .82 - .97 for scoring categories Test-retest 1 year interval (nonpatient)- .26 to .92
worse for children

Ratios and percentages show higher test-retest stability

Validity
Primary focus is to discriminate among different clinical populations
example - schizophrenics show poor-quality responses

Hard to establish because of multiple scoring categories and formulas Meta-analysis show validity between .40 and .50

Validity (cont.)
Not effective at assisting with diagnosis
except; schizophrenia, borderline, bipolar

May predict variables such as outcome from psychotherapy, detection of psychosis, dependent behavior Response productivity confounds validity

Assets and Limitations

Bypasses conscious resistance High resistance to faking good Ease of administration
50 minutes Questionable reliability and validity Complex scoring systems Lack of standardized administration and scoring system Limited use with children (esp. under 14) Large number of variables can produce spurious random significance

Appropriate Uses
Not a cognitive or neuropsychological measure Not necessarily the best measure for prediction of behavior Best if used as part of a battery Best if questions concerns a description of psychological operations, needs, styles, habits

Scoring Summary

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

The nine questions:

What is the location? What is the developmental quality What are the determinants? What is the form quality? Is there a pair? What are the contents? Is it a popular? Should there be a Z score? Are there any special scores?

Interpretation: The Structural Summary

1. 2. 3. Three steps: Listing the sequence of codes or scores Recording frequencies for each variable Performing various calculations required to obtain the ratios, percentages and derived scores

Other Interpretive Questions

What is the quality of the persons self-focus? With what frequency and efficiency does the person try to organize his/her environment? With what balance and passivity does the person interact with his/her environment? How will the person respond to the affective stimuli of his/her world? Is the person likely to be schizophrenic? Is the person suicidal?