Rorschach Ink-blot Test

Niharika Thakkar B.A, M.A, N.E.T, MBPsS,

Clinical Psychology

History

(1921) Hermann Rorschach

Psychodiagnostik

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

Systems

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

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

Administration

Steps in administration

1. Introducing the subject to the technique

2. Giving the test instructions

3. The Response Phase

4. The Inquiry Phase

5. Testing the limits

Introduction/Test Instructions

Sit side by side

Cards should not be made visible before

Appropriate order with Card I on top

Hand subject first card

Response sheet

Location Determinant Content

Car

d N

o.

Res

po

nse

No

Po

siti

on o

f

Car

d

Rea

ctio

n

Tim

e

RESPONSE

To

tal

Tim

e

ENQUIRY

Ad

dit

ional

Ad

dit

ional

Ad

dit

ional

Fo

rm L

evel

P/O

Response Phase

Verbatim, no probing, Silence by examiner is the rule

Position of card, 0

I dont see anything there

Take your time, were in no hurry (everyone can find something).

If you take your time and look some more, I think youll find something else too.

Response time to be noted

Total time to be noted

Enquiry Phase

Conducted after all responses are given to all 10 cards

Gain information needed to score accurately

Nondirective questions

Complete location sheet

Not used to generate new information O.K., weve done them all. Now we are going to go back through

them. It wont take long. I want you to help me see what you saw. Im going to read what you said, and then I want you to show me where in the blot you saw it and what is there that makes it look like that, so I can see it too. Id like to see it just like you did, so help me now. Do you understand?

Enquiry (cont.)

Focus on gaining information and asking questions on: Location (Where is it?)

Determinants (What makes it look like that?)

Content (What is it?)

Example Response:

Its a pretty flower

Inquiry:

E: (Repeats response)

S: Yes thats the stem & here are the petals

E: U mentioned that it is pretty

Location chart

Rorschach: Assumptions

Perceptual sets displayed through projective techniques

Ambiguous stimuli

Responses are scored along three categories:

location

determinants

Content

form

Scoring and Interpretation

Scoring

Location

Determinants

Content

Popularity

Form

Location

Where? Entire blot =W

Common Detail= D

Unusual detail =Dd and dD

Use of white space =S

Determininants

Why?

ex. shape, color, texture

F= form

C= colour

FC= shape and colour

CF= colour and shape

M= Human movement

FM= Animal movement

Fc= texture response

Fk= shading response

Fm= Object movement

Content

What?

Human= H Animal= A Human anatomy= At Animal Anatomy= AAt Object= Obj Blood= Blood Fire= Fire Plant= Plants Clouds= Clouds Geographical= Geo Human like (ghost, cartoon)= (H) Animal like (dragon, cartoon)= (A) Human part (face, hands etc)= Hd Animal Part= Ad Food= Fd Sex= sex Abstract= Abs Force= m

Popular Responses

(P) frequently perceived responses

Average is 6.9 in non patient populations

5= Adequate

Most frequent on I, III, V, VIII

Popular Responses in the Comprehensive System

Card I. Bat or butterfly; always involves the whole blot.

Card II Animal forms, usually heads of dogs, bears, elephants, or lambs.

Card III. Two human figures, or representations thereof, such as dolls and caricatures.

Card IV. Human or human-like figure such as a giant, monster, science fiction creature,

etc.

Card V. Butterfly or bat, including the whole blot; the apex of the card upright or

inverted.

Card VI. Animal skin, hide, rug, or pelt.

Card VII. Human head or face, specifically identified as female, child, Indian, or with

gender not identified.

Card VIII. Whole animal figure. The content varies considerably, such as a bear, dog,

rodent, fox, wolf, and coyote.

Card IX. Human or human-like figures such as witches, giants, science fiction creatures,

monsters, etc.

Card X. Spider or crab with all appendages restricted to a specified area (Dl). Other

variations of multilegged animals are not coded as P (popular responses).

Scoring examples

Card Response Inquiry Coding

I < 1. If I turn it ths way ths E: (Rpts Ss resp) part ll an evergreen tree S: Well, it certainly has the shape

of an evergreen, u kno sk of an

evergreen, like a spruce, very stately

looking

Interpretation

Three steps:

1. Listing the sequence of codes or scores

2. Recording frequencies for each variable

3. Performing various calculations required to obtain the ratios, percentages and derived scores

Calculations

Total responses

Popular Responses

Colour shock and shading shock

Form Quality

Qualitative analysis

Quantitative analysis

Psychogram

Testing the limits

Thank you