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

Card No.

Response No

Position of Card

Reaction Time

RESPONSE Total Time

Response sheet
ENQUIRY Location Additional Determinant Additional Content Additional Form Level

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 I < 1. If I turn it ths way ths E: (Rpts Ss resp)
part ll an evergreen tree

Coding

S: Well, it certainly has the shape of an evergreen, u kno sk of an evergreen, like a spruce, very stately looking

Interpretation
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

Calculations
Total responses Popular Responses Colour shock and shading shock

Form Quality
Qualitative analysis Quantitative analysis Psychogram

Testing the limits

Thank you