Validation of the SASB Introject Surface in a Norwegian Clinical and Nonclinical Sample

Aronow, Reznikoff, and Moreland (this issue) have written a thoughtful contribution to the debate on the status of nomothetic and idiographic approaches to the Rorschach test. One of the interesting and attractive features of the current Rorschach er a is—as the Rorschach has experienced a resurgence of interest—the continuing interest in the foundations of the test and the historic antecedents to contemporary thought about the Rorschach (cf. Handler, 1994). One cannot consider Rorschach's seminal insights or those of the first and second generation and not deepen one's contemporary understanding and practice. In other words, the more you know about the test, the better "Rorschacher" you will be. This is witness to the test's utility and profundity. For this we may be grateful for the thought-provoking contribution of Aronow and his colleagues.     

Rorschach Indices of Love,Aggression and Happiness

This study enumerates the Rorschach variables used for rating the eight dimensions of love, aggression and happiness, as proposed by the Indian psychologist and psychoanalyst Das Gupta. The purpose of this presentation was to examine, refine and expand the existing principles of interpretation of the Rorschach as they relate to the love and aggressive affect of an individual. The interpretations were based on both formal and content analysis of the protocols and results were representative of a technique demanding more rigorous and extended enquiry into the vicissitudes of love and aggression.     

Rorschach records of Nazi war criminals: a reanalysis using current scoring and interpretation practices

The Nuremberg trials focused worldwide attention on 22 Nazi war criminals. Rorschach Inkblot tests were administered to these Nazi leaders in an attempt to understand the Nazi personality. Past studies which have described and interpreted these Rorschach records have made at least two types of errors in their analyses. One is that of overinterpretation and excessive inference. A second common error has been the failure to detect meaningful distinctions between protocols that represent significant differences in personality style. This latter error is shown in repeated attempts to group all Nazi protocols into one distinct "Nazi personality." This investigation attempted to quantify the analysis of these Nazi Rorschach records, specifically those Nazi leaders who were sentenced to life imprisonment or execution for their war crimes against humanity, by utilizing Exner's (1985a) standardized Comprehensive Scoring System as well as computerized objective interpretation software based on the Exner system (1986). This modern analysis of the Rorschach records demonstrates that the Nazi war criminals cannot be grouped together into one specific mental disorder that would adequately characterize these diverse individuals. The varying degrees of psychopathology of the Nazi leaders are illustrated by analyses of individual Rorschach protocols.     

Misuse of Computer Software to Detect Faking on the Rorschach: A Reply to Kahn,Fox, and Rhode

Kahn, Fox, and Rhode (1988) made several errors in their article comparing human judgment versus computer scoring in detecting malingering in Rorschach protocols. The Rorschach interpretation software was designed to make hypotheses based solely on unusual findings among structural variables. It does not make diagnoses concerning psychosis nor is it designed to detect malingering. In claiming that the computer program made such diagnostic statements, Kahn and his associates were attributing to it capacities it does not have. Other problems with their study are discussed in areas of wrong application of Rorschach methodology and poor research design. Given that their study has so many flaws, their results and implications are not valid and can be misleading.     

Bruno Klopfer,A Measure of the Man and His Work: A Review of Developments in the Rorschach Technique: volumes I,II, and III

This article reviews Bruno Klopfer's life and his contributions to the Rorschach, especially as they are represented in his three volume series: Developments in the Rorschach Technique, volumes I, II, and III. It emphasizes Klopfer's many contributions to Rorschach administration and interpretation, as well as his superior teaching and organizational abilities. Klopfer organized what eventually became The Society for Personality Assessment and began the journal that eventually became the Journal of Personality Assessment. His legacy is reflected in much of Exner's system of administration and scoring.     

A Commentary on DeCato's "On the Rorschach M Response and Monotheism" (1993)

In a recent article, DeCato (1993) posits a fundamental dichotomy between the Comprehensive System (Exner, 1986) Rorschach interpretation, which is based on group norms, and the Perceptanalytic System (Piotrowski, 1957), which advocates validating Rorschach microfacts against the behavior of the individual. Perspective can be gained on this issue by recognizing that these approaches are actually extremes on a continuum where interpretation gradually narrows from the general to the specific. Acknowledging the funnel-shaped character of Rorschach interpretive approaches tins implications for understanding, scoring, and teaching projective techniques.     

A reply to Mr. Dowling

This paper examines the interpretation of Hobbes as a political formalist which is developed by F. S. McNeilly in The Anatomy of Leviathan. McNeilly argues that Hobbes's demonstration of the necessity of political society is independent of Hobbes's particular view of man as an egotist bent at all costs on his own preservation. The first part of the argument of the paper uses techniques of decision theory and game theory to show that this argument which McNeilly ascribes to Hobbes is not valid. However, the argument which Hobbes is traditionally supposed to put forward is shown to be valid. The second part of the paper examines McNeilly's interpretation of the text of Leviathan and shows that he has insufficient grounds for supposing that Hobbes attempted to construct a purely formal science of politics.     

Situational Determinants of Personal Validation of General Personality Interpretations

Groups of Ss were matched with respect to their pre-experimental opinions regarding the value of psychological tests used by trained professionals to describe personality. Ss were then given either the Rorschach, TAT, FIRO-B, or Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale and were later given identical general personality interpretations supposedly based on the test results. An analysis of variance of Ss ratings of the accuracy of the personality interpretation indicated that neither the type of test S took nor whether the personality interpretation was presented as being derived “for you specifically” or “for people in general” had differential effects on Ss' acceptance of the interpretation; all groups rated the interpretation as being between “good” and “excellent.”     

LIFE RECEDES WHEN EXCHANGE FAILS: CLINICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AMONG TURKISH PATIENTS

This paper presents a multidimensional analysis of a young Turkish ill woman. The psychological interpretation is based on clinical data and on projective techniques, i.e., the Thematic Apperception Test and the Rorschach Test. The psychological interpretation is combined with a semantic interpretation of the symbolic cultural processes. This anthropological approach concentrates on the temporal and spatial aspects of the culturally established symbolic congruence between the subject's bodily acts and her socio-cultural environment (in particular the subject's family and their discourse).     

Current Perspectives on Psychoanalytic Rorschach Assessment

In this article, I present as clear and as updated an account as possible of several of the essential features that comprise a psychoanalytic approach to the Rorschach. Specific attention is accorded the assessment frame, the language of assessment, sources of assessment information, and differing approaches to the interpretation of Rorschach data. The article comes out of a Rorschach tradition begun by Rapaport, extended by Schafer and Mayman, and presently being updated by Leichtman and Smith.     

R in Rorschach research: a ghost revisited

As interest in Rorschach research has increased, an old issue-whether differences in R require that other scores be normalized in relation to R when Rorschach data are analyzed-has been resurrected. Most who advocate normalizing or partialing for R cite Cronbach (1949) or Fiske and Baughman (1953) as the basis for their argument. Although Cronbach offered several useful suggestions regarding this problem, the data base to which he referred and that used by Fiske and Baughman allowed for a much greater variation in R than occurs when Rorschach's standard instructions are applied. Intercorrelations between R and most parametric Rorschach variables are not significant among groups of nonpatients, schizophrenics, and depressives. Thus, although the issue of R can be critical when some variables are included in a data matrix, most analyses can proceed without partialing or normalization. When nonparametric variables are included in an analysis, partialing or normalizing is inappropriate because the resulting distributions will be distorted.     

Current perspectives on psychoanalytic Rorschach assessment

In this article, I present as clear and as updated an account as possible of several of the essential features that comprise a psychoanalytic approach to the Rorschach. Specific attention is accorded the assessment frame, the language of assessment, sources of assessment information, and differing approaches to the interpretation of Rorschach data. The article comes out of a Rorschach tradition begun by Rapaport, extended by Schafer and Mayman, and presently being updated by Leichtman and Smith.     

Psychological tests don't think: an appreciation of Schafer's Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing

Roy Schafer 's Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing has, for nearly 40 years, represented a hallmark of psychodynamically informed psychological assessment. In this article, Schafer's contribution is reviewed in light of recent contributions to the Rorschach literature. Following a summary of the main sections of the work, Schafer's approach to the Rorschach is critically re-examined from the perspective of modem assessment practice. Differences between the epistemological bases of psychoanalytic and empirical methods of Rorschach interpretation are highlighted, and the prospects for an integration of these two approaches are considered. It is concluded that Schafer's contribution remains as fresh today as when written 40 years ago.     

Psychological Tests Don't Think: An Appreciation of Schafer's Psychoanalytic Interpretation In Rorschach Testing

Roy Schafer 's Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing has, for nearly 40 years, represented a hallmark of psychodynamically informed psychological assessment. In this article, Schafer's contribution is reviewed in light of recent contributions to the Rorschach literature. Following a summary of the main sections of the work, Schafer's approach to the Rorschach is critically re-examined from the perspective of modem assessment practice. Differences between the epistemological bases of psychoanalytic and empirical methods of Rorschach interpretation are highlighted, and the prospects for an integration of these two approaches are considered. It is concluded that Schafer's contribution remains as fresh today as when written 40 years ago.     

Faith,evidence, coercion again

Primary quality theories of colour claim that colours are intrinsic, objective, mind-independent properties of external objects. However, a recent, empirically motivated argument seems to have convinced many that primary quality theories cannot be sustained. This argument, in outline, alleges that colours bear structural relations to each other that no primary qualities bear to each other, and therefore that colours cannot be primary qualities. I believe the argument in question has been misunderstood. In this paper I shall examine arguments based on the structural properties of the colours in order to discern what they do and do not show about primary quality theories of colour.     

Socioeconomic Status and the Diagnostic Significance of Healthy and Unhealthy Group Rorschach Content

Three hypotheses were put to test, using group Rorschach protocols and a content scoring approach: (a) when neutral content is disregarded, upper social class subjects (Ss) will report predominantly “healthy” group Rorschach content while lower social class Ss will report predominantly “unhealthy” content; (b) perceiving “unhealthy” content will prove an abnormal diagnostic indicant only among upper social class Ss; (c) these findings will hold across racial identity. Rorschach content data and independent measures of personality were obtained from five samples of adolescent Ss differing in race and social class. The experimental hypotheses were supported. A theoretical interpretation making use of social class values is presented to explain the findings.     

Color blindness and Rorschach color responsivity

Color vision deficits occur in 10% of the American white male population. Thus, color blindness may invalidate diagnostic hypotheses generated from Rorschach data. The Rorschach protocols of 43 white, college male color-blind subjects were compared to the protocols of normally sighted controls. The color-blind group manifested fewer pure "C" responses. No significant between group differences emerged for any of the other primary Rorschach color variables. Pure "C" responses rarely figure prominently in Rorschach evaluations, and the apparent lowered frequency of these responses by the color-blind is insufficient to warrant modification of current Rorschach practice. The data suggest that color blindness is unlikely to confound Rorschach assessment.     

A Multimethod Approach to Assessing Dependency: The Early Memory Dependency Probe

The construct validity and clinical utility of the early memory probe assessing aspects of dependency was investigated. Clinical patients' responses to the feeding, being fed, or eating probe were compared with Rorschach Oral Dependency (ROD) scale scores (Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967), as well as theoretically and empirically derived behavioral ratings. Sixty-five psychiatric patients and their therapists participated in the study. Results demonstrated moderate to strong correlations between the early memory scores and the ROD scores, thus demonstrating good concurrent validity. A moderate correlation between the early memory scores and therapists' ratings of key behavioral patterns in therapy support the predictive validity of the early memory probes. The earn memory scores also demonstrated discriminant validity when compared with Rorschach object-relational content scales.     

Rorschach aggression variables: a study of reliability and validity

This study investigated the extent to which 6 Rorschach variables of aggression (A1, A2, AG, MOR, AgC, AgPast) are related to one another, to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) Cluster B personality disorder criteria, and to self-report measures of anger, aggression, and antisocial behavior. Seventy-eight patients were found to meet DSM-IV criteria for an Axis II disorder, Cluster A personality disorder (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal) = 9, Cluster B (antisocial personality disorder [ANPD] = 16, borderline personality disorder [BPD] = 23, histrionic personality disorder = 5, narcissistic personality disorder = 12) = 56, and Cluster C personality disorder (avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive) = 13. The results of this study indicated that (a) these 6 Rorschach aggression variables can be scored reliably; (b) 2 factors, revealed by factor analysis, accounted for 77% of the total variance; (c) selected variables were found to be empirically related to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for ANPD and BPD; and (d) selected variables were found to be empirically related to a self-report measure of anger and antisocial practices. The conceptual nature and clinical utility of these Rorschach aggression variables as well as implications for future research are discussed.