The Selected Response Procedure: A Variation on Appelbaum's Altered Atmosphere Procedure for the Rorschach

This article introduces the Selected Response Procedure, which is a supplementary technique for expanding the scope of the Rorschach test. The procedure is conducted as follows: After the standard administration of the Rorschach test, patients are asked to look through all of the cards a second time and select one more response from any card of their choice. A rationale for this procedure is developed through a comparison to another supplementary Rorschach technique, the Altered Atmosphere Procedure. The importance of understanding the selected response within a theoretical framework, as well as the clinical context of each selected response, is highlighted by a clinical example using object relations theory. Finally, a number of didactic questions are offered as potential ways to query the possible meaning of selected responses.     

Derived relational responding: a comparison of match-to-sample and the relational completion procedure

Previous research suggests that the Relational Completion Procedure may be an effective alternative procedure for studying derived relational responding. However, the parameters that make it effective, relative to traditional match-to-sample, remain to be determined. The present experiment compared the Relational Completion Procedure and match-to-sample protocols for training and testing Same and Opposite derived stimulus relations. Trials to criterion and overall pass rate (i.e., yield) in both procedures were compared across three variables: presence versus absence of a confirmatory response requirement, three versus five comparison stimuli, and top-to-bottom versus left-to-right presentation format. Findings demonstrated a facilitative effect of the confirmatory response requirement in both procedures. Training trials to criterion were nominally but not significantly lower during the nonarbitrary training phase in the Relational Completion Procedure compared to match-to-sample, and the overall yield on the arbitrary relational test was greater in the former procedure compared to the latter. The present findings support the further development of the Relational Completion Procedure as an efficient alternative procedure for establishing Same and Opposite relations with adult humans, and with potential applicability to other types of derived relations.     

Piotrowski's enduring contributions to the Rorschach: a review of Perceptanalysis

Zygmunt A. Piotrowski (1904-1985), one of the early pioneers with the Rorschach technique, developed a method for Rorschach analysis described in the text, Perceptanalysis. Based on clinical, teaching, research, and supervisory experiences, the author selected three aspects of the text for review for their enduring contributions to clinical personality analysis. The three areas are: (a) the scientific and philosophical framework of the system; (b) the Human Movement response, M; and (c) the shading responses--light shading, c'R, and dark shading, c'R. The reader is also introduced to other works by Piotrowski, including scales for cerebral dysfunction and schizophrenia.     

Alice in Rorschachland

Misconceptions and misuse of the Rorschach technique are parodied in this Alice in Wonderland story. Alice falls down a rabbit Whole and journeys through the Rorschach Plates until she is tried at an Inquiry on Card X. The story can be interpreted as critical of Rorschach practitioners who: search only for pathology, not health; ignore the free associative instructions to the client of test procedures; and restructure reality along Rorschach dimensions of personality and terminology.     

A role-play Rorschach procedure.

Rorschach responses of three subjects were used to stimulate the type of role-playing popularized by Fritz Perls' Gestalt therapy. The standard Rorschachs were given first. Afterwards, each subject was presented with certain of his or her own images as a stimulus for the role-playing. The subjects consisted of a 19-year-old female with severe anxiety attacks, an 11-year-old lad diagnosed as having minimal cerebral dysfunction, and a 46-year-old man who had undergone two years of successful psychotherapy. It is proposed that the resulting data are valuable in expanding and clarifying the psychological meaning of the Rorschach images. Further, the procedure can be utilized, if desired, as a spur to therapeutic involvement.     

Significance of Rorschach Response Modified by Responses to Other Projective Tests

Suggestions are offered for distinguishing those instances in which a disturbed Rorschach may indicate a need for psychotherapy from those in which psychotherapy is not indicated. Two contrasting cases are presented. The difference lies not so much in the quality of the Rorschach per se as in the quality of supporting and supplementary test results. The Kinetic Family Drawing, the Lowenfeld Mosaic, the level and balance of verbal and performance IQ scores, and the nature of visual and perceptual problems are used.     

Stimulus control and response bias in an analogue prey-detection procedure

The present study compared the performance of 6 pigeons trained to detect luminance differences in two different signal-detection procedures. Exposed to a three-key array, the pigeons were trained to peck the left key when the brighter of two light intensities had been presented on the center key and to peck the right key when the dimmer of two light intensities had been presented on the center key. Procedure A was a standard signal-detection procedure in which left/bright and right/dim responses produced food reinforcement and left/dim and right/bright responses produced periods of timeout. Procedure B was designed to simulate some of the contingencies operating in a prey-detection situation. Left-key responses produced reinforcement following the brighter center-key stimulus and a period of timeout following the dimmer center-key stimulus. Right-key responses always produced a short period of timeout irrespective of the stimulus. Within each procedure, the duration of timeout arranged for false alarms (left/dim responses) was varied between 3 s and 120 s. Measures of accuracy and response bias were compared between the two procedures. The timeout manipulation produced systematic, but relatively small, changes in these measures when right/dim responses (i.e., correct rejections) produced reinforcement (Procedure A). Arranging timeout for right/dim responses in Procedure B produced greater variability in accuracy and response bias than did arranging reinforcement, but this variability was not related to timeout duration. Overall, discrimination accuracy was considerably higher when right/dim responses produced timeout than when they resulted in reinforcement, and accuracy was accompanied by a large bias toward the response associated with reinforcement. These results are consistent with a recently proposed model of signal detection.     

One last response to the Rorschach test: a second chance to reveal oneself

This paper explores a technical procedure, that of asking for one more response after the patient has given response(s) to Card X of the Rorschach. This "one last response" in the context of "ending" is discussed. Endings have many meanings but the ending of the Rorschach can be more than just a relief to the weary patient and/or tester who may have been experiencing the disquieting inner workings of the patient's unconscious. The ending of the Rorschach with the additional "one last response" can be the source of valuable clinical questions and inferences applicable to treatment.     

Infant clinical assessment procedure: Its applications for diagnosis and treatment in the second and third year

This article reports on some clinical applications in the 9 to 30 month age range of a new structured paradigm. The Infant Clinical Assessment Procedure (ICAP) is not a test, but an assessment technique. It is particularly aimed at the evaluation and ongoing monitoring of problems in the emotional development of infants. Its eight episodes represent a wide array of effective, social, and cognitive stimuli. The primary focus of these episodes is on the infant, with the exception of the mother-infant task that specifically gauges the mother-infant ralationship. It is suggested through case vignettes that the ICAP may be useful for the documentation of the efficacy of treatment.     

The problem of R in the Rorschach: the value of varying responses

A subject's freedom to give different numbers of responses to each inkblot has always been part of the Rorschach tradition. However, frequency of response (R) as a variable rather than a constant requires special attention when using the Rorschach psychometrically and when making clinical evaluations based in part or entirely on normative scores. In this article, I discuss the Rorschach tradition; the distinctiveness of the procedure; and the complexity of the technical, methodological, and theoretical problems. issues related to the integration of the empirical and conceptual approaches are discussed.     

Some old and new directions in Rorschach testing

The perennial dispute between clinicians and researchers as to the validity of the Rorschach is discussed. It is suggested both groups are correct in that the Rorschach provides both poor psychometric data as seen by the researcher and rich idiographic data as seen by the clinician. The freedom of the Rorschach response process is viewed as largely responsible for both these situations. Some possible new directions for Rorschach usage and research are discussed which may improve on the quality of the idiographic information provided by the Rorschach test.     

Rorschach teaching in APA-approved clinical graduate programs: ten years later

A questionnaire on teaching of the Rorschach technique was sent to all APA-approved graduate clinical psychology programs in the United States and Canada. The survey represents a 10-year update of a study conducted in 1974 and reported in 1976. The questionnaire asked for the degree of emphasis placed on the Rorschach in the curriculum; the Rorschach teaching experience of the Rorschach instructor; the instructor's evaluation of the technique as a clinical tool, a teaching aid, and a research instrument, and a list of the instructional material used to teach the Rorschach. Based on a 93% return of questionnaires, the major results show that 88% of the programs place major emphasis on the Rorschach in at least one assessment course (compared to 86% in 1974); in contrast to the results of the 1974 survey, there were no differences between the ratings of highly experienced and moderately experienced instructors; as in 1974, instructors as a group highly rated the Rorschach as a clinical tool and teaching aid, but gave it generally low ratings as a research instrument; and the results clearly indicate that the Exner Comprehensive System is widely used as an instructional method.     

The velten mood induction procedure: A methodological review

The Velten Mood Induction Procedure (1968) has been used extensively to induce elated and depressed moods in experimental subjects, and a wide range of psychological and behavioral effects have been studied following mood induction. This paper reviews experimental findings relating to the effectiveness of the Velten Mood Induction Procedure. Evidence is provided from 46 experiments concerning behavioral and self-report measures of assessment. Implications for the use of this procedure in mood induction research are discussed. It is concluded that the findings relating to the Velten procedure's effectiveness, and assessments of the contribution of demand characteristics to the procedure, are inconsistent and equivocal.     

A survey of Rorschach teaching in APA-approved clinical graduate programs.

A questionnaire on teaching of the Rorschach technique was sent to all APA-approved graduate clinical psychology programs in the United States and Canada. The questionnaire asked for the degree of emphasis placed on the Rorschach in the primary assessment course, the Rorschach teaching experience of the respondent and the respondent's evaluation of the technique as a clinical tool, a teaching aid and a research instrument. The respondent in each case was the faculty member teaching the major diagnostic assessment course. There was a 100% return of the questionnaires. The major results show that (1) 81% of the programs place major emphasis on the Rorschach Technique in the assessment course; (2) only 24% of the programs offer the course for a full year; (3) respondents with more than 10 years teaching experience rated the Rorschach higher than respondents with less experience, and (4) respondents as a group rated the Rorschach highly as a clinical tool and teaching aid, but gave it generally low ratings as a research instrument.     

Methodological issues in cross-cultural and multicultural rorschach research

Hermann Rorschach researched the utility of his inkblot experiment to understand psychopathology and cultural differences. Contemporary research with the Rorschach has evaluated its utility as a test, although it may more properly represent a clinical method with somewhat different evaluation criteria. Recent controversy regarding the adequacy of the Rorschach as a test and the adequacy of its normative data has at times distorted and oversimplified important methodological issues inherent in the study of cultural difference. Cultural processes remain a central and inadequately examined variable in Rorschach research; an important emergent area of inquiry is the Rorschach's clinical utility as a cross-cultural assessment instrument. We review multicultural and cross-cultural methodological issues intrinsic to contemporary Rorschach research here. Consideration of cultural issues enlarges and enriches the Rorschach clinical utility debate and suggests underexplored research strategies that can contribute to its resolution.     

Rorschach Comprehensive System data for a sample of 309 adult nonpatients from Portugal

Three hundred and nine nonpatient adults, evenly distributed according to sex, age, educational level, and residence, took part in the Rorschach test study carried out in Portugal. The sample was drawn from selected regions of the country and was balanced for population density in urban and rural areas. Test administration was controlled through the services of psychologists familiar with the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 1993). Results indicate that, in Portugal (Pires, 2000), level of education is the variable that seems to have the largest effect on Rorschach responding.     

Personality dimensions in two types of learning-disabled children: a Rorschach study

Children referred for psychoeducational assessment of learning disabilities (LDs) commonly receive the Rorschach test. yet little is known about the impact of LD on Rorschach response patterns. This study investigated Rorschach response patterns in two groups of 9- to 12-year-old children (n = 41) classified by their respective intellectual abilities. Another group of 9- to 12-year-olds (n = 143) served as a nonclinical comparison group. Rorschach variables indicative of personality dimensions failed to discriminate between the two LD groups. Compared to the nonclinical group, the LD group exhibited several Rorschach characteristics--including problems in perceptual accuracy, inefficient visual scanning and problem-solving strategies, and avoidance of affect-laden stimuli--having implications for successful socioemotional adaptation. Suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Personality Dimensions in Two Types of Learning-Disabled Children: A Rorschach Study

Children referred for psychoeducational assessment of learning disabilities (LDs) commonly receive the Rorschach test. Yet little is known about the impact of LD on Rorschach response patterns. This study investigated Rorschach response patterns in two groups of 9- to 12-year-old children (n = 41) classified by their respective intellectual abilities. Another group of 9- to 12-year-olds (n = 143) served as a nonclinical comparison group. Rorschach variables indicative of personality dimensions failed to discriminate between the two LD groups. Compared to the nonclinical group, the LD group exhibited several Rorschach characteristics—including problems in perceptual accuracy, inefficient visual scanning and problem-soving strategies, and avoidance of affect-laden stimuli—having implications for successful socioemotional adaptation.     

Let's call the whole thing off: a response to Dawes (2001)

There has been a recent controversy regarding the validity of the Rorschach test. This comment is in response to criticism levied by R. M. Dawes (2001) on the incremental validity of the Ego Impairment Index (EII), a Rorschach-derived measure of cognition, perception, and reasoning. The Dawes articles (1999 and 2001) serve as an example of the recent practice of placing extraordinary challenges on the Rorschach test. Dawes's arguments are examined and parallel examples are provided that demonstrate the bias used to judge the validity of the EII, the Rorschach, and psychological assessment. Still, in the face of criticism, the results (see Dawes, 2001) support the incremental validity of the EII. Thus, the conclusion presented in this Comment is that it is time for us to "call the whole thing off" and end the Rorschach controversy that has occupied so much recent attention and generated so few new ideas.     

Putting your eggs in the content analysis basket: a response to Aronow, Reznikoff, and Moreland

A response is made to the essay by Aronow, Reznikoff, and Moreland (this issue) on the superiority of the content analysis approach to the Rorschach. Their argument is seen as giving insufficient emphasis to the importance of information obtained from empirically based, quantified methods of Rorschach interpretation. Content analysis without score-based interpretation is not sufficiently reliable for clinical use. Also, the argument of Aronow and colleagues that the Rorschach is predominantly a projective technique is refuted. Rorschach interpretation that deemphasizes empirically based scores is as insufficient as interpretation that excludes content analysis.