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.     

Coming to grips with negative evidence for the Comprehensive System for the Rorschach: a comment on Gacono, Loving, and Bodholdt; Ganellen; and Bornstein

The Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 1991, 1993) for the Rorschach is currently engulfed in controversy. This comment article responds to 3 articles by Rorschach proponents in this issue of the Journal of Personality Assessment. Contrary to the claims of Gacono, Loving, and Bodholdt (this issue), CS scores do not bear a well-demonstrated relationship to psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, or conduct disorder. Contrary to the claims of Ganellen (this issue), both the original and the revised CS Depression Index (Exner, 1993) bear little or no relationship to depression diagnoses. Furthermore, the scoring reliability of some CS scores is problematic. Although we agree with Bornstein (this issue) that Rorschach scores generally bear little or no relation to psychiatric diagnoses or self-report questionnaires, we believe this lack of relationship tends to disconfirm hypotheses concerning the validity of the Rorschach. In the spirit of the philosopher Sir Karl Popper, the Rorschach community should not minimize negative evidence or engage in post hoc arguments to immunize the CS against falsification.     

Prevalence of Suicide Risk Factors and Suicide‐Related Outcomes in the National Mental Health Study,Colombia

A community survey in 4,426 adults was undertaken as part of the World Mental Health Survey Initiative reporting the prevalence and risk factors for suicide‐related outcomes in Colombia. Lifetime prevalence estimates of suicide ideation, plans, attempts, and risk factors for suicide‐related outcomes were assessed. Retrospective reports of disorders age‐of‐onset were used to study associations between primary mental disorders and first onset of suicide‐related outcomes. Risks of plans and attempts were highest with ideation early age‐of‐onset and within the first year. The highest risk for ideation and attempt among ideators occurred in the 18–29 age group. After first employment (defined as the first paid job accepted by the respondent) and presence of mental disorders constituted risk factors. Impulse‐control disorders were strongest diagnostic predictors.     

Modifying food purchases in supermarkets with modeling, feedback, and goal-setting procedures

We compared several procedures designed to modify consumer food purchases with the objectives of reducing fat and increasing carbohydrate content, and reducing dollar expenditures on food. Participants were 126 volunteer community households which, after a 7-week baseline period, were randomly assigned to video-modeling, video-modeling-feedback, video-lecture, video-lecture-feedback, participant-modeling, video-modeling-discussion, and control conditions. The main dependent measure was a weekly record of food purchases, convertible to percentages of nutrients and dollar expenditures. Results indicated that modeling-feedback and participant-modeling procedures were most effective (e.g., 6% reduction of total fat consumption, 19% dollar savings). Strategies to refine and automate modeling and feedback in supermarkets that may benefit consumers, corporations, and government are discussed.     

Affective expression in children's fantasy play, primary process thinking on the Rorschach, and divergent thinking

The relationships among expression of primary process thinking on the Rorschach, affective expression in fantasy play, and divergent thinking were investigated in first and second grade children. Sixty children received the rorschach (Holt's scoring system), a play task (Affect in Play Scale), and the Alternate Uses Test. Major hypotheses were supported because the amount of primary process thinking on the Rorschach (frequency and percent) was significantly, positively related to amount of affective expression and primary process expression in play. Also, expression of affect in play (frequency, variety, integration, and comfort) was significantly, positively related to divergent thinking, independent of IQ for both boys and girls. On the Rorschach, percent of primary process was significantly related to divergent thinking for boys. The results suggest that the ability to think imaginatively in a free-association style and the ability to have access to affect-laden material are related processes.     

Birth Defects,Causal Attributions,and Ethnicity in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study

In order to translate research findings into effective prevention strategies, it is important to understand people's beliefs about the causes of poor health outcomes. However, with the exception of knowledge and beliefs about folic acid supplementation, little is known regarding women's causal attributions women regarding birth defects. We employed Attribution Theory constructs to analyze open-text interview responses from 2,672 control mothers in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study who gave birth in 1997–2005. Common themes included use of alcohol, tobacco, illicit drugs, and medications during pregnancy. Stress and emotional upset were also suggested as possible causes of birth defects. Genetic- and heredity-related responses were more likely to be mentioned by Asian/Pacific Islander women compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanic women were less likely to suggest several specific possible teratogens, such as paint, pesticides, or other chemicals, but were more likely to suggest events occurring during childbirth. Differences also emerged among ethnic groups for theoretical constructs, although most responses were categorized as controllable, changeable over time, and with an internal locus of causality.     

Object relations in borderlines, depressives, and normals: an examination of human responses on the Rorschach

Recently, researchers and clinicians have become increasingly interested in diagnostic distinctions between borderline and mood disorders. Object relations theory provides a useful framework for the comparison of these two overlapping diagnostic categories. In our study, a measure of object relations as represented on the Rorschach, developed by Blatt, Brenneis, Schimeck, and Glick (1976), was applied to data produced by borderline and depressive inpatients and by normal comparison subjects. Portions of the Blatt measure that tap the subject's experience of human action and interaction distinguish among the three diagnostic groups. Specifically, borderlines tend to understand human action as more highly motivated and human interaction as more malevolent in nature than do either depressive or normals. The data indicate that borderlines experience the object-relational world in a way that is fundamentally different from the way normals and depressives perceive it. Implications are discussed for theories of borderline object relations.     

Object Relations in Borderlines,Depressives, and Normals: An Examination of Human Responses on the Rorschach

Recently, researchers and clinicians have become increasingly interested in diagnostic distinctions between borderline and mood disorders. Object relations theory provides a useful framework for the comparison of these two overlapping diagnostic categories. In our study, a measure of object relations as represented on the Rorschach, developed by Blatt, Brenneis, Schimeck, and Glick (1976), was applied to data produced by borderline and depressive inpatients and by normal comparison subjects. Portions of the Blatt measure that tap the subject's experience of human action and interaction distinguish among the three diagnostic groups. Specifically, borderlines tend to understand human action as more highly motivated and human interaction as more malevolent in nature than do either depressives or normals. The data indicate that borderlines experience the object-relational world in a way that is fundamentally different from the way normals and depressives perceive it. implications are discussed for theories of borderline object relations.     

Study of structural analysis: comparing differential diagnoses based on psychiatric evaluation, the MMPI, and structural analysis of the Hand Test and Rorschach.

Experimental investigation of Structural Analysis compared diagnoses of 30 psychiatric inpatients derived independently from psychiatric evaluations, MMPI analyses, and Structural Analysis interpretation of Hand Test and Rorschach data. Results yielded positive preliminary implications for the use of Structural Analysis in psychodiagnostics.     

Individual,Community, and National Resilience in Peace Time and in the Face of Terror: A Longitudinal Study

The present paper is based on thrice-repeated measures. The sample constituted 561 Jewish Israeli adults who experienced these terror attacks. The study examined individual, community and national resilience and their associations with resilience-promoting factors (sense of coherence, social support, and self-efficacy); as well as resilience-suppressing factors (distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure). Results indicated that resilience scores were quite stable across the three repeated measures, whereas sense of coherence, distress symptoms, sense of danger, and exposure significantly changed across the three repeated measures. Sense of coherence was the best predictor for individual, community, and national resilience.