John Exner and the book that started it all: a review of The Rorschach Systems

This article is a review and a reassessment of Exner's (1969) The Rorschach Systems. The book reviews the history of the development of the Rorschach, primarily in the United States, including a detailed analysis of the progressive development of systems devised by Klopfer, Beck, Piotrowski, Hertz, Rapaport, and Schafer. The final versions of each system are compared with each other, and with Rorschach's own system. The development of the book is linked to Exner' s personal relationship with Klopfer, Beck, and Hertz. The book is described as the basic forerunner of Exner's Comprehensive System.     

Bruno Klopfer: A Rorschach Pioneer

Bruno Klopfer is perhaps best known for his pioneering work on the Rorschach Inkblot Test. His efforts in developing and popularizing projective techniques were to have a profound impact on the development of psychological personality testing. In fact, prior to the introduction of Exner's comprehensive Rorschach scoring system, the Klopfer scoring system was the most popular among practicing clinicians (Exner & Exner, 1972, p. 13). Professionals in clinical psychology and psychiatry are certainly very indebted to Bruno Klopfer.     

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.     

Predicting Institutional Adjustment With the Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form and the Antisocial Features and Aggression Scales of the PAI

This article sheds light on the theoretical foundations of projective testing. Drawing on the psychoanalytic perspective, especially Winnicott's works, it elucidates the nature of projection and transitional relatedness, with particular reference to the Rorschach. This conceptualization of the Rorschach task is compared with Exner's more cognitive-behavioral orientation, which holds that the Rorschach is not a projective test. I suggest that Exner's Comprehensive System could become more truly comprehensive if it were integrated with a more complex understanding of the response process, allowing more importance to the role of stimuli from the inner world to counterbalance its focus on the processing of external stimulation. Clinical and research implications are discussed.     

Effects of Alternate Modes of Administration on Rorschach Performance of Deaf Adults

This study examined two modes of administering the Rorschach Inkblot Technique to determine which was more appropriate for a college-educated, deaf population. Twenty-four prelingually deaf adults took the Rorschach in sign language and in written English, using a counterbalanced test-retest design, and their sign and written scores were compared to each other and to 1986 norms for Exner's Comprehensive System. Seventeen variables measuring such areas as perceptual accuracy, perceptual complexity, and self-focus were found to vary more than one standard deviation from Exner's norms. Differences between sign and written conditions on several affective variables were found. Written administration can be used by examiners who are informed about deafness and aware of variables that may be underreported by written inquiry.     

Bruno Klopfer: a Rorschach pioneer

Bruno Klopfer is perhaps best known for his pioneering work on the Rorschach Inkblot Test. His efforts in developing and popularizing projective techniques were to have a profound impact on the development of psychological personality testing. In fact, prior to the introduction of Exner's comprehensive Rorschach scoring system, the Klopfer scoring system was the most popular among practicing clinicians (Exner & Exner, 1972, p. 13). Professionals in clinical psychology and psychiatry are certainly very indebted to Bruno Klopfer.     

One More Datum on Rorschach Form Quality

The central purpose of this work is to examine to what extent Form Quality (FQ) scoring of Rorschach responses, using Exner's (2003) Table A, is the reason for lower FQ to often be found in normative data outside the United States. The Rorschach protocols of 180 Portuguese boys and girls between 6 and 10 years of age were codified with respect to Form Quality in accordance with Exner's table of objects classified as ordinary, unusual, and minus, based on frequencies seen among U.S. adults and on an analogous Portuguese table (Table P) constructed from the protocols of 400 nonpatient children. Mean differences between the various FQ variables of the 2 tables were found to be insignificant. However, use of Janson's (2003) iota coefficient to evaluate agreement between the 2 approaches to scoring on the same protocols revealed that the more striking differences occurred in the FQu variable when agreement was assessed on the basis of each individual response. In view of these results, the authors recognize the possibility of Rorschach normative data to be universally applied, but still consider the possible advantage of each country or culture to build its own FQ table that will permit preservation of its particularities.     

Low-End Specificity of Four Depression Measures: Findings and Suggestions for the Research Use of Depression Tests

Past research has found that very low scorers on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) tend to respond in a fake-good manner on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) validity scales. This finding was interpreted as evidence of poor low-end specificity. This study replicated and extended this work by evaluating the low-end specificity of four popular depression measures. The evidence of problems with low-end specificity was strong for the BDI and marginal for the Profile of Mood States depression subscale. Interestingly, MMPI scores in the normal range were associated with fake-good responding, whereas very low and high scores were not. There was no evidence of an association between fake-good responding and scores on Exner's Depression Index for the Rorschach. Implications of these findings and guidelines for dealing with problems with low-end specificity in research are discussed.     

Directory of Members of the Society for Projective Techniques as of March 1, 1964

The appearance of depressive features, as reflected by responses to the Rorschach test, were explored in two groups of children from divorced and nondivorced families (referred to here as divorce and nondivorce children). The relationships between the depression scores and the children's hostility, aggression, and anxiety levels were also studied. The Rorschach Inkblot Test was individually administered to a nonclinical sample of 108 Swedish school children between 10 and 12 years old. The subjects constituted two groups,, a divorce group (27 girls, 27 boys) and a nondivorce group (27 girls, 27 boys). Divorce children scored significantly higher on Exner's (1986) Depression Index than their nondivorce peers. Furthermore, divorce children with depressive features in their Rorschach responses were found to have a high level of hostility and aggression (as manifested in their Rorschach protocols), whereas no such associations were found among nondivorce children.     

Psychodiagnostic test usage: a survey of the society for personality assessment

The present survey investigated psychodiagnostic test usage and practices of the Society for Personality Assessment. A brief questionnaire was forwarded to 400 SPA members and 206 responded for a 51.5% rate of return. Projective techniques found popular in previous surveys of Division 12 were the major assessment instruments utilized by SPA members. Exner's comprehensive system was the preferred mode of Rorschach analysis, followed by the Klopfer and Beck systems. The Wechsler Scales and the MMPI were frequently included in conducting a psychological battery. Personality assessment was mainly utilized for diagnostic purposes and as an indicator for type of therapy.     

Artists versus Nonartists: Rorschach Determinants and Artistic Creativity

A clear differentiation between artists and nonartists was found in both formal quantitative and informal qualitative analyses. The results of the present study lend statistical support to the discriminatory power of the Rorschach in identifying artistic creativity. Artists and nonartists were carefully matched as to sex, age, verbal intelligence and education. The Rorschach Group Method was utilized to compare the two groups on all formal scoring categories of both the Klopfer and Beck systems. In addition to formal scoring, possible discriminating aspects in the verbalization of responses were analyzed qualitatively.     

The Significance of the Rorschach Method for Consulting Psychology

Abstract

A round-table discussion of the Rorschach test was held at Albany, New York, on May 8, 1937, in connection with the eighth annual meeting of the Association of Consulting Psychologists. There were 32 persons present at this conference with Dr. Bruno Klopfer, of Teachers College, Columbia University, presiding. Dr. Klopfer opened the discussion with a brief survey of the development of the Rorschach method. He presented figures to show the growth of the Rorschach Research Exchange which started with 14 subscribers in the Summer of 1936 and has now reached a total of more than one hundred subscribers in the United States and Europe. He then introduced the various speakers.     

The Validity of the Rorschach for Assessing Cognitive and Affective Changes

Exner's (1985) Rorschach norms of children 5 to 16 years old were used to test predictions based on developmental theory, previous cognitive studies, and Achenbach and Edelbrock's (1981) norms on behavior problems in children. In the cognitive realm, the Rorschach scores reflected the predicted increase in complexity, integration, and precision of thinking; richness of ideas; conformity to socially acceptable ways of thinking; and the concomitant decrease in unrealistic, egocentric ideas. In the affective realm, the Rorschach scores reflected the predicted decrease in uncontrolled expression of affect, increase in controlled expression of affect, and increase in inwardness. However, the Rorschach scores failed to reflect the predicted decrease in anxiety and increase in depression. Finally, tin, ere was no evidence of increased accuracy of perception.     

An Outcome Study: Changes in Rorschach Variables of Adolescents in Residential Treatment

Admission Rorschach variables were compared to 2-year reevaluation responses of adolescents (n = 50) in residential treatment using Weiner and Exner's (1991) 27 structural variables. Fifty adolescents who had previously failed to improve in outpatient treatment and multiple hospitalizations were subsequently placed in residential treatment. Following 2 years of residential treatment, they showed positive personality changes as indicated by a reduction in Rorschach indices of impaired functioning. Positive treatment changes in interpersonal awareness were discussed utilizing a social identification index formulated for this population. Results indicate the utility of the Rorschach test-retest method of assessing treatment outcome.     

A Rorschach journey with Bruno Klopfer: clinical application and teaching

This article is a draft of a speech given as the recipient of the 2008 Bruno Klopfer Memorial award. I review some important details of the life of Bruno Klopfer, his contributions to the scoring and interpretation of the Rorschach (Exner, 2003), and his emphasis on the use of phenomenology in the process. I then focused on Klopfer's flexible scoring method and his use of Testing of the Limits techniques on the Rorschach, emphasizing their application to therapeutic and collaborative assessment. I illustrate my own application of Testing of the Limits using case vignettes. Finally, I present selected parts of two 1959 radio interviews of Bruno Klopfer.     

A Rorschach Study of Narcissism Defense,and Aggression in Borderline,Narcissistic, and Cluster C Personality Disorders

We examined the differences between narcissism, mode of defense, and level of aggression on the Rorschach. We also investigated differences in borderline, narcissistic, and Cluster C personality disorders by examining responses to Rorschach content variables. The Lerner Defense Scale (P. Lerner & H. Lerner, 1980), the aggressive content section of the Holt (1977) method for assessing primary process manifestations, a modified version of Exner's (1986a) Egocentricity Index, Wagner's (1965) exhibitionistic M score, and grandiosity were scored on the Rorschach protocols of 17 borderline, I7 narcissistic, and 17 Cluster C personality disorders. Borderlines were found to employ primitive defensive structures to a greater degree and severity, show more intense and overall aggression as welt as more responses on the three forms of aggression in the Holt method, and have higher levels of grandiosity. Narcissists evinced significantly higher levels of egocentricity than borderlines and higher levels of idealization than the Cluster C group. Convergent validity was found on the measures of defense and aggression, which showed a strong relationship between primitive aggression and primitive defense.     

Rorschach Developmental Quality and Intelligence Factors

Research has demonstrated a relationship between cognitive development and the location and complexity of Rorschach responses. This study examined the association between the Wechler Adult intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and Exner's Developmental Quality (DQ). This study had two objectives: to examine the relationship between DQ and WAIS-R intelligence factors and IQs and to determine whether the DQv/ + score taps a synthesizing visual-perceptual operation. An overall goal was determining the extent to which DQ represents Friedman's operationalization of Werner's orthogenetic principle. Subjects were 125 nonclinical volunteers. Findings suggest that DQ taps a visual-perceptual problem-solving skill in which complex whole responses make the most significant contribution. There was no evidence that DQv/+ responses represent visual-perceptual synthesis. It was concluded that DQ not an operationalization of Werner's orthogenetic principle and that developmental quality, at least in the sense that Werner or Friedman might have intended it, may be a misnomer.     

A Review of Beck's The Rorschach Experiment: Ventures in Blind Diagnosis (1960)

Sam Beck's classic book The Rorschach Experiment: Ventures in Blind Diagnosis is reviewed. The review addresses important issues of blind interpretation, faithfulness to the Rorschach data, validation of interpretive postulates, theoretical and training biases, as well as the Experience Actual score. Beck's tracing his interpretive path through detailed notes to produce a living portrait of his subject is highlighted.     

Rorschach Assessment of Psychological Functioning in Sexually Abused Girls

We measured psychological functioning in a group of 79 Black females between the ages of 5 and 16 and a comparison group of nonabused girls using the Rorschach. In addition to Exner's (1985) Comprehensive System, the Elizur (1949) Rorschach Content Test Scale (RCT), the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MOA; Urist, 1977, Urist & Shill, 1982), and the Barrier and Penetration Scales (Fisher & Cleveland, 1968) were used. Sexually abused girls were found to show more disturbed thinking, to experience a higher level of stress relative to their adaptive abilities, to describe human relationships more negatively, and to show more preoccupation with sexuality than the comparison group. The distress experienced by the victimized children was more related to internal mediating variables then to abuse characteristics. Sexually abused girls who are cognitively and emotionally active also experienced high levels of distress compared to abused girls who are psychologically constricted.