Alexithymia and sociocultural factors in a Japanese sample: a study with the Rorschach

We reexamined the Japanese version of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale, a self-report sc ale for measuring alexithymic characteristics, by comparing the scores on three factors and the total scores with variables of the Rorschach in a sample of 40 (originally 48) Japanese college students. Based on prior studies, our aims were to further validate the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale by comparing its scores with those on a projective technique. We also investigated whether sociocultural factors, such as repression of hostility. are associated with scores on the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (especially Factor 3). None of the seven Rorschach Alexithymia Variables were significantly related to the factors and total scores of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. However, scores for Factor 1 (difficulty identifying feelings) of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale correlated positively with scores on Sum C' (reserved responses to emotional stimuli) and Adj es (stimulus demand), suggesting that individuals who score high for Factor 1 experience gloomy, depressive feelings but in constricted ways. Scores for Factor 3 (externally oriented thinking) correlated positively with the D scores (stress tolerance) and negatively with m (situational stress) responses, suggesting that Factor 3 may reflect a psychological defense that enhances stress tolerance. There was a nonsignificant negative correlation between Factor 1 and Factor 3 scores, but, unlike our hypothesis. Factor 3 was neither related to AG (aggression) nor S (space responses reflecting oppositional tendency), indices of aggression or hostility in the Rorschach Comprehensive System. It may be that the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Rorschach measure quite different aspects of personality, but further research is necessary.     

An empirical approach to the study of defense mechanisms: I. Reliability and preliminary validity of the Rorschach Defense scales

Despite widespread use of the Rorschach for the study of defense mechanisms, few recent Rorschach scales have been developed for the study of defensive functioning. We critically review previous empirical research and describe the Rorschach Defense scales. These scales provide criteria for rating both lower level defense mechanisms, such as splitting and primitive idealization, as well as higher level defenses, such as intellectualization and isolation. The scales utilize a broad range of content including all Rorschach responses, associative content, and verbalization of the tester-patient relationship. Data on interrater reliability and preliminary validity are presented.     

An Investigation of the Relationships of Rorschach Scores,Patterns, and Behavior to Coping and Defense Mechanisms

Relationships were studied between formal Rorschach scores and a set of coping and defense mechanisms which had been rated on the basis of intensive interviews conducted with normal adult subjects. A preliminary study showed that IQ was related to a number of Rorschach scores, so that it was subsequently controlled. The character of the initial results and the attributes of coping functions suggested a second investigation which defined the Rorschach variables more globally. The results of this study very generally follow common expectancies in regard to M, M: FM, and W: M, but A, F extended, and F: Fk + Fc do not follow such trends. Global Rorschach attitudes were found to relate better to coping mechanisms than formal scores.     

Defense mechanisms and morality: a link between isolation and moralization

The relationship between morality and perceptual defense mechanisms was studied. Three new scales were constructed to measure different aspects of morality: moralism (the tendency to evaluate everything in terms of right and wrong), conscience (strength of feelings of right and wrong) and reparation (inclination to repair the damage one has caused). Perceptual defense mechanisms were measured with Kragh's Defense Mechanism Test (DMT). Three hypotheses about relationships between morality and defense mechanisms, derived from psychoanalytical literature, were tested on 54 male University students. Results show positive correlations between the defense mechanism isolation of affect and moralism, and between identification with the aggressor and reparation. Total amount of perceptual defense correlated positively with moralism. It is argued that the psychological study of morality should take unconscious processes into consideration.     

Personality Judgment at Zero Acquaintance: Agreement,Assumed Similarity,and Implicit Simplicity

Measures of frequency of dream recall for 47 Ss and of amount of dreaming for 18 Ss, as determined by the Dement-Kleitman method, were available as part of a larger investigation of the influence of personality factors on dream recall. Rorschach Test indices obtained from these Ss were intercorrelated among themselves and correlated with the appropriate dream variable in order to assess the presumed affinity of dream phenomena and Rorschach response processes. The results were: (1) indices of fantasy predominance correlated positively with both amount of dreaming and frequency of dream recall; (2) indices of associative productivity correlated positively with frequency of dream recall; (3) an index of introspective constriction correlated negatively with frequency of dream recall. Further exploration of this area seems promising.     

The rorschach assessment of borderline defenses: a concurrent validity study

This study assesses the concurrent validity of two Rorschach defense scales designed to identify borderline defensive structure. A Rorschach scale designed by Cooper and his colleagues was systematically compared to a defense scale constructed by Lerner and Lerner. Despite considerable overlap on a conceptual and operational level, the scales are based on divergent theoretical models (developmental arrest and fixation) and Rorschach units of analysis (all responses and human responses). Our results are based on the capacity of each scale to discriminate between independently diagnosed samples (neurotic, outpatient borderline, inpatient borderline, schizophrenic) and the relative discriminatory power of particular defenses within each scale to differentiate between groups.     

Defense mechanisms and self-reported violence toward partners and strangers

We examined the relationship between defense mechanisms and self-reported violence toward partners and toward strangers in a sample of college student men. Fifty men completed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Murray, 1943) and the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS; Straus, 1979), a self-report measure of strategies (including violence) for resolving conflicts with partners and strangers. The TAT responses were coded for defense mechanisms with the Defense Mechanisms Manual (Cramer, 1991b). The relative use of identification was negatively correlated (r = -.49, p <.001), and the relative use of projection was positively correlated (r =.49, p <.001) with the most extreme CTS report of violence toward partners. The relative use of identification was negatively correlated with the most extreme CTS report of violence toward strangers (r = -.34, p <.05). The relative use of denial was positively correlated with the most extreme CTS report of violence toward strangers (r =.32, p <.05).     

Anxiety and Flexibility of Defense Related to High or Low Creativity

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in anxiety and defense mechanisms between differently creative people. Two extreme groups that scored either very high or very low on a test of the creative function were selected from a larger cohort (N = 60). Each group consisted of 12 male undergraduate students, who took a test of defense mechanisms and completed anxiety inventories. The results showed that the high-creative group had more anxiety than the low-creative group. The high-creative group also used a greater number of different defense categories than the low-creative group. The number of defense categories was positively correlated with a fluency measure in the creativity test. These results are discussed in terms of variability in basal arousal, flexibility, and a creative defensive style.     

Interpersonal touching and orality.

Sixty-five undergraduates were assigned to guide a blindfolded confederate through a floor maze. The frequency of touching the confederate's skin and the length of time required to complete the trip through the maze were recorded. Each subject was also given a self-administered Rorschach test; an independent count was made of the number of oral responses given. Orality was positively related to touching behavior (r=.39, p=.001) and with speed of guiding the confederate through the maze (r=.31, p=.01).     

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.     

Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Society for Projective Techniques

This study assesses the concurrent validity of two Rorschach defense scales designed to identify borderline defensive structure. A Rorschach scale designed by Cooper and his colleagues was systematically compared to a defense scale constructed by Lerner and Lerner. Despite considerable overlap on a conceptual and operational level, the scales are based on divergent theoretical models (developmental arrest and fixation) and Rorschach units of analysis (all responses and human responses). Our results are based on the capacity of each scale to discriminate between independently diagnosed samples (neurotic, outpatient borderline, inpatient borderline, schizophrenic) and the relative discriminatory power of particular defenses within each scale to differentiate between groups.     

Rorschach Adaptive Fantasy Images and Coping in Children Under Severe Environmental Stress

We measured the relationship between the capacity of a group of inner-city, homeless children to produce adaptive fantasy images, as assessed by the Rorschach M+ score and their performance on the Fruit Distraction Test of selective attention and Rorschach measures of reality testing (extended F+ percentage) and object relations (Mutuality of Autonomy [MOA] Scale, Urist, 1977). The sample included 46 Black and Hispanic children (24 boys and 22 girls) who ranged in age from 5 to 13 years. Results from multiple regression analyses that also included age, intelligence, and gender as independent variables indicated that the M+ score accounted for the largest portion of the variance in the Fruit Distraction and MOA scores. The M+ score was also significantly positively correlated with the extended F+ percentage. The results suggest that children's capacity to withstand severe environmental stressors is linked to their ability to produce adaptive fantasy images on the Rorschach.     

Rorschach correlates of state and trait anxiety in college students

This study was done to determine whether Elizur's anxiety scoring (AL) for Rorschach content was correlated to scores on Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The definition of anxiety presented by Elizur implies that his technique measures anxiety as a long-term, relatively stable personality characteristic rather than a transitory emotional state, but no research has shown whether AL was correlated with state and/or trait anxiety as defined and measured by Spielberger. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered in small groups to 40 college students with a repeated measure of STAI State-anxiety and the Rorschach given individually following a delay of at least five days. Analysis indicated that the STAI Trait-anxiety measure correlated significantly with AL. Test-retest correlations for STAI State-anxiety measures and STAI State- and Trait-anxiety measures obtained in the same testing session were significant. State-anxiety scores obtained just prior to Rorschach testing were related to STAI Trait-anxiety scores and initial STAI State-anxiety scores correlated with AL.     

Relation of Creativity and Sex to Rorschach M Responses

In an attempt to relate the Rorschach M productivity with sex, creativity and test-identified psychosexual orientation of the respondent, the M responses of female and male normal, creative male and female, “non-masculine” male and “non-feminine” female Ss [N = 140] were analyzed. It was revealed that (a) high M productivity was associated with creativity, feminity in males, and with the female sex, (b) sex-differences in the creative Ss, as well as masculinity in females was not associated with statistically significant differences in M productivity. These findings were accounted for mainly in terms of differential sex-role demands and the female sex's effort to overcome indirectly the socio-cultural restrictions.     

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.     

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.     

Revisiting the Rorschach of Sirhan Sirhan.

The published Rorschach (Kaiser, 1970) of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated presidential aspirant Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, was studied. Psychostructural and psychodynamic analyses were conducted using reliable and valid methodology that was unavailable at the time of examination. In contrast to the defense experts at trial who diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, the data suggest a depressed and suicidal individual organized at a borderline level of personality. Character pathology is hysterical, paranoid, and dependent. When the Rorschach findings are compared to the development history of Sirhan and the behavior around the time of the assassination, the data are somewhat consistent with the theme of psychic trauma, are very consistent with the theme of recurrent loss and pathological mourning, and validate a characterological distrust and hatred of, yet hysterical dependence on, the object world. Rorschach indices of predatory violence (Meloy, 1988a) in relation to the planned and purposeful assassination are also discussed.     

Relationship between the rorschach and the MMPI-2 in a Swedish population: a replication study of the effects of first-factor related test-interaction styles

A sizeable amount of research literature has failed to demonstrate a stable relationship between self-report and the Rorschach (Exner, 1993). However, principal component first-factor related test-interaction style has been shown to moderate convergence. In this study 78 psychiatric patients completed the Rorschach and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Hathaway & McKinley, 1989). Practically no correlation was evident between the MMPI-2 and the Rorschach, measuring similar constructs, in all patients. Patients with similar test-interaction styles demonstrated positive intermethod correlations between both conceptually related and conceptually not directly related test indexes. The same scales were negatively correlated in patients with discordant test-interaction styles, and this difference between test-interaction style groups was significant. It is suggested that first-factor related test-interaction style moderates convergence. It is further suggested that test-interaction style moderates convergence between both conceptually related and conceptually not directly related measures of distress or psychopathology.     

Oral Pessimism and Depressive Symptoms

I examined the relation of oral optimistic and oral pessimistic personality traits to depressive symptoms to assess the psychoanalytic claim that fixation at the early phase of the oral stage of psychosexual development is related to depression. College students (N = 140) were administered the Oral Optimism Questionnaire (OOQ; Kline, 1978) and Oral Pessimism Questionnaire (OPQ; Kline, 1978) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; Beck, Ward, Mendelsohn, Mock, & Erbaugh, 1961). Oral pessimism and levels of depressive symptoms were positively correlated, and a subsample of subjects with clinical levels of depressive symptoms also scored significantly higher on the Oral Pessimism Questionnaire than the rest of the sample. For the whole sample, 10 BDI items correlated significantly with the OPQ scores, and 5 OPQ items correlated significantly with the total BDI scores. The psychoanalytic claim relating fixation at the oral pessimism stage to depressive symptoms was supported.     

Revisiting the Rorschach of Sirhan Sirhan

The published Rorschach (Kaiser, 1970) of Sirhan Sirhan, the man who assassinated presidential aspirant Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, was studied. Psychostructural and psychodynamic analyses were conducted using, reliable and valid methodology that was unavailable at the time of examination. In contrast to the defense experts at trial who diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, the data suggest a depressed and suicidal individual organized at a borderline level of personality. Character pathology is hysterical, paranoid, and dependent. When the Rorschach findings are compared to the developmental history of Sirhan and the behavior around the time of the assassination, the data are somewhat consistent with the theme of psychic trauma, are very consistent with the theme of recurrent loss and pathological mourning, and validate a characterological distrust and hatred of, yet hysterical dependence on, the object world. Rorschach indices of predatory violence (Meloy, 1988a) in relation to the planned and purposeful assassination are also discussed.