Hermann Rorschach

Hermann Rorschach (November 8, 1884 - April 2, 1922 Herisau), nicked named “Kleck” was a Swiss Freudian psychiatrist, best known for developing a projective test known, from his name, as the Rorschach inkblot test. The test is based on the theory that responding to ambiguous or unstructured stimuli would elicit disclosure of innermost feelings. Rorschach created 10 standardized cards as well as a scoring system for the Inkblot test. Since Rorschach’s death in 1922, his work has won international respect and an institute that was founded in his name in New York, 1939. The Inkblot test has generated more published research than any other personality measure with the exception of the MMPI.

Life

Hermann Rorschach was born on November 8, 1884 in Zurich, Switzerland. Foreshadowing his future, he was nicknamed Kleck, meaning “inkblot,” because of his interest in sketching during his teen years. Klecksography was a game played by Swiss children and consisted of placing an ink blot on paper and folding it to obtain the form of a butterfly or a bird. He was known as a studious and orderly pupil who received excellent grades in all disciplines. He considered pursuing his father's career as an artist, but instead chose a different career - psychiatry.

He attended several universities before receiving his M.D. from the University of Zurich in 1909, then worked in Russia for a year before returning to Switzerland to practice. Rorschach studied psychiatry at Burghölzli university clinic in Zurich with teachers like Auguste-Henri Forel (1848-1931), the almost equally famous successor, Eugen Bleuler 1857-1939), and Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), who had just researched and developed the association test to explore the unconscious mind. During this time period, the work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was also just beginning to gain in popularity. At Rorschach's time of graduation, he also became engaged to a Russian girl named Olga Stempelin whom he married the following year. The couple gave birth to two children, a son born in 1917, and a daughter born in 1919.

Rorschach was known as having an appealing personality, and had a reputation as a brilliant and profound conversationalist. Although somewhat reserved, he was a man of great kindness and generosity to those closest to him. Unfortunately Rorschach died in 1922 at the young age of 38 due to complications from appendicitis ,

Work

Rorschach's first position was in the psychiatric hospital in Münsterlingen under the supervision of Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939). Rorschach was deeply interested in psychoanalysis and during the 1910's he began publishing psychoanalytic articles. One publication praised the therapeutic value of artistic activity; he saw his patients’ art productions as an expression of the anomalies of personality.

In 1911 he began experimenting with ink blot interpretation and Jung's word association test. He was not the first but had such famous forerunners as Alfred Binet and Justinus Kerner. Rorschach was elected vice president of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society in 1919. Several of Rorschach's colleagues, including his supervisor Eugen Bleuler were very positive to Rorschach's work and encouraged him to publish his findings. In 1921 Rorschach published the results of his studies on 300 mental patients and 100 normal subjects in the monograph, Psychodiagnostik. It is believed that Rorschach was influenced by Carl Jung in his research and subsequent publication. Jung also used association tests to explore the personality of his patients. Unfortunately Rorschach died of complications from appendicitis in 1922 at the young age of 38, before he could properly test and evaluate his invention, and before it reached popularity in the 1940's.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

File:Inkblot.gif

A solid tone rendering of the first of ten cards in the Rorschach inkblot test.

The Rorschach inkblot test is a method of psychological evaluation. Psychologists use this test to try to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients. The Rorschach is currently the second most commonly used test in forensic assessment, after the MMPI. In addition to exploring personality characteristics and emotional functioning, other areas evaluated are: 1) the person's cognitive world, 2) the person's ability to deal with situational stress, 3) the person's perception of others and relationships, and 4) the person's self-perception.

Rorschach created 10 standardized cards as well as a scoring system for the Inkblot test. The original system emphasizes perceptual factors such as how a response is influenced.

Rorschach devised the ten standardized cards used today as well as a scoring system for the Inkblot test. He considered his test to be a test of "perception and apperception" rather than imagination. The original scoring system emphasizes perceptual factors - for example whether a response is influenced by form, perceived movement, or color of the blot.

After Rorschach's death the original scoring system was developed further by, amongst others, Bruno Klopfer. John E. Exner summarized some of these later developments in the comprehensive Exner system, at the same time trying to make the scoring more statistically rigorous. Most systems are based on the psychoanalytic concept of object relations.

The Exner system is very popular in the US, while in Europe the textbook by Evald Bohm, which is closer to the original Rorschach system as well as more inspired by psychoanalysis is often considered to be the standard reference work.

Methods

There are ten official inkblots. Five inkblots are black ink on white. Two are black and red ink on white. Three are multicolored. The psychologist shows the inkblots in a particular order and asks the patient, for each card, "What might this be?" After the patient has seen and responded to all the inkblots, the psychologist then gives them to him again one at a time to study. The patient is asked to list everything he sees in each blot, where he sees it, and what there is in the blot that makes it look like that. The blot can also be rotated. As the patient is examining the inkblots, the psychologist writes down everything the patient says or does, no matter how trivial.

Methods of interpretation differ. The most widely used method in the United States is based on the work of John E. Exner. This method is defined as the Comprehensive Scoring System. In the Exner system, responses are scored with reference to their level of vagueness or synthesis of multiple images in the blot, the location of the response, the form quality of the response (to what extent a response is faithful to how the actual inkblot looks), and the contents of the response (what the respondent actually sees in the blot).

Using the scores for these categories, the examiner then performs a series of mathematical calculations producing a structural summary of the test data. The results of the structural summary are interpreted using existing empirical research data on personality characteristics that have been demonstrated to be associated with different kinds of responses. Both the calculations of scores and the interpretation are often done electronically.

A common misconception of the Rorschach test is that its interpretation is based primarily on the contents of the response- what the examinee sees in the inkblot. In fact, the contents of the response are only a comparatively small portion of a broader cluster of variables that are used to interpret the Rorschach data.

Controversy

The Rorschach inkblot test is controversial for two reasons.

First, because the blots of ink are inherently meaningless and subjective, evaluating the results of a test requires the blots of ink to have meaning in the first place. Otherwise, the images projected into the patterns would be of little value in assessing personality traits. Supporters of the Rorschach inkblot test believe that the subjects' response to an ambiguous and meaningless stimulus can provide insight into thought processes.

But the psychologist must project onto the patterns in order to give them any meaning and, in a sense, take the test him/herself. So the results of any test will not only show what the patient projected onto the ink blots, but also what the psychologist projected onto the projections of the patient. Third parties could be called in to evaluate what effect the psychologist's interpretations had on the results of the test, but the third parties' evaluations would also be slanted by their own subconscious interpretations of meaningless patterns. The process of evaluating and re-evaluating could go on forever.

This criticism, however, is not a cogent one given the fact that current Rorschach testing uses empirical data based on research to interpret responses. Indeed, the psychologists' interpretations of the Rorschach inkblots have little to do with most modern evaluations, but instead are based on codes of the patient's responses compared to a normative sample. In fact, the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM) has generated more published research than any other personality measure, with the exception, again, of the MMPI. This research has provided abundant evidence that Rorschach assessment is a reliable procedure that yields valid conclusions about personality characteristics. For example, Rorschach indices of personality traits, like personality traits themselves, have proved highly stable when adults are retested over intervals ranging from three days to three years. Among young people, the Rorschach indices of their personality characteristics gradually change in the same direction from age 5 to 16. Numerous studies have demonstrated that Rorschach scales accurately predict many outcomes and behaviors related to personality.

When interpreted as a projective test, results are poorly verifiable. The Exner system of scoring, which interprets the test in terms of what factor (shading, color, outline, etc.) of the inkblot leads to each of the tested person's comments, is meant to address this, but problems of test validity remain. However, there is substantial research indicating the utility of the measure for detecting such conditions as thought disorders, mood and anxiety disorder, personality disorders, and psychopath.

Supporters of the test try to keep the actual cards secret so that the answers are spontaneous. This practice is consistent with the American Psychological Association's ethical standards of preserving test security. The official test is sold only to licensed professionals. These ethics were violated in 2004 when the method of administering the tests and the ten official images were published on the Internet. This reduced the value of projective testing for those individuals who have become familiar with the material, potentially negatively impacting their care. The Rorschach Society claims the blots are copyrighted; this has been disputed by others who state that the blots should be in the public domain legally based upon when they were first created and how long the creator has been dead.

Legacy

After Rorschach's death, Hans Huber founded his own publishing house and he purchased Psychodiagnostics from the inventory of Ernst Bircher. Since 1927 Hans Huber has been the publisher of Psychodiagnostik, taking great pains to maintain the identical reproduction of the original inkblots.

In the years since his death, Rorschach's work has won international respect and an institute was founded in his name in New York in 1939. Today, the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM) has generated more published research than any other personality measure, with the exception of the [[MMPI]. The Rorschach is currently the second most commonly used test in forensic assessment, again, after the MMPI,

Publications

Rorschach, Hermann and Lemkau, Paul Victor. [1964, ©1942]. Psychodiagnostics; a diagnostic test based on perception. Includes Rorchach's paper, The application of the form interpretation test (pub. posthumously by Emil Oberholzer).Publisher: Berne, H. Huber; New York, Grune & Stratton. ASIN B0007J7HD2.
Rorschach, Hermann and Beck, Samuel J. (1932). The Rorschach test as applied to a feeble-minded group, Publisher: New York. ASIN B000874DJE.
Rorschach, Hermann and Oberholzer, Emil. 1924. The application of the interpretation of form to psychoanalysis Publisher: Chicago.
Rorschach, Hermann and Klopfer, BRUNO. (1938). Rorschach research exchange. Publisher: New York. OCLC 27207885.
Rorschach, Hermann and Mullins, Robert Edward. (1933). An application of the Rorschach test to three clinical types of dementia praecox. Thesis (M.A.)—University of Kentucky. OCLC 34238920.
Rorschach, Hermann. (1924). Manual for Rorschach ink-blot test. Chicago, Ill: Stoelting. ASIN B0008D4E60.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Dawes, Robyn M. 1991. "Giving up Cherished Ideas: The Rorschach Ink Blot Test" , IPT Journal, Vol. 3. v Retrieved July 10, 2007.
Ellenberger, H. 1954. The Life and Work of Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922). Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 18:172-219.
Pichot, Pierre. 1984. ‘’Centenary of the Birth of Hermann Rorschach’’. Journal of Personality Assessment, Dec84, Vol. 48 Issue 6, p591.
Weiner, Irving B. ‘’ The Value of Rorschach Assessment’’. Harvard Mental Health Letter, Dec2001, Vol. 18 Issue 6, p4.

External links

The Classical Rorschach Retrieved July 10, 2007.
Unofficial Rorschach website Retrieved July 10, 2007.
"Rorschach technique" entry in the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology Retrieved July 10, 2007.
The Skeptic's Dictionary article criticizing the test Retrieved July 10, 2007.
International Rorschach Society Retrieved July 10, 2007.
The secret test blot set and all operational procedures Retrieved July 10, 2007.
The Rorschach Inkblot Test, Fortune Tellers, and Cold Reading Retrieved July 10, 2007.
An online inkblot generator Retrieved July 10, 2007.
Hermann Rorschach Biography at whonamedit.com Retrieved July 10, 2007.

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