Psychological Rorschach test (ink blots). Rorschach spots - a projective technique for psychological and psychiatric examination

Ecology of life. Psychology: The personality of every person includes such qualities as introversion and extroversion...

When Herman was twelve, his mother died, and when the young man turned eighteen, his father also died. After graduating with honors from high school, Rorschach decided to study medicine. In 1912, he received his medical degree from the University of Zurich, after which he worked in a number of psychiatric hospitals.

In 1911, while still studying at the university, Rorschach conducted a series of interesting experiments to test whether schoolchildren gifted with artistic talents had a more developed imagination when interpreting ordinary inkblots. This research had a huge impact not only on the future career of the scientist, but also on the development of psychology as a science in general.

It must be said that Rorschach was not the first to use color spots in his research, but in his experiment they were used for the first time within the framework of an analytical approach. The results of the scientist’s first experiment were lost over time, but over the next ten years, Rorschach conducted large-scale research and developed a systematic technique that allows psychologists to determine people’s personality types using ordinary inkblots. Thanks to his work in a psychiatric clinic, he had free access to its patients. Thus, Rorschach studied both mentally ill people and emotionally healthy people, which allowed him to develop a systematic test using inkblots, which can be used to analyze a person’s personality characteristics, determine his personality type and, if necessary, correct it.

One of the main points is that each person's personality includes such qualities as introversion and extroversion - in other words, that we are motivated by both external and internal factors. According to the scientist, the inkblot test allows one to evaluate the relative ratio of these properties and identify any mental disorder or, on the contrary, the strengths of the individual. The psychological scientific community paid virtually no attention to the first edition of Rorschach's book, since at that time the prevailing belief was that it was impossible to measure or test what a person's personality consisted of.

However, over time, colleagues began to understand the usefulness of the Rorschach test, and in 1922, the psychiatrist discussed the possibilities of improving his technique at a meeting of the Psychoanalytic Society. Unfortunately, on April 1, 1922, after suffering from severe abdominal pain for a week, Hermann Rorschach was admitted to the hospital with suspected appendicitis, and on April 2 he died of peritonitis. He was only thirty-seven years old and never saw the enormous success of the psychological tool he invented.

Rorschach ink blots

The Rorschach test uses ten inkblots: five black and white, two black and red and three color. The psychologist shows the cards in strict order, asking the patient the same question: “What does this look like?” After the patient has seen all the pictures and given the answers, the psychologist shows the cards again, again in strict order. The patient is asked to name everything that he sees in them, where exactly in the picture he sees this or that image, and what in it forces him to give exactly that answer.

Cards can be turned over, tilted, manipulated in any other way. The psychologist must accurately record everything the patient says and does during the test, as well as the timing of each response. Next, the answers are analyzed and points are calculated. Then, through mathematical calculations, a result is derived from the test data, which is interpreted by a specialist.

If any ink blot does not evoke any associations in a person or he cannot describe what he sees on it, this may mean that the object depicted on the card is blocked in his mind, or that the image on it is associated in his subconscious with a topic that he did not want at the moment would like to discuss.

Card 1

On the first card we see a stain of black ink. It is shown first, and the answer to it allows the psychologist to assume how this person performs tasks that are new to him - therefore, associated with a certain stress. People usually say that the image reminds them of a bat, a moth, a butterfly, or the face of some animal, such as an elephant or a rabbit. The answer reflects the respondent's personality type as a whole.

The face of an animal, particularly an elephant, often symbolizes the ways in which we confront difficulties and the fear of internal problems. It can also mean “a bull in a china shop,” that is, it conveys a feeling of discomfort and indicates a certain problem from which a person is suffering. this moment trying to get rid of it.

Card 2

This card features a red and black stain, and people often see it as something sexy. Parts of the red color are usually interpreted as blood, and the reaction to it reflects how a person manages his feelings and anger and how he deals with physical harm. Respondents most often say that the spot reminds them of an act of supplication, two people, a person looking into a mirror, or a long-legged animal such as a dog, bear or elephant.

Each of the two options expresses either a negative or positive personality characteristic, depending on how the image evokes in the person. If the respondent sees a dog in the spot, this may mean that he is loyal and loving friend. If he perceives the stain as something negative, then he needs to face his fears and acknowledge his inner feelings.

If the spot reminds a person of an elephant, this may symbolize a tendency to think, developed intelligence and good memory; however, sometimes such a vision indicates a negative perception of one’s own body.

The bear imprinted in the spot symbolizes aggression, competition, independence, and disobedience. In the case of English-speaking patients, a play on words can play a role: bear (bear) and bare (naked), which means a feeling of insecurity, vulnerability, as well as the sincerity and honesty of the respondent.

The spot on this card is reminiscent of something sexual, and if the respondent sees it as a person praying, this may indicate an attitude towards sex in the context of religion. If the respondent sees blood in the stain, it means that he associates physical pain with religion or, when experiencing complex emotions like anger, resorts to prayer, or associates anger with religion.

Card 3

The third card shows a blot of red and black ink, and its perception symbolizes the patient's relationship to other people in social interaction. Most often, respondents see on it the image of two people, a person looking in the mirror, a butterfly or a moth.

If a person sees two people having lunch in a spot, this means that he leads an active social life. A spot that resembles two washing hands, speaks of insecurity, a feeling of one’s own uncleanliness, or paranoid fear. If a respondent sees two people playing a game in a spot, this often indicates that he is occupying a social interactions opponent's position. If the spot resembles a person looking at his reflection in the mirror, this may indicate self-centeredness, inattention to others and an inability to understand people.

Card 4

Experts call the fourth card “father’s.” The spot on it is black, and some parts of it are fuzzy and blurry. Many people see something large and frightening in this picture - an image that is usually perceived not as feminine, but as masculine. The reaction to this spot allows us to reveal a person’s attitude towards authorities and the characteristics of his upbringing. Most often, the spot reminds respondents of a huge animal or monster, or a hole of some animal or its skin.

If the patient sees a large animal or monster in the spot, this may symbolize feelings of inferiority and admiration for authority, as well as an exaggerated fear of people in authority, including one's own father. If the stain resembles the skin of an animal to the respondent, this often symbolizes severe internal discomfort when discussing topics related to the father. However, this may also indicate that the problem of one’s own inferiority or admiration for authority is not relevant for this respondent.

Card 5

On this card we again see a black spot. The association caused by it, like the image on the first card, reflects our true “I”. Looking at this image, people usually do not feel threatened, and since the previous cards evoked completely different emotions in them, this time the person does not experience any particular tension or discomfort - therefore, a deeply personal reaction will be characteristic. If the image he sees is very different from the answer given when he saw the first card, this means that cards two through four most likely made a big impression on him. Most often, this image reminds people of a bat, butterfly or moth.

Card 6

The picture on this card is also one-color, black; it is distinguished by the texture of the stain. This image evokes interpersonal intimacy, which is why it is called the “sex card.” Most often, people say that the spot reminds them of a hole or the skin of an animal, which may indicate a reluctance to enter into close relationships with other people and, as a result, a feeling of inner emptiness and isolation from society.

Card 7

The spot on this card is also black and is usually associated with the feminine. Since people most often see images of women and children in this spot, it is called “maternal.” If a person has difficulty describing what is shown on the card, this may indicate that he is having problems in his life. difficult relationships with women. Respondents often say that the spot reminds them of the heads or faces of women or children; it can also bring back memories of a kiss.

If the spot appears similar to the heads of women, this symbolizes feelings associated with the respondent's mother, which also affect his attitude towards female generally. If the spot resembles children's heads, this symbolizes feelings associated with childhood and the need to care for the child who lives in the soul of the respondent, or that the patient's relationship with his mother needs close attention and, possibly, correction. If a person sees two heads bowed for a kiss in the spot, this indicates his desire to be loved and reunite with his mother, or that he seeks to reproduce the once close relationship with his mother in other relationships, including romantic or social ones.

Card 8

This card has gray, pink, orange, and blue colors. Not only is this the first multi-color card in the test, it is also particularly difficult to interpret. If it is when demonstrating it or changing the pace of showing pictures that the respondent experiences obvious discomfort, it is very likely that in life he has difficulties processing complex situations or emotional stimuli. Most often people say that they see a four-legged animal, a butterfly or a moth here.

Card 9

The spot on this card includes green, pink and orange colors. It has a vague outline, making it difficult for most people to understand what this image reminds them of. For this reason, this card assesses how well a person copes with lack of structure and uncertainty. Most often, patients see on it either the general outline of a person or some indefinite form evil.

If the responder sees a person, then the feelings experienced convey how successfully he copes with the disorganization of time and information. If the spot resembles some abstract image of evil, this may indicate that the person needs a clear routine in his life to feel comfortable, and that he does not cope well with uncertainty.

Card 10

Many people have a rather pleasant feeling when they see this card, except those who were very puzzled by the difficulty of identifying the image depicted on the previous card; when they look at this picture they feel the same. This may indicate that they have difficulty coping with similar, synchronous, or overlapping stimuli. Most often people see a crab, lobster, spider, rabbit head, snakes or caterpillars on this card.

If a person sees the head of a rabbit, it can symbolize reproductive ability and a positive attitude towards life. Snakes reflect a sense of danger or a sense of being deceived, as well as fear of the unknown. Snakes are also often regarded as a phallic symbol and are associated with unacceptable or forbidden sexual desires. Since this is the last card in the test, if the patient sees caterpillars on it, this indicates prospects for his growth and understanding that people are constantly changing and developing. published

Also interesting:

The projective methodology for personality research, the Rorschach Blot, was created in 1921. The stimulus material consists of 10 standard tables with black-and-white and color symmetrical amorphous (weakly structured) images. The subject is asked to answer the question about what is depicted and what it looks like. To understand the method, Rorschach’s ideas about the structure of personality are decisive. Rorschach proceeded from the position that human activity is determined by both internal and external motivations, and therefore, the activity of the individual is expressed more clearly, the less stereotyped (structured) the stimuli causing activity are. In this regard, Rorschach introduces the concepts of introversion and extraversion, each of which corresponds to a set of certain personality traits associated with the predominant type of activity. Rorschach's typology represents a qualitatively new stage in the understanding of intro- and extraversion.


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Unlike Jung, who understood introversion as a state, Rorschach believes that introversion also acts as a process. “In normal people, the tendency to withdraw into themselves is mobile and short-lived... normal people can always restore the adaptation of the function.” Introversion acts as a process, as a flexible opportunity to withdraw into oneself depending on the circumstances and. environmental conditions. Only the rigid predominance of introversive tendencies allows us to speak of introversion as pathological condition, and Rorschach emphasizes this repeatedly. Rorschach further notes that the concept of introversion in the usually studied sense is opposed to the concept of extraversion.

The author believes that using such terminology is inconvenient, since one can draw a conclusion about the opposition of extraversion and introversion. In reality, “... mental processes, producing introversion and extraversion, are not opposite, but different, they are different as thinking and feeling, as movement and color.” It is also unlawful to contrast introvert and extrovert as “thinking” and “feeling” personality types, since adequate adaptation presupposes the participation of both affective and cognitive processes.

During the clinical and experimental research groups of healthy and mentally ill subjects, by comparing clinical characteristics and characteristics of responses, Rorschach identified two types of perception of the stimulating material of the Rorschach Blot method. It turned out that some subjects tend to perceive spots in motion; in the images they produce of people, animals or objects, the dynamic (kinesthetic [M]) aspect is emphasized; other subjects, on the contrary, fix the color [C] aspect in their Answers. The type of perception, or “type of experience,” according to Rorschach, characterizes predominantly introversive or extratensive tendencies of the individual.

Four Types of Experience

Depending on the predominance (balance) of one or another type of activity, Rorschach identifies four main types of experience.
1. Extratensive type, in which one should distinguish:
a) purely extratensive - “color” responses in the absence of kinesthetic engrams, if M = 0, and S C > 2 - extraintense egocentric;
b) mixed extra-intense – 1C exceeds the amount of M by at least one.
2. Introverted type, which can be divided into:
a) pure introversive kinesthetic in the absence of “color”;
b) mixed introversive amount of M by at least one unit of I. C.
3. Ambiqual type - the number of color responses is equal to the number of kinesthetic ones, a side deviation of up to 0.5 points is allowed.
4. Coartative (“narrowed”) type – both kinesthetic and “color” responses are absent or the number of one or the other does not exceed one.

Rorschach distinguished between coarticulated (OM and OS) and coarthative (GM and 1C, IM and OS and OM) types of experiences depending on the number of responses in color and kinesthetic, but large practical significance this division does not have. The predominance of one or another type of interpretation in the Rorshahan Spot method is reflected in the corresponding psychological characteristics.

Kinesthesia dominance

More individual intelligence. Independent creativity. More “inner” life. Stability of affect Less adaptation. More intense than extensive connection. Regularity, stability of movements. Clumsiness, clumsiness.

Dominance of color

Less individuality. Reproductive creativity
More “external” life. Lability of affect
Great ability to adapt. More extensive than intensive
Restlessness, mobility of movements. Dexterity, agility

“Selected characteristics both types do not show absolute correlation with one another. Their relationship is not simple, not straightforward. If a subject, for example, exhibits 3M and 5S, we cannot say that any characteristic in question is represented in personality to a certain degree, or that a certain degree of individuality is combined with a certain degree of affective stability.

Each characteristic in the Rorschach Blot method is influenced by various factors such as mood, conscious logical functioning, unconscious... These groups can appear as opposites, and this must be clearly separated, in a clinical, not in a psychological sense... Under the M type there is simply meaning that certain functions are developed to a noticeable extent. What appears clinically as an antithesis is psychologically a simple variation.”

Thus, the type of experience is not an unchanging, fixed quantity. Obviously, the influence of alcohol (shift to extraversion), good mood, inspiration somewhat shifts the formula of the type of experience to the side. notes that in all such cases the absolute number of M and C changes, but the ratio between them does not change or changes insignificantly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNIQUE – RORSCHACH SPOTS

The stimulus material of the Rorschach method (Rorschach Blots) consists of ten tables with polychrome and one-color images (five black and white tables - 1,4, 5, 6, 7 and five polychrome - 2,3, 8, 9, 10). The tables are presented to the subject in a certain sequence and position.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY DATA

Despite the fact that to this day there is no complete theory linking the features of stimulus interpretation with personal characteristics, the validity of the test has been proven by numerous studies. High test-retest reliability has also been confirmed as separate groups indicators and the Rorschach Blot test in general.

CONDUCTING THE SURVEY

There are discrepancies in the literature regarding the instructions offered to the subject, but most authors hardly deviate from the classic form: “What could it be? What does it look like?". Such instructions should be limited; the subject should not receive any additional information during the experiment. The experimenter should not ask any leading questions during the study, with the exception of clarifying, if necessary, the place in the image that the subject is interpreting. If the subject is trying to find the “correct” answer and asks if he answered correctly, then it should be explained that the answers can be different and you only need to express your own opinion about the proposed images.

After the presentation of the tables, a survey follows. In this phase of the study, it is clarified how the subject came to this or that answer, i.e. the survey is always focused on clarifying the localization of the image and its determinants. The experimenter is obliged to avoid direct or leading questions, and at the same time his task is to obtain detailed information that facilitates the subsequent encryption of answers. To identify the localization of the answer on the table, you can ask questions like: “Where is..?” or: “Show me...”. To clarify the determinants of the answer, sometimes simple questions are sufficient: “What makes you think about...?”, “Describe in more detail how you see...”, etc.

PROCESSING RESULTS USING THE “RORSCHACH SPOT” METHOD

Currently, there are quite a lot of variations in schemes for analyzing the results obtained, which have both formal and interpretative differences in the Rorschach Blot technique. Below is the original Rorschach diagram, as well as some of the more famous interpretations.

Each response of a subject in the Rorschach Blot test is formalized into five categories in a certain sequence (localization, determinant, determination of the level of form, content, assessment of originality-popularity), which allows us to obtain an answer formula. The symbol used to encrypt the response is the initial letter of the word, for example W (English: Whole). The Anglo-American system is used here, with other notations also possible.

1. Localization features of interpretation:

W – interpretation of the presented image as a whole; D – interpretation of any significant, often selected detail of the image; Db – interpretation of an unusual or small detail; S – interpretation of white space; Do - “oligophrenic detail” - interpretation of a fragment of an image where the majority sees the whole (for example, the subject sees a “head”, “legs”, while the majority sees a “person”). In addition, answers may appear in which some detail or white space served as the starting point for interpreting the whole: DW - for constructing the whole, the initial point is a large detail; DdW – small part; SW – white space.

2. Determinants:

F – the answer is determined only by the shape of the image; M – imaginary human movement; FM – imaginary movement of the animal; m – imaginary movement inanimate objects; C – only the color of the image; CF – mainly by shape, but color is also taken into account; c – light gray or gray; Fc – shape when taking into account light gray or gray color; c1 – black or dark gray; Fc’ – the answer is determined by the shape, taking into account black or dark gray color.

3. Form level:

the form is assessed with a positive (F+) or negative (F-) sign, which shows how adequately it is reflected in the created image. The criterion is the interpretation of the corresponding images and their details healthy people. If the created image does not have a clearly defined shape (clouds, smoke, shore, etc.), the shape sign is either not marked (F) or is designated as (F±).

4. The content of interpretations can be varied, so the most commonly used designations are given: H - image of a person, A - image of an animal, Hd - part (parts) of a human figure. Ad – part(s) of an animal figure, Anat – anatomical content, Sex – answers with sexual content, PI – interpretation of the image as related to the plant world, Ls – landscape. From - ornament. If the corresponding symbol for the answer is not provided, the content should be indicated by the full word.

5. Originality-popularity.

Original (Orig) are those answers that appear rarely (once or twice per hundred protocols). Popular answers are those that occur in at least 30% of normal adults. These answers are always positive. Thus, each interpretation of the subject receives a certain formalized form.

For example, the answer to Table 2 – “two people shaking hands” takes the form WM+HPop, i.e. the image is fully interpreted (W), the subject sees human beings in motion (M),the form is assessed with a positive sign, since the majority of subjects see two people in this image (+)*, in terms of content - human images (H), the answer occurs frequently (Pop). Table 8 – “some kind of predatory animal” (the side part of the image is interpreted). Answer formula: DF+APop. Table 10 – “fantastic flower” (WCFPI). The table is interpreted completely (W), the form is poorly taken into account, the color predominates (CF), but the content is the plant (PI). It is necessary to clarify what is considered the test subject’s answer and what, therefore, is subject to formalization.

Despite its apparent simplicity, this issue can arise and is often not easy to resolve. For example, the subject interprets Table 5 as “a bat or a butterfly.” The question arises, is this one answer or two? Various exclamations, remarks, as well as new answers received during the survey are not subject to formalization. The answer “ink blot” should be formalized if this term was not mentioned in the instructions. Answers containing a noun can be considered to be formalized, regardless of whether they are given in a negative, interrogative form, or in the form of alternatives. For example, “no, it’s not a leaf”, “maybe it’s a butterfly?”, “a butterfly or a leaf”. Sometimes it is suggested “or” - the answers should always be described by two formulas. One answer is encrypted with several formulas in another case. For example, “a rocket taking off against the backdrop of thunderclouds, with flames behind.”

Here, one formula cannot cover the rich content of this engram. But you cannot resort to increasing the number of formulas if the subject describes various parts of the image he saw, clarifies it, for example: “two dancing people...here are the arms, legs...”. In this case, only one formula WM+HPop is needed. At the same time, table 10 is often * When formalizing the answer, one leading determinant is designated, so in this entry the form is present only in the sign, interpreted as a whole as “seabed”, “garden”, and then answers follow but to the details of the image. In this case, they should be regarded as independent.

When the question arises which of the determinants in the Rorschach Spot method to give preference to when encoding the answer, you must be guided by the following rules:

1. Kinesthetic determinants have an advantage in any case.
2. Determinants of color (FC, CF, C) have an advantage over others, with the exception of kinesthetic ones.
3. “Black and white” determinants (black and gray with their shades) have an advantage over other determinants, with the exception of kinesthetic and “color” determinants.

NUMBER OF ANSWERS AND ACCOUNTING OF RESEARCH TIME USING THE “RORSCHACH SPOT” METHOD

The total number of answers that can be formalized (R) varies significantly. The change in the number of answers depends on a number of factors, the most significant of which are: the wealth of images of past experience in the subject, his mental condition and experimental conditions.

The social and cultural differences of the groups being studied have a significant influence. The number of responses may indicate the richness of images and the ease of updating them, however, without taking into account the “quality” of responses, it is impossible to objectively assess these parameters. Not a large number of responses in itself is not pathological. Typically, protocols that record fewer than 10 or 60 interpretations are of little value.

According to Rorschach in the Rorschach Blot method, the number of answers for adult healthy subjects is 15-30. Research time is taken into account as follows:

1) record the time from the beginning to the end of the experiment (T);
2) average time spent on one answer (T/R);
3) determine the period of formation of the reaction to each table (t) - from the moment the table is presented to the beginning of the answer;
4) calculate the average reaction time - the sum of t to the number of tables;
5) separately calculate the average reaction time for color and single-color tables.
On average, t in healthy adults ranges from 7 to 20 C°.

DETERMINING THE SEQUENCE OF PERCEPTION

One of the important features is sequence, i.e. the order in which they appear when interpreting tables various ways perception. To a certain extent, consistency is an indicator of logic and disciplined thinking. It is assumed that a person typically aims to give a holistic answer (W), then pays attention to large details (D), and then can move on to interpret small details (Dd) and finally the background (S). Rorschach identified 5 types of sequence: rigid, ordered, inverse, free and chaotic. When all 10 tables are interpreted in the sequence presented above, this is considered evidence of a rigid, very rare sequence, which is characteristic of pedantic individuals, “slaves” of logic.

Experimental studies have shown that the appearance of a rigid sequence may be a sign of depression. A sequence is considered ordered if it, while maintaining the indicated order in most tables, varies depending on the structure of the spot itself. A disordered, or free, sequence is one in which unexpected deviations are possible, but one can point to some characteristic way perception. Emotional stability can facilitate this consistency.

The highest degree of free sequence - chaotic, most often appearing in mental patients, is obviously associated with adaptation disorders or (rarely) occurs in especially gifted individuals of the “artistic” type. The reverse sequence (from S to W) is as rare as the rigid one. In cases where it is not possible to determine the sequence (for example, only one answer is given for each table), this should be indicated with a question mark.

INTERPRETATION OF THE BASIC CATEGORIES OF ENCRYPTION

Interpretation of test material presents significant difficulties, and it is this phase of working with the technique that is most vulnerable to criticism. Until now, despite the enormous popularity of the Rorschach test, numerous publications by leading experts in the Rorschach technique, the basic principles of interpretation do not have a satisfactory theoretical basis. This applies primarily to assessing the psychological significance of certain categories of analysis. The Rorschach test diagnoses structural characteristics of personality: individual characteristics of the affective-need sphere and cognitive activity (cognitive style), intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts and measures to combat them (defense mechanisms), the general orientation of the personality (type of experience), etc.

At the same time, the connection between individual indicators (or their partners) and these personality parameters has been proven only empirically. Indeed, it is still difficult to explain why, for example, responses like “shape” reflect rational intellectual tendencies, and responses like “color” reflect controlled or impulsive emotionality. Most often, it is believed that an isolated indicator acquires psychological meaning in “context,” that is, it is determined by a combination of many indicators that form an integral configuration or pattern, but many indicators have independent diagnostic value.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF LOCALIZATION INDICATORS

According to Rorschach, many answers can be divided into confabulated and contaminated. In the first case, the subject, starting from any part of the image, creates a complete image, without taking into account the shape of the entire image. Such interpretations are designated as DW (can be DbW, SW, depending on which part was used to construct the whole). Confabulations occur not only in answers like DW, but also in simple holistic or detail data that are completely unmotivated, “taken from the air.”

Contaminated W responses are absent in healthy people and appear due to disorganization of thinking in mental illness. An example is the interpretation of Table 4 mentioned by Rorschach for patients with schizophrenia - “the liver of a statesman leading a respectable lifestyle.” In this case, two types of answers to this table merge into a whole - “person” and “any organ”. Not only W, but also D contaminated interpretations are POSSIBLE.

Image shapes

Depending on how much the shape of the image is taken into account in the interpretation, W answers are graded K3KW+ HW-. A significant amount of W+ indicates high intelligence, richness of imagination, the subject’s tendency to synthesis, a critical approach to actualized images. At the same time, numerous W- or DW- (DbW-, SW-) indicate a violation of critical abilities and inadequate synthesis. The appearance of contaminated W indicates a disorder in thinking. According to Rorschach, a normal adult demonstrates about six Ws in the protocol, and according to Piotrowski, with an IQ of 110 and above, the number of Ws reaches ten. Subjects often interpret large details in images (D). These are the most frequently encountered details, the choice of which is common among normal subjects, and they can be established statistically.

Rorschach recommends examining 50 healthy subjects to determine D, which allows one to identify most of the usual responses to image details. Various authors have compiled lists of the most commonly encountered parts that can be used as a guide, but the D areas are often completely different. The researcher must primarily rely on his own experience, not to mention the fact that there may be cultural, age, national and other differences between the groups being studied.

Rorschach believes that if W is an indicator of a propensity for abstract, theoretical thinking, then D indicates practical, concrete intellectual activity. However, no high correlations were found between these forms of thinking and the number of W and D in the protocols.

Db - unusual, rarely occurring, usually small details (sometimes it is necessary to designate a large detail as Db, which happens if it is interpreted in a completely unusual aspect and unusual connection). An increased number of small details is not typical for adults, normal individuals and, as a rule, does not exceed 5–10% of the total number of answers.

A large number of small parts is always a sign of deviation from the norm. Db are common in “picky, petty critics”, people with limited horizons, and patients with epilepsy. At the same time, answers from gifted people can act as a manifestation of keen observation, evidence of a search for something unusual.

A special form of Db is the choice for interpretation not of the figures themselves, but of the space between them. Such responses are designated by the symbol S. Rorschach understood by S responses associated with inter-figure space, and later this category was expanded to include not only details formed by breaks in the image, but also borders and the entire white background.

Rorschach suggested that the white background of extroverts is interpreted as evidence of negativism, a desire to resist the influence of the environment, or for introverts - opposition to oneself, uncertainty, a feeling of inferiority, but this hypothesis has not been validated. At the same time, answers associated with the interpretation of white space may indicate the ability to see phenomena from different angles, i.e., certain intellectual qualities.

Oligophrenic details (D) (the name was introduced by Rorschach, who, as further research showed, mistakenly believed that such responses were typical for patients with mental retardation) may be a sign of affective inhibition. Thus, Luzli-Usteri writes about the “internal uncertainty syndrome” in the case when two of the indicators of the Db-Do-S triad exceed the average value.

Proportions

Rorschach placed great importance on the relationships between the proportions of each type of response rather than their absolute number. The mutual combination of perception methods in one specific protocol is called “perception type”. As a criterion for determining the type of perception, Rorschach used the ratios most often found when examining normal subjects:

8W – 23D – 2Db – IS American researchers consider the ratio: IW to 2D to be the norm, but this proportion changes with an increase in the number of answers.

An increase in the number of answers leads to an increase in the number of D, the ratio becomes IW per 3D, while a reduction in the number of answers causes the opposite - IW per ID or even 2W per ID. Pure D or Db perceptions are extremely rare; W type is much more common. Usually, the “W+” type is distinguished when about ten answers are given with good form with almost no indication of details (usually subjects with high intelligence) and “W-” type - approximately the same number of answers, but with poor form (found among limited patients with schizophrenia). The type of perception in which there are very few or no W responses is called impoverished.

PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF THE MAIN DETERMINANTS

The main point in formalizing the answer, and then in understanding its psychological essence, is the determination of the determinant, that is, the factor that played the main role in the emergence of this or that interpretation. Determinants allow us to judge:
1) about the degree of realistic perception of reality
2) about activity directed outward or manifested in the imagination;
3) about the emotional attitude towards the environment;
4) a tendency to anxiety, restlessness, stimulating or inhibiting the individual’s activity.

FORM OF OBJECTS

Form (F) is one of the most popular determinants of the answer and, more than the rest, characterizes the actual process of structuring and organizing uncertain material. But first of all, it is important to assess the level of form. When determining whether an interpretation corresponds to the form of a stimulus, one should first of all rely on a statistical criterion. When a large number of people see the same object in one or another “spot” (or part of it), these are responses with a positive form. Rorschach, when assessing the level of form, proceeded from data obtained from an examination of about 100 healthy subjects.

Original interpretations

But along with the statistical criterion, there is also a certain point, since rare, original interpretations can always appear, assessed individually. The level of form is indicated in answers in which the form is in first place (FC, Fc, FM), as well as in kinesthetic determinants (M), where the sign of the form is of great importance. The number of F+ answers reaches 70% of the total number of F answers, and with high intelligence F+ reaches 85 - 95%.

Only in overly pedantic individuals is 100% F+ possible. Rorschach believes that in the process of removing uncertainty and structuring (with answers F and especially F+), the following factors are revealed: the ability to observe and controlled thinking, the richness of images. The interpretation of Luzli-Uster is very close, who considers F+ to be a manifestation of conscious constructive tendencies of the individual, the ability to intelligently control one’s affective impulses. Klopfer also considers F+ an indicator of intellectual control and “ego strength,” i.e., the degree and quality of adaptation to reality.

Rorschach calculated F+% as equal to F±/F 100. They began to use slightly different, enriched formulas:

100 (F + 0.5F±) 100 (F + 0.66F±)
F + % = or ЈF 2F

Kinesthetic indicators

Rorschach considered kinesthetic interpretations especially important indicators, defining the personality characteristics of the subject. At the same time, identifying kinesthetic engrams is one of the most difficult elements in research.

Kinaesthetic interpretations are understood as those in which the subject perceives human movement; they are based on more or less simultaneous perception and integration of three factors:

1) forms;
2) movements;
3) content – vision of the image of a person.

It should be emphasized that “interpretations involving human beings are not always kinesthetic.” The question always arises, “...does movement play a primary role in determining the answer? Are we dealing with truly felt movement or simply with a form that is secondarily interpreted as movement?”

To assess the response as determined by movement, it is necessary to make sure that the subject not only sees but feels kinesthesia and empathizes with what he sees. During the experiment, sometimes you can even observe that the subject involuntarily tries to make the movements that he puts into the image he created. These are, of course, kinesthetic engrams. As M also denotes those answers in which movement is carried out by animals, however, these acts must be anthropomorphic, i.e., characteristic only of humans. The survey plays a decisive role in determining whether a movement is felt.

Kinesisia

Rorschach, and after him other researchers, subdivide kinesthesia into extensive and flexional (sweeping and constrained), assuming differences in the level of activity-passivity of individuals demonstrating movements of different types. The former speak of active goodwill - a cooperative life attitude, the latter indicate passivity, a tendency to avoid difficulties, even to the point of being “away from the world.” Psychological interpretation of kinesthetic indicators is the most difficult and controversial part of working with the Rorschach test. The author considered M in connection with the introversive orientation of the personality, i.e., a person’s ability to “withdraw into himself,” creatively process affective conflicts and thereby achieve internal stability. Such an interpretation of the meaning of M seemed to be confirmed by a study of a certain contingent of subjects - actors, artists, people of mental labor.

Dependencies

At the same time, subsequent experimental tests demonstrated the dependence of this indicator on a number of other factors, for example, adaptability, the degree of differentiation of the “I”, the possibility of openly responding to affective impulses in external behavior, etc. There is also data on the connection of M with the characteristics of interpersonal relationships, in in particular, a person’s idea of himself and his social environment, the ability to empathize and understand other people. According to these data, M is a multidimensional variable, the specific value of which is determined by the context, i.e., a unique combination of all other indicators for a given person. The ambiguity of M partly stems from the fact that this determinant implicitly contains two other determinants -F and H. Apparently, therefore, Klopfer considers human kinesthesia a sign of a conscious, well-controlled internal life accepted by the subject - his own needs, fantasies and self-esteem.

Thus, human kinesthesia indicates:

– introversion;
– maturity of the “I”, expressed in the conscious acceptance of one’s own inner world and good control over emotions;
– creative intelligence (at F+);
– affective stability and adaptability;
– ability to empathize.

A normal adult with an average level of intelligence demonstrates from 2 to 4 M, and with a higher level of intelligence - 5 M and above. The optimal W:M ratio is 3.1. When quantitatively compared with other determinants, each M interpretation is scored 1 point. In analyzing the relationship between the World, one should proceed from the fact that the higher the percentage of positive forms, the more conscious control restrains the manifestation in activity of tendencies expressed in kinesthetic engrams.

Animal Movement (FM).

American psychologists use the FM symbol to designate the movements of animals, parts of animal bodies, or their caricatures in the activities inherent in animals. Identification with FM kinesthesia is usually associated with immaturity of the individual. In contrast to M, animal kinesthesia reflects less conscious, less controlled drives that are not fully accepted by the individual. Klopfer believes that FM represents a more primitive, infantile level of mental life than M. The complete absence of FM may indicate the suppression of primitive drives, perhaps due to their unacceptable content.

Movement of inanimate objects (t).

The code t denotes the movement of objects, the action of mechanical, abstract, symbolic forces. Depending on the clarity of the form, the symbols Fm (for a clear form), mF (for a less definite form) are sometimes used, and m in this case indicates the action of some forces. An assessment of these interpretations can hardly be considered developed. On the one hand, Piotrowski connects interpretations with high level intelligence, since introducing movement into inanimate objects requires a greater “violation of reality” than occurs when interpreting the movement of people and animals in images. According to Klopfer, the appearance of kinesthesia of inanimate objects more than twice in the protocol indicates internal tension, conflict, indicates deep unconscious, uncontrollable impulses, unfulfilled desires. At the same time, a certain amount of FM and m in a certain ratio with M is acceptable and characterizes the richness and liveliness of the individual’s inner world, the spontaneity of its affective manifestations, developed imagination against the background of good control and adaptation.

COLOR – RORSCHACH SPOT

Color as objective sign stimuli are rarely used (no more than 3-5 responses per protocol). Color engrams are considered to represent the affective sphere: the more color is represented in the protocol, the stronger the individual reacts to emotional stimuli. FC responses indicate emotionality controlled by the intellect (F), indicate the ability for affective contact with the environment and adaptation to the surrounding reality. CF responses indicate efficiency that is poorly controlled by the intellect and little ability to adequately adapt to the environment. Answers C are a sign of emotional impulsiveness, a tendency to affective outbursts, and an inability to adequately adapt to the environment. MS responses determined by kinesthesia and color simultaneously are quite rare. They are typical, as a rule, for gifted people with the imaginative type of thinking of artists.

No color responses

The absence of “color” responses in the protocol most often indicates inhibition of efficiency (neurosis, depression), but this is also possible with affective dullness in schizophrenia or due to dementia, with the exception of emotionally excitable oligophrenics. To evaluate the effectiveness, use the “color sum” formula S C = 0.5FC + ICF + 1.5C. For example, in the case of 3FC + 3CF + 1C, the “color sum” will be 1.5 + 3 + 1.5 = 6 (the exception is cases in which C is combined in the formula with another determinant that has precedence, for example, FMC or TC; in In this case, “color” is scored 0.5 points). However, the “sum of color” says nothing about the degree of intellectual control and ability to adapt. To establish this, use the ratio FC: (CF + C).

Left-sided type (FC > CF + C) – stable, controlled efficiency, ability to adapt to external stimuli. Right-sided - unstable efficiency, weak adaptation capabilities. For normal adult faces, the approximate number of color interpretations is 3FC, ICF, OS.

Black and gray color

Rorschach was the first to pay attention to interpretations determined by black or gray with shades, and classified them as “colors.” To distinguish them from interpretations of chromatic colors, he designated them (C). In understanding the origin of these shades, Rorschach proceeded from the fact that they also reflect efficiency, but inhibited by the subject, and indicates that he has difficulty adapting to the environment due to indecisiveness and timidity. The psychological essence of these interpretations causes a lot of controversy among specialists. Different authors designate these determinants differently and distinguish different quantities their.

The most common is the system developed by Klopfer, however, due to its cumbersome nature, it is not always advisable to use it in practical work. The Piotrowski system seems convenient, in which only four symbols are used: c, Fc, c’ and Fc’. The basis of the classification is the identification of determinants c’ and c. The symbol c’ denotes answers in which black or dark color is taken into account, and the shape has no meaning, for example “black night”, “black clouds”. As with, those interpretations that are associated with the words “dirty”, “terrible”, etc. are designated. The symbol with denotes the interpretation of a light gray color, for example, “summer clouds”, “smoke” (the shape is not taken into account), in this The same group in most cases includes “perspectives” and interpretations that take into account the nature of the surface (smooth, rough, etc.). Fc and Fc' denote those responses in which the form is dominant, for example, “black butterfly” (Fc’) or “animal skin with head and paws” (Fc).

Quantification

At quantification“Black and white” determinants are scored as one point for Fc or Fc’, 1.5 points for c and c’. If these things act together with other determinants, for example Mc, then they are estimated at 0.25 belle. This assessment is important when comparing these answers with others. According to Piotrowski, approximately 25% of respondents have c’ answers, while interpretations occur in approximately 90% of respondents. The amount of answers is significant if it exceeds two units; the amount of c’ > 2 is also considered high.

Piotrowski believes that “black and white” interpretations reflect a deeply hidden tendency in the psyche towards anxiety, restlessness, which stimulates or inhibits the individual’s activity. Moreover, answers with c indicate a decrease in activity in activities that cause anxiety and discomfort in order to overcome this state, while c’ indicates an increase in activity to achieve the same goal.
When studying relationships with other determinants, the most important is the ratio of I C to 2 c. It is known that C is an indicator of emotional excitability, expressed in external activity, and c is an indicator of inhibition of activity due to anxiety. The greater E c in relation to S C, the more paralyzed the activity is (for example, obsessive states in neurosis). Optimal ratio: I, с – I, С, with a slight predominance of “color” up to 2 units allowed.

Content

Determining the content is the simplest stage in formalizing the subject’s answer. As has already been shown, for the most important, most frequently occurring categories of content, conditional ones are adopted. The symptomatic value of this phenomenon is also not clear. Piotrowski believes that “red shock” is a sign of aggressiveness and fear. "Black Shock" This concept was first introduced by Binder. According to the frequency of stimulation of “black shock”, the tables are arranged in the following order: 4, 6, 7, 1, 5. According to Binder, “black shock” most often indicates a chronic behavior disorder, anxiety, anxiety. Similar to “color”, an overcompensated “black shock” is possible. Kinesthetic shock is manifested by a departure from kinesthetic engrams when interpreting stimuli that suggest them (tables 1, 2, 3, 9), as well as a decrease in the overall level of responses (the appearance of Db-, Do, etc.). There is an opinion that kinesthetic shock is a sign of insufficient affectivity.

Description (description).

The subject does not interpret the image, but only says something about it, for example, “some kind of image that doesn’t tell me anything.” When interpreting color tables, the description acts as a type of “color shock”. Bohm identifies kinesthetic description, a rather rare phenomenon (description of mechanical movements without connection with objects, for example, “something rotating around its axis”), which should be considered as a comment, not an answer. In his opinion, such descriptions are found almost exclusively in patients with schizophrenia. Color name. The subject only names colors, but does not interpret them (“green”, blue”).

The name of the color should be distinguished from descriptive comments, which are sometimes used to clarify localization. Rorschach and Binder, when assessing these answers, gave them the same importance as “pure color” [C]. However, Bohm and other researchers do not combine the name of the color with the actual “color” responses. If for children under the age of five the color name is common, then for adults it is always a pathological sign.
An indication of the symmetry of images. This is a fairly common phenomenon, but the symptomatic value of remarks about symmetry varies and depends on their type. Single remarks about the symmetry of the images offered to the subject are not significant. Indications of symmetry, which are stereotypical in nature, as well as an obsessive desire to find asymmetry of both parts and images are possible in patients with epilepsy.

The pedantry of the formulation is expressed in a special, “widely ramified” and stereotypical presentation, with a careful description of all kinds of details. For example, “here there is symmetry, vertical extensions... the black paint is applied unevenly,” “here again there is symmetry, extensions... the same paints” (Table 3) and so on in the same style. Most often, such pedantry is a sign of epileptic personality change.

Perseveration.

In the Rorschach Blot method, perseveration is understood as the repetition of the same answer in terms of content. There are three forms of perseveration.

1. Rough, organic, in which the same interpretation is repeated, and it often moves from one table to another. In severe cases, the same interpretation applies to all ten tables. Gross perseveration is observed in patients with organic brain lesions, epilepsy, schizophrenia and dementia.
2. A kind of “sticking” to the main topic, observed in true epilepsy. The subject does not give completely identical answers, but adheres to one, little varied content category (“dog’s head”, “horse’s head”, etc.).
3. A weakened form of perseveration, in which identical answers appear against the background of answers of different content. This does not apply to “popular” answers because “ Bat” may appear twice in answers to tables 1 and 5. The repeatability of unusual answers is important here.

In addition, Bohm distinguishes perceptual perseveration, in which the subject constantly selects completely similar details of the image (often D and Db), but interprets them differently, and perseveration of the perceived detail, when the subject selects one detail (sometimes the entire image) and interprets it differently. The same is true for healthy individuals. Anatomical stereotypy consists of a preference for answers with anatomical content. With a high percentage of such interpretations (60–100%), diagnosing personality traits is impossible.

Stereotypy

Often in pathological cases, anatomical stereotypy is combined with perseveration. As individual cases, “stereotypy of body parts” and “stereotypy of face” are distinguished. Stereotypical preference for Hd answers (excluding “faces” and “heads”) most often indicates dementia (but localization is Do answers “Stereotype of faces,” according to Bohm, is a sign of phobias and occurs in neuroses. Self-referral is manifested in a rough form in the introduction your “I” into interpretation, for example, “two people, one of whom is me.”

In a weaker form, it is realized as focusing on one’s own experiences (“this reminds me of the cat we had at home”). A severe form of self-attribution occurs in schizophrenia and epilepsy, less often in dementia, and milder forms are found in patients with neuroses. Denial of color. This phenomenon was first described by Piotrowski and consists in the fact that the subject denies the influence of color on the interpretation, although he uses it (“... these are flowers, but not because of the color”). Piotrowski refers to such responses as “color shock.” Projection of color onto black images. Color (polychrome) is rarely introduced into the interpretation of black-gray tables by the subjects (“magnificent colored butterfly” - Table 5).

Opinions

According to Piotrowski, who interprets Rorschach's Blots, the subject in this case is trying to “put on a good face at bad game”, that is, he seems to impose on himself a joyful mood in the absence of one. Such popular answers, realism index and form-color answers, as well as in reducing the proportion of holistic interpretations with poor form. In qualitative terms, an improvement in the perception of shape is expressed in the gradual complication of the shape of clearly perceived spots from popular answers to combinatorial ones. As the child grows up, the ways of perceiving spots become more diverse: the number of holistic responses decreases and increases specific gravity responses to ordinary and small details and to a white background. From 6 to 7 years old, kinesthetic responses appear.

Signs of childhood

Characteristic features of childhood in the interpretation of the Rorschach Blot method are confabulatory responses and a relatively large number of perseverations. At the age of 6-7 years, boys have more kinesthetic responses, and girls have more color responses; at the same age, girls are ahead of boys in the development of shape perception. A similar study was carried out on junior schoolchildren(8-12 years old). Table 2 provides summary data for this age. In general, a slight decrease in the rate of development of visual perception was shown compared to preschoolers. The greatest growth in this age period undergo the following indicators: total responses, the number of interpretations of white spaces, the proportion of responses indicating human images, the number of kinesthetic and combinatorial responses. The last three of these response categories are positively correlated with school performance and are used to assess intelligence.

Mediocre students 1.55+ -0.20 12.89+ -1.10 0.65+ -0.16
Confidence level P<0, 01 Р<0,01 Р<0,01
Indicator Good students
M 2.38 + -0.23 N% 17.79+ -1.22
Combinatorial responses 1.53 + -0.26

In addition, in the group of good students there was a larger total number of answers, a higher percentage of answers with a clear form, a lower proportion of integral answers with a bad form and an indicator of “sum of color”, there were more answers to rare details and a white background and fewer perseverations, but there were differences between groups for these indicators were not significant. Note: when studying children from 3 to 6 years old using the “Rorschach Blot” method, a modification of the instructions was used, according to which children were asked to guess what the spots looked like. Starting from the age of 6, the experimental procedure did not differ from the standard one.

Popular answers, designated in tables 1 and 2 of the “Rorschach Blot” method as P, were determined according to the “adult” lists of I. G. Bespalko. Using his tables, the localization of area D was determined.

Back in 1921, a psychiatrist and psychologist from Switzerland, Hermann Rorschach, created a personality test named after him - Rorschach test, also known under the names: “Rorschach blots or blots”, as well as the “inkblot technique”, which is still quite in demand and popular among psychologists and psychotherapists in diagnosing the psyche, its disorders and disorders.

The term “Psychodiagnostics” was also coined by Rorschach.

The stimulus material of the Rorschach projective test consists of 10 amorphous (weakly structured) black-and-white and color pictures, the so-called. Rorschach spots, symmetrical along the axis and located in a certain order from 1 to 10.

Take the Rorschach test online

Take the Rorschach test online possible only in a truncated form, because in order to obtain real psychodiagnostic results, an examination is necessary in the presence of a psychologist, and even in conjunction with others, including clinical studies and a survey of the subject. In this case, the person being tested, looking at the image, the Rorschach blot, uses free associations and says the first thing that comes to mind: a word, an image, a concept...

What a person “sees” in a blot (ink stain) will help determine the characteristics of his personality and psyche - the norm and deviations, up to personality, neurotic disorders and pathology.

So, take the Rorschach test online for free

Now, if you are ready, you can go through Rorschach test online, free in a truncated version...
You are asked to answer questions about what you think each picture or Rorschach blot looks like.

Attention! For the purity of the Rorschach test study, first, in order, look at each blot and, based on personal associations, tell yourself (preferably write down) what comes to your mind: what the Rorschach blot reminds you of, what it looks like...
Then, at the end of the content (page), select the definitions that suit your associations by the number of each ink. Click on the result button and find out a lot about your personality.

Those who want to take the famous Rorschach test with the participation of a psychologist, for example via Skype, and receive the most reliable personality studies together with psychoanalysis, can SIGN UP for online psychodiagnostics from the main page of the site.

Rorschach inkblot technique - take the test

Blob No. 1

Blot No. 2

Blob No. 3

Blob No. 4

Blob No. 5

Blot No. 6

Blot No. 7

Blob No. 8

Blob No. 9

Blob No. 10

Psychological Rorschach test (ink blots)

Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922). Human personality and inkblots

Hermann Rorschach was born on November 8, 1884 in Zurich (Switzerland). He was the eldest son of an unsuccessful artist, forced to earn a living by giving art lessons at school. Since childhood, Herman was fascinated by color spots (in all likelihood, the result of the creative efforts of his father and the boy’s own love of painting), and his school friends nicknamed him Blob. When Herman was twelve, his mother died, and when the young man turned eighteen, his father also died. After graduating with honors from high school, Rorschach decided to study medicine. In 1912, he received his medical degree from the University of Zurich, after which he worked in a number of psychiatric hospitals. In 1911, while still studying at the university, Rorschach conducted a series of interesting experiments to test whether schoolchildren gifted with artistic talents had a more developed imagination when interpreting ordinary inkblots. This research had a huge impact not only on the future career of the scientist, but also on the development of psychology as a science in general. It must be said that Rorschach was not the first to use color spots in his research, but in his experiment they were used for the first time within the framework of an analytical approach. The results of the scientist's first experiment were lost over time, but over the next ten years Rorschach conducted large-scale research and developed a systematic technique that allows psychologists to determine people's personality types using ordinary inkblots.

Thanks to his work in a psychiatric clinic, the researcher had free access to its patients. Thus, Rorschach studied both mentally ill people and emotionally healthy people, which allowed him to develop a systematic test using inkblots, which can be used to analyze a person’s personality characteristics, determine his personality type and, if necessary, correct it.

In 1921, Rorschach presented the results of his large-scale work to the world by publishing a book called Psychodiagnostics. In it, the author outlined his theory about the personal characteristics of people. One of the main points is that each person's personality consists of the qualities of introversion and extroversion—in other words, that we are motivated by both external and internal factors. According to the scientist, the inkblot test allows one to assess the relative ratio of these properties and identify any mental deviation or, on the contrary, personality strengths. The psychological scientific community paid virtually no attention to the first edition of Rorschach's book, since at that time the prevailing belief was that it was impossible to measure or test what a person's personality consisted of. However, over time, colleagues began to understand the usefulness of the Rorschach test, and in 1922, the psychiatrist discussed the possibilities of improving his technique at a meeting of the Psychoanalytic Society. Unfortunately, on April 1, 1922, after suffering from severe abdominal pain for a week, Hermann Rorschach was admitted to the hospital with suspected appendicitis, and on April 2 he died of peritonitis. He was only thirty-seven years old and never saw the enormous success of the psychological tool he invented.

Rorschach ink blots

The Rorschach test uses ten ink blots: five black and white, two black and red, and three color. The psychologist shows the cards in strict order, asking the patient the same question: “What does this look like?” After the patient has seen all the pictures and given the answers, the psychologist shows the cards again, again in strict order. The patient is asked to name everything that he sees in them, where exactly in the picture he sees this or that image, and what in it forces him to give exactly that answer. Cards can be turned over, tilted, manipulated in any other way. The psychologist must accurately record everything the patient says and does during the test, as well as the timing of each response. Next, the answers are analyzed and points are calculated. Then, through mathematical calculations, a result is derived from the test data, which is interpreted by a specialist. If an inkblot does not evoke any associations in a person or he cannot describe what he sees on it, this may mean that the object depicted on the card is blocked in his consciousness, or that the image on it is associated in his subconscious with a topic that he would not like to discuss at the moment.

Card 1

On the first card we see a stain of black ink. It is shown first, and the answer to it allows the psychologist to suggest how this person performs tasks that are new to him - therefore, associated with a certain stress. People usually say that the image reminds them of a bat, a moth, a butterfly, or the face of some animal, such as an elephant or a rabbit. The answer reflects the respondent's personality type as a whole.

For some people, the image of a bat is associated with something unpleasant and even demonic; for others it is a symbol of rebirth and the ability to navigate in the dark. Butterflies can symbolize transition and transformation, as well as the ability to grow, change, and overcome difficulties. The moth symbolizes feelings of abandonment and ugliness, as well as weakness and anxiety. The face of an animal, particularly an elephant, often symbolizes the ways in which we confront difficulties and the fear of internal problems. It can also mean “a bull in a china shop,” that is, it conveys a feeling of discomfort and indicates a certain problem that a person is currently trying to get rid of.

Card 2

If a person sees two people in the spot, it can symbolize codependency, an obsession with sex, ambivalence about sexual intercourse, or a focus on connection and close relationships with others. If the spot resembles a person reflected in a mirror, this may symbolize self-centeredness or, on the contrary, a tendency to self-criticism. Each of the two options expresses either a negative or positive personality characteristic, depending on how the image evokes in the person. If the respondent sees a dog in the spot, this may mean that he is a loyal and loving friend. If he perceives the stain as something negative, then he needs to face his fears and acknowledge his inner feelings. If the spot reminds a person of an elephant, this may symbolize a tendency to think, developed intelligence and good memory; however, sometimes such a vision indicates a negative perception of one’s own body. The bear imprinted in the spot symbolizes aggression, competition, independence, and disobedience. In the case of English-speaking patients, a play on words can play a role: bear (bear) and bare (naked), which means a feeling of insecurity, vulnerability, as well as the sincerity and honesty of the respondent. The spot on this card is reminiscent of something sexual, and if the respondent sees it as a person praying, this may indicate an attitude towards sex in the context of religion. If the respondent sees blood in the stain, it means that he associates physical pain with religion or, when experiencing complex emotions like anger, resorts to prayer, or associates anger with religion.

Card 3

If a person sees two people having lunch in a spot, this means that he leads an active social life. A spot that resembles two people washing their hands speaks of insecurity, a feeling of one’s own uncleanliness, or paranoid fear. If a respondent sees two people playing a game in a spot, this often indicates that he is taking the position of an opponent in social interactions. If the spot resembles a person looking at his reflection in the mirror, this may indicate self-centeredness, inattention to others and an inability to understand people.

Card 4

Card 5

Card 6

Card 7

The spot on this card is also black and is usually associated with the feminine. Since people most often see images of women and children in this spot, it is called “maternal.” If a person has difficulty describing what is shown on the card, this may indicate that he has difficult relationships with women in his life. Respondents often say that the spot reminds them of the heads or faces of women or children; it can also bring back memories of a kiss.

If the spot appears similar to the heads of women, this symbolizes the feelings associated with the respondent's mother, which affect his attitude towards the female sex in general. If the spot resembles children's heads, this symbolizes feelings associated with childhood and the need to care for the child who lives in the soul of the respondent, or that the patient's relationship with his mother needs close attention and, possibly, correction. If a person sees two heads bowed for a kiss in the spot, this indicates his desire to be loved and reunite with his mother, or that he seeks to reproduce the once close relationship with his mother in other relationships, including romantic or social ones.

Card 8

Card 9

The spot on this card includes the colors green, pink, and orange. It has a vague outline, making it difficult for most people to understand what this image reminds them of. For this reason, this card assesses how well a person copes with lack of structure and uncertainty. Most often, patients see on it either the general outlines of a person, or some vague form of evil.

Card 10

The last card of the Rorschach test has the most colors: there are orange, yellow, green, pink, gray, and blue. In form it is somewhat similar to the eighth card, but in complexity it is more consistent with the ninth. Many people have a rather pleasant feeling when they see this card, except those who were very puzzled by the difficulty of identifying the image depicted on the previous card; when they look at this picture they feel the same. This may indicate that they have difficulty coping with similar, synchronous, or overlapping stimuli. Most often people see a crab, lobster, spider, rabbit head, snakes or caterpillars on this card.

The image of a crab symbolizes the respondent's tendency to become too attached to things and people, or a quality such as tolerance. If a person sees a lobster in a picture, it can indicate his strength, tolerance and ability to cope with minor problems, as well as his fear of harming himself or being harmed by someone else. If the spot resembles a spider, it may be a symbol of fear, a feeling that the person has been dragged into a difficult situation by force or deceit. In addition, the image of a spider symbolizes an overly protective and caring mother and the power of a woman. If a person sees the head of a rabbit, it can symbolize reproductive ability and a positive attitude towards life. Snakes reflect a sense of danger or a sense of being deceived, as well as fear of the unknown. Snakes are also often regarded as a phallic symbol and are associated with unacceptable or forbidden sexual desires. Since this is the last card in the test, if the patient sees caterpillars on it, this indicates prospects for his growth and understanding that people are constantly changing and developing.

Fragment from Paul Kleinman's book “Psychology. People, concepts, experiments"

Series of messages "Psychological tests":
Part 1 - Psychological Rorschach test (ink blots)

The Rorschach test ("Rorschach blots") is a psychological projection test containing 10 printed cards (5 black and white, 5 color). It was created in 1921 and published by psychologist Hermann Rorschach in the journal Psychodiagnostik. During the 1940s and 1950s, this test was integrally associated with clinical psychology.

During much of the 20th century, the Rorschach test was very common and a well-interpreted psychological test. For example, in studies from 1947 (Louttit and Browne) and 1961 (Sundberg), it was ranked as the fourth and first psychological test, respectively, in terms of frequency of use.

Despite its widespread use, the Rorschach test has been associated with a large number of controversies. Researchers have often had difficulty studying the test and its results systematically, and the use of several different scoring systems for the responses given to each image has created some confusion.

"Rorschach stains" or a test for psychopaths

Life is a hall of mirrors, an amalgam, a Rorschach test, you see in it only what is inside you.
Al Quotion. Collocation

The Story of Rorschach

Hermann Rorschach never told anyone how he came up with the idea for the test. However, like many figures of that time, he often played the popular game Blotto (Clexography), in which associations associated with poetry are selected or charades are created using inkblots.

Cards with such ready-made inkblots could be easily purchased in stores at that time. In addition, his close personal friend and teacher Konrad Goering could have suggested using these spots as a psychological tool.

When Eugen Bleuler coined the term "schizophrenia" in 1911, Rorschach became interested in the topic and wrote a dissertation on hallucinations (Bleuler was Rorschach's dissertation chairman). While working with patients suffering from schizophrenia, Rorschach accidentally discovered that they reacted differently to Blotto's game than other people.

He gave a brief presentation about his discovery to the local psychiatric society, but then that was the end of it. It was only after he opened a psychiatric practice at the Russian Crombaz hospital in Herisau in 1917 that he became interested in systematically studying the Blotto game.

In his studies from 1918 to 1921, Rorschach used about 40 inkblots, but only 15 of them were regularly used on his patients. Ultimately, he collected data from 405 subjects (117 were not his patients, and he used them as a control group).

His method of evaluation did not emphasize the content of the answers, but rather the classification of the answers according to their various characteristics. To do this, he used a set of codes - today called ratings - to determine whether the answer applied to the entire image (W), to a large part of it (D), or to a smaller detail. A score of F was used for a response related to the shape of the detail of the spot, and a score of C indicated that the color of the spot was included in the response.

In 1919-1921 he tried to find a publisher to publish his discoveries and the regularly used 15 inkblot cards. However, all publishers refused to publish all 15 stain images due to the cost of printing. Finally, in 1921, he found a publisher - House of Bircher - willing to publish his spots, but only 10 of them. Rorschach revised his manuscript to include only the 10 most commonly used blots out of 15.

Alas, the print was not of high enough quality to correctly convey the original stains. The original Rorschach blots had no halftones - they were pure colors. Reproducing them in print added nuance. But rumor has it that Rorschach was quite pleased with this new addition to his stains. After publishing a monograph entitled Form Interpretation Test, he died in hospital in 1922 due to abdominal pain. Rorschach lived only 37 years, and he formally worked on his inkblot tests for only four years.

Scoring systems in the Rorschach test

Until the 1970s, there were five main systems for rating the responses given by people who see these spots. Among them, two systems dominated - the Beck and Klopfer systems. The other three systems were used less frequently. These were the systems of Hertz, Piotrovsky and Rapaport-Shafer. In 1969, John E. Exner, Jr. published the first comparison of these five systems, entitled The Rorschach Systems.

The revelation of Exner's stunning analysis was that there were, in fact, no five grading systems for Rorschach blots. Exner concluded that these five systems differed from each other so greatly and significantly that it could be considered that five different "Rorschach tests" were created. It's time to go back to the drawing board.

Following his alarming discovery, Exner set out to create a new, comprehensive Rorschach scoring system that would combine the best components of these five existing systems, complemented by extensive empirical research on each component.

The work began in 1968 and included important research into creating a new system for rating Rorschach blots. As a result, in 1973, Exner published the first edition of The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System. In this work, he introduced a new scoring system that became the new gold standard (and the only scoring system taught to psychologists today).

What does the Rorschach test measure?

The Rorschach blot test was not originally intended to be a projective measure of personality characteristics. Instead, he had to construct a personality profile of a person with schizophrenia (or another mental disorder) based on frequency ratings.

Rorschach himself was skeptical about using his test to projectively measure personality characteristics.

The Rorschach test, at its most basic level, is a task that provides a reflection of the psychology of the person taking the test, as well as establishing some level of understanding of the patient's past and future behavior.

Patients often use imagination to formulate an answer, but the underlying process of solving this problem has little to do with imagination or creativity.

How is the Rorschach test performed?

The person taking the test is given a card with a spot printed on it and asked, “What could it be?” Responses are usually recorded verbatim (today recording devices are used for this) because they will later be assessed by a psychologist.

Exner divided the subject's answer to the question of what is shown on the map into three primary phases:

In phase 1, while a person is looking at the map, his brain is encoding the stimulus (the spot) and all its details. It then categorizes the stimuli and their parts, and the brain develops an informal ordering (ranking) of possible responses.
In phase 2, the person discards possible answers that have a low rank and checks the remaining answers that seem suitable to him.
In Phase 3, the person selects some of the filtered responses based on characteristics, styles, or other sources of influence.

If a person reacts to the general contours of the spot, then, according to Exner, there is a slight projection. However, when the subject begins to embellish his answer, or adds more information than was originally given to him, this may be a sign of projection occurring at the moment. In other words, a person tells the psychologist something about himself, or about his life, because he goes beyond the characteristics of the spot itself.

Mirror reflections are not much different from Rorschach tests
-
looking at them, we become a victim of our own myopia or our fears.
Ray Bradbury. Midnight Dragon Dance

After the patient goes through all ten spots for the first time and tells the psychologist what he sees in each spot, the psychologist should again offer each spot to the person, asking the person taking the test to help the psychologist see what the person saw when he first answered. It is here that the psychologist receives certain details for a clearer understanding of what different aspects and where exactly the subject saw in each spot.

Rorschach test score

Scoring the Rorschach test is a very complex task that requires good preparation and experience in administering the test. Only professional psychologists are properly trained and have the experience necessary to correctly interpret the results.

Thus, any “Rorschach test” that you can take online on the Internet, or that is performed/interpreted by a specialist in another discipline, may produce unreliable results or be of little benefit.

Exner's scoring system checks every aspect of the answer - from how many spots are used, to what history is associated with the answer (if provided by the answerer), to the level of detail and type of content of the answer. The assessment begins by examining the quality of the response's elaboration—in other words, how well it is constructed and whether the response is routine, vague, or arbitrary.

The basis of evaluation is related to the encoding of the response in accordance with all the characteristics of the spot that are involved in the formation of the response.

The following characteristics are encoded:

Form.
Movement - whether movement appears in the response.
Chromatic color is when the response uses color.
Achromatic color - when the answer uses only black, white, or gray.
Halftone texture - when the response uses texture.
Halftone dimension - when the answer uses dimensions related to semitones.
Halftone scattering is when halftones are used in the answer.
Shape dimension - when the answer uses dimensions other than halftones.
Pairs and reflections - when the answer uses pairs or reflections.

Because many people give complex and detailed answers to the question of what they see in spots, the scoring system uses the concept of "mixtures" to account for complex answers. These mixtures take into account multiple objects or the method used to describe an object.

Organizational response activity assesses how well the response is organized. Finally, it performs an assessment of shape quality - that is, how well the answer matches the spot itself (depending on how the person taking the test describes it). If the spot looks like a bear, and the person describes it as a bear, then it may have an "ordinary" form quality - quite acceptable, but not showing much creativity or originality.

There are, of course, many popular responses to spots that resemble real-life objects or creatures. The Exner scoring system takes this into account by providing extensive tables for each card containing common responses and how they can be coded.

Pictures of Rorschach "blots"

Interpretation of the Rorschach test

After the responses to each card are correctly coded by the psychologist, an interpretive report is formulated based on the response ratings. This report combines the results obtained from all test answers so that the combined answer cannot distort the test results.

First, the psychologist checks the adequacy of the test, resistance to stress, and the amount of resources available to the person taking the test, comparing them with the requirements imposed on the patient at this time.

Next, the psychologist must examine the individual's cognitive functioning, accuracy of perception, flexibility of ideas and attitudes, ability to calm and control one's emotions, goal orientation, self-esteem and interests, as well as the relationship of these aspects with others.

There are also a number of special indices used less frequently to determine suicidal tendencies, schizophrenia and other deviations. Typically, all of this can be more quickly assessed during a clinical interview, but the Rorschach test can help identify areas of concern in the patient when some questions remain.

VIDEO: Rorschach takes the Rorschach test

A short clip from the film "Watchmen" about a movie character named Rorschach, who takes a Rorschach test during interrogation by the criminal police.

About the events in the hero’s life that changed his psychology as a person for the worse and about his associations on the Rorschach test.

Conclusion

The Rorschach test is not a magical way to peer into a person's soul. It is simply an empirically validated method of projectively measuring personality characteristics.

It is backed by nearly four decades of modern research (following the previous four decades of its existence since it was first published in 1921).

By answering questions about what they see in a simple set of ten inkblots, people can often reveal a little more information about themselves than their conscious self might intend. This leads to a deeper understanding of the internal motivations of human behavior and the emergence of existing problems.

Psychological Rorschach test (ink blots). Rorschach spots - a projective technique for psychological and psychiatric examination

Rorschach ink blots

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Four Types of Experience

DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNIQUE – RORSCHACH SPOTS

PROCESSING RESULTS USING THE “RORSCHACH SPOT” METHOD

1. Localization features of interpretation:

2. Determinants:

3. Form level:

5. Originality-popularity.

NUMBER OF ANSWERS AND ACCOUNTING OF RESEARCH TIME USING THE “RORSCHACH SPOT” METHOD

DETERMINING THE SEQUENCE OF PERCEPTION

INTERPRETATION OF THE BASIC CATEGORIES OF ENCRYPTION

PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF LOCALIZATION INDICATORS

Image shapes

Proportions

PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF THE MAIN DETERMINANTS

FORM OF OBJECTS

Original interpretations

Kinesthetic indicators

Kinesisia

Dependencies

Animal Movement (FM).

Movement of inanimate objects (t).

COLOR – RORSCHACH SPOT

No color responses

Black and gray color

Quantification

Content

Description (description).

Perseveration.

Stereotypy

Opinions

Signs of childhood

Take the Rorschach test online

So, take the Rorschach test online for free

Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922). Human personality and inkblots

Rorschach ink blots

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The Story of Rorschach

Scoring systems in the Rorschach test

What does the Rorschach test measure?

How is the Rorschach test performed?

Rorschach test score

Pictures of Rorschach "blots"

Interpretation of the Rorschach test

VIDEO: Rorschach takes the Rorschach test

Conclusion

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