week 1-2

Question 1

Is rorschach inkblot method valid?

Answer 1

serves a central role in personality assessment
has a long history in psychology
topic of an abundance of empirical research
meets supreme court daubert validity standards and is admissible in court
it is a very powerful technique but is exceedingly complex

Question 2

what is a cognitive perceptual task

Answer 2

a task that is more concerned with how you do something rather that what they seen

how they see the card vs actually what they see

Rorschach is a cognitive perceptual task

Question 3

Why does the Rorschach work?

Answer 3

task provides a standardized sample of perceptual and verbal problem solving behaviors

Inkblots were created and enhanced, carefully selected and pilot-tested such that several different things can be seen so we can see how people see things

Question 4

5 scoring systems (by 1960s)

Answer 4

Samuel Beck (empirical)
Bruno Klopfer (psychoanalytic)
Marguerite Hertz (empirical)
Zygmund Piatrowski (psychoanalytic)
David Rapaport, Merton Gill, Roy Schafer

Question 5

6 Criticisms of the Rorschach

Answer 5

(any scientific endeavor needs criticism)
lack of good norms
over-pathologizes
Low inter-rater reliability
Lack of relationship to dx
Lack of incremental validity
the problem of R

Question 6

what caused the resurgence of the Rorschach

Answer 6

standardized, empirically validated results brought credibility
sufficient to meet criteria to be admissible in court
revisions were made as studies continued

Question 7

The comprehensive system of the Rorschach

Answer 7

1974 - John Exner published the first volume
“not an x-ray of the mind but a procedure that provokes many of the psychological operations of the subject”
Return to a “cognitive perceptual test” as intended
Reflecting inner organization - we cannot help but lay down our inner organization in how we perceive and interpret the world (conditioning, history, schema, organizing principles, templates)

Question 8

New Direction of the Rorschach

Answer 8

developed by Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erdberg, Erard
developed new system = RPAS (Rorschach Performance Assessment System)
addressed many of the criticisms and now we can engage in new research

Question 9

how “lack of good norms” was addressed

Answer 9

Exner was re-norming until death
Shaffer spear-headed a large international sample

Question 10

how “overpathologize” was addressed

Answer 10

new norms
revisions of some indices
trained users understand the nuances of assessment and safe-guards against over-pathologizing

Question 11

how “low inter-rater reliability” was addressed

Answer 11

viglione book promotes greater precision in scoring

better graduate training

Question 12

How “lack of relationship to dx” was addressed

Answer 12

Rorschach is not intended to dx
must consider indicator by indicator, not rule out method as whole
Replication is always an issue in research
Better training

Question 13

How “lack of incremental validity” is addressed

Answer 13

depends on assessment - add it to a protocol wisely

better training!

Question 14

how “the problem of R” was addressed

Answer 14

possible solutions:
good clinical training
use the Holtzman inkblot Method
convert indicators to ratio (as possible)
develop norm tables for different ranges of R
Develop a new administration system

Question 15

RPAS

Answer 15

new system
has emerged over the last 15 years and is built on Exner’s comprehensive system
it is the system most solidly grounded in empirical evidence
established to evolve with advancing research
user-friendly system

Question 16

How does testers personality impact process

Answer 16

the insight that tester’s personality is part of the process was ahead of its time (intersubjectivity)
values:
May increase perceptiveness
May see a greater variety of solutions
may foster tolerance
may contribute to tester’s growth

Question 17

Projective traditionally refers to:

Answer 17

ambiguous stimulus or activity
test-taker generates a response with minimal external guidance
in responding the test-taker projects or puts forward elements of her personality
interpretation requires subjectivity

Question 18

What is projection

Answer 18

Things that aren’t there
- movement probably is a bit projective because blot does not move
- embellishment leaves the field too (bats classification answer, bat that just went through a storm and is all beat up)
- Minus responses may be projection
special scores

Question 19

Performance-based vs projective

Answer 19

performance based tests = nomothetic; one’s performance can be scored into meaningful categories that can be compared to norms, resulting in reliable and valid implications that are totally separate from projective analysis

Question 20

Performance based measures

Answer 20

Value as a different method from self-report tests

Question 21

what do we miss with self-report tests?

Answer 21

maturity
narcissism
intelligence
trauma

Question 22

Value of the Rorschach

Answer 22

Rorschach is a standardized behavioral experiment that provides a sample of how one:
- filters and organizes
- applies meaning to stimuli and situation
- how conventionally they perceive
- how logically they think and communicate
-how they handle inconsistencies, contradictions and ambiguity

Question 23

True or False: Rorschach correlates high with self report measures

Answer 23

False; some explain this as a failure of the Rorschach, others call lit incremental validity allowed by a different method/level of investigation

Question 24

Explicit vs Implicit

Answer 24

Explicit: self-report measures (how a person sees themselves)

Implicit: Performance-based measures tend to tap implicit or underlying aspects of a person

Question 25

benefits of an inkblot

Answer 25

cuts out the possibility of a correct answer

set into motion complicated set of psychological operations
- enter into short term storage, scan it, cognitively identify it, dredge it up long-term storage for comparison data

Question 26

Critical Distal Bits

Answer 26

the most potent properties of the field
they create the parameters that limit the range of possibilities
(more people saw a crab with the blue ink rather than if it was brown ink)
not precise and dicrete as usual
each contains distinctive features that could be identified as similar to objects in memory traces
*blots fall short of being ambiguous

CBs limit the array of possible translations allow for rapid formation of potential answers

Question 27

Popular responses

Answer 27

more than 90% of subjects see a 4 legged animal animal in D1 area of Card VIII

Approximately 85% see a winged object on Card 1 and Card V

More than 80% see a human figure in D9 of Card III

Question 28

Example of performance based tests

Answer 28

Rorschach
Wartegg Drawing Completion Test
Adult Attention Projective
thurston-Cradock

Question 29

Examples of projective tests

Answer 29

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Roberts Apperception Test
Tell me a Story (TMAS)
House-tree-person drawings (HTP)
Sentence completion tests

Question 30

Value of performance-based tests

Answer 30

research shows:
- projective/performance tests which use visual stimuli (Rorschach) and are administered relatively unstructured, interpersonal, and thus affect arousing situations, are highly activating of the right hemisphere and of subcortical areas involved in emotional activation and regulation

Rorschach and others are extremely useful in picking up the effects of truama and early insecure attachment experiences, and in showing functioning when clients are emotionally aroused