Projections of Who You Are In 1942, psychologist Hermann Rorschach created an experiment intended to undercover the mainly unconscious aspects of a person’s psychology. He did this by making a test consisting of ambiguous shapes for a person to interpret. This is known better today as the “inkblot test”. The hypothesis behind the experiment was if you gave a person an interpretable image, that person would see the image to be something that their unconscious mental processes determined it to be. This means that theoretically, the image they proclaimed to see could be used to gauge their internal psyche.
Developing the Test Rorschach determined that the most ambivalent images to use for this experiment would be ink blots. He created his pictures as simply as possible, by putting drops of ink onto paper and then folding it in half to create an image. Rorschach then
decided which of the many images he created would be good to use for the test. He determined that the images had to be symmetrical and simple or they would be too hard for people to interpret. He eventually settled on ten images, five black, five colored. Using the Test Rorschach administered the test by handing the subject and image and asking them what they saw. He then recorded number of responses, time taken to respond, did color influence their response, was the image seen as a whole or in separate parts, and what did the person see. For his primary test, Rorschach used a diverse group of subjects, including schizophrenics, depressed subjects, and subjects with different amounts of education. For the original ten images, Rorschach found that response number varied from fifteen to thirty, with depressed people responding less while happy people responding more and schizophrenics responding at varying amounts. The test usually took twenty to thirty minutes, but schizophrenics took much
less time. The most common image seen was of an animal or insect, with depressed people giving more animal-based responses than other subjects. Rorschach also recorded original responses, with schizophrenics giving more original responses than average subjects. The findings from this test led Rorschach to state that the test was not designed to be a diagnostic test, but that its implications as such are apparent. He also made sure to note that the test should not be used over clinical diagnostics but could be used to aid the process. Final Notes Criticisms of Rorschach’s experiment have come to light since its completion. Alternate research has determined that responses given by subjects may be more linked to factors outside of inner personality such as age and education. The test is still used commonly today, however, by clinical psychologists. There are multiple new tests coming to light using the “inkblot” method, so there is hope to see Rorschach’s research continue well into the future.