Psychology · Ch 2 — Self and Personality
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
This is a projective test of personality, developed by Hermann Rorschach. The core idea is that when people look at an ambiguous, meaningless inkblot, they project their own unconscious thoughts, feelings, and personality traits onto it. What a person "sees" in the blot reveals something about their inner world.
The test material consists of 10 inkblots, each printed in the centre of a white cardboard card measuring about 7 inches by 10 inches. The blots are symmetrical in design, meaning the left and right halves mirror each other. They were originally created by dropping ink on a piece of paper and folding it in half — hence the name "inkblot test."
The 10 cards are not all the same. Five are in black and white, two contain some red ink in addition to black and white, and the remaining three are in pastel colours.
Administration in Two Phases
The test is administered individually, and it proceeds in two distinct phases:
Phase 1: Performance Proper — The subject is shown each card, one by one, and asked a simple, open-ended question: "What do you see in this?" The subject's spontaneous responses are recorded verbatim.
Phase 2: Inquiry — After all cards have been shown, the examiner goes back through the responses with the subject. The goal is to get a detailed report of where on the blot the subject saw something, how they saw it (what features of the blot led to that perception), and on what basis the response was made. This phase clarifies the reasoning behind each answer.