Rorschach test

/rawr"shahk, rohr"-/, Psychol.

a test for revealing the underlying personality structure of an individual by the use of a standard series of 10 inkblot designs to which the subject responds by telling what image or emotion each design evokes.

[1925-30; named after Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922), Swiss psychiatrist]

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▪ psychology

      projective method of psychological testing in which a person is asked to describe what he sees in 10 inkblots, of which some are black or gray and others have patches of colour. Responses are scored as to the location in the blot of the thing seen; the kind of stimulus characteristic emphasized—e.g., form or colour; and the content of the percept—e.g., animal. From response scores, the tester attempts to describe the testee's personality, often by comparing scores to established norms. Interpretation is not highly standardized, however, and though popular, the test has been attacked as being unreliable, even in the areas of diagnosis and prognosis in which it is most frequently used. The test was introduced in 1921 by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (Rorschach, Hermann). Similar tests have since been devised, notably one with two 45-card forms by the American psychologist W.H. Holtzman.

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