Rorschach Test Review and Critique
Testing & Assessment
Pepperdine University
Vivian Kim
Rorschach Test
General Information The Rorschach Test is a projective personality test, named after its creator, Hermann Rorschach. Rorschach was a Swiss psychologist who created the test in 1921, though his investigation of inkblots began about a decade before that. The test was originally published by the House of Bircher in 1921, then later published by Hogrefe Publishing in 1927. (Hogrefe) The cost of the test plates is approximately $107.00, but the total goes up as the summary forms ($61.00), recording blanks ($22.60), and other test supplements/tools are added on. (Pearson) The complete set of the plates of the Rorschach Test are…show more content… Supporters of the Rorschach Test praise its versatility and potential for depth and insight, while opponents argue against its lack of clinical validity. The Rorschach Test has been associated with blind analysis—when test examiners diagnose patients without prior knowledge of their history then validate their diagnoses with other sources—accused of having no adequate norms, and considered to hold great risk for incorrect diagnoses. (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 2014, p. 401) Yet, the Rorschach can provide meaningful patterns or reveal abnormal cues in individuals. This test should not be used as a single measure for diagnosis, but should be used as a supplement, to potentially add more elements to a diagnosis that may already be present. This test would also be appropriate to use in counseling settings, where a counselor could develop a more multifaceted perception of his/her client. Overall, the test can definitely use some revisions, such as in its norms, but the Rorschach Test is an interesting tool that contains much room for investigation of different aspects of psychology, including vision, perception, the surfacing of subconscious experiences,