Rorschach

By : Lukman Nul Hakim
I. PROBLEM
In order to understand the the personality structure of the subject by using The Rorschach Inkblot Technique

II. INTRODUCTION
The Rorschach Inkblot Technique was developed by Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist in 1921 (Singh, 2004). The Rorschach Test consist of ten cards which contained a bilaterally symmetrical printed inkblot. Five inkblot cards (Cards I, IV, V, VI and VII) are made in shades of black and gray; two cards (Cards II and III) contain bright patches of red , and the last three cards (Cards VIII, IX and X) contain pastel shades.
Klopfer and Davidson (1962) said that basic assumption underlying the rorschach technique is that there is a relationship between perception and personality. The way in which an individual organizes or “structures” the ink blots in forming his perceptions reflects fundamental aspects of his psychological functioning. Ink blots are suitable as stimuli because they are relatively ambiguous or “unstructured”, i.e., they do not elicit particular learned responses, but permit a variety of possible responses. The subject, then, when asked to tell what he sees in the blots, must react in a personal, unlearned fashion, since there are no ”right” or “wrong” answers. His perceptions are selected and organized in terms of his ”projected” needs, experiences, and habitual patterns of response as well as by the physical properties of the blots themselves.

Observed Behavior
In psychology, as in medicine, it is necessary to work with only a sample of behavior. This sample is assumed to be representative of a person’s behavior in general. It is also assumed that the major characteristics of an individual’s behavior do not vary materially from sample to sample unless something traumatic has intervened. We assume in addition, that all behavior is meaningful. Without making this assumption, it would be impossible to work with people at the behavioral level.
The sample we are concerned with is the subjects behavior during the rorschach examination. The clinician studies the entire behavior of the individual during this period. He observes the individual’s attitude toward the rorscahch technique and toward the examiner, his ability to attend and the amount of effort he puts forth, the extent of his physical activity, and the like. The examiner also takes note of the subject’s total behavior during the examination period.

Personality Aspects
Personality consists of different facets –needs, drives, motives, traits, abilities, behavior systems, or libido organizations, depending on one’s frame of reference. These facets form the pattern regarded as an individual’s relatively enduring personality. These needs, drives, or traits, both innate and learned, may be classified in many different ways. Some ordering of personality qualities is essential, but as yet no one system of ordering has proved altogether satisfactory.

The personality aspects are considered under three major headings, with sub categories under each heading :

Cognitive, or intellectual aspects
Affective, or emotional aspects
Aspects of ego functioning

Cognitive, or intellectual aspects
Intellectual status and functioning
A person’s intellectual ability may be estimated from a rorschach protocol. In addition, it is possible to ascertain whetehr he is functioning efficiently in terms of his potential capacity. Some of the questions that may be answered are : what is the individual’s intellectual level? Is he operating up to or below his capacity, as measured by an intelligence test? Is his intellectual functioning impaired by emotional stress? Is his performance uneven? What is the language ability and vocabulary level of the person?

Manner of approach
Is the individual’s approach to problems logical or loose? Methodical or confused? Is his thinking more inductive or deductive? How well can he organize material? Is he able to get to the heart of a problem, or does he skirt anxiously around the edges?

Power of observation
Is he able to observe the obvious? Does the subject see the commonplace things that other people see? Does he overlook the ordinary and attend to the minute? Can he see more complex constellations?

Originality of thinking
Is the individual capable of original thinking? Does he show creative ability? Are his creations based on reality, or are they bizarre?

Productivity
Does the individual have an average or greater than average fund of ideas? What is the quality of his productions? Are his responses rich? Are they subtle? Do they come easily?

Breadth of interests
How varied are the person’s interests? Are they limited and shallow? Are they rich and diverse? Are they concentrated in depth in one area? Has he any special interests? In what way do they reflect the person’s emotional biases?

Affective, or emotional aspects
General emotional tone
What is the general tone of a person’s emotionality? Is it spontaneous? Depressed? Constricted? Is he generally anxious? Is he passive and withdrawn? Or self-assertive and aggressive? Does he show drive? How does the person respond to immediate emotional challenges in contrast to anticipated emotional situations? Is he confident of pessimistic about securing the love and affection he wants? Is he realistic or unrealistic? Is he too demanding or not demanding enough? Is he self-sufficient or dependent?


Feeling about self
What is the individual’s response to inner promptings? Is he at ease with himself? Does he accept himself and his own impulses? Are feelings of inadequacy evident?

Responsiveness to people
What is the individual’s ability to establish rapport with people? Does he enjoy social intercourse is he comfortable with people? Or is he rather afraid of people and generally hostile toward them? Does he try to avoid human contact? Does he feel more at ease in a world of inanimate objects?

Reaction to emotional stress
Under stressful situations, how does a person respond? Is he able to cope with situations or does he fall apart? Does he panic of is he controlled? Can re recover? What are his reactions to new situations? Are they handled with confidence or are they disturbing to him?

Control of emotional impulses
How well does an individual control his spontenaeous tendencies? Adequately? Rigidly? Does he give way to uncontrolled impulsiveness? Do his emotions become rampant? Or is genuine spontaneity evident? Does he show tact? Is he cautious?
Aspects of ego functioning
Ego strength
Is the individual’s reality testing sound? Are his perception clear? What is his self appraisal? Is he self confident or self defeating? Does he feel that he needs some kind of counseling or psychotherapy?

Conflict areas
Is he sexually adjusted? Is there confusion as to sex role and identification? Is there conflict concerning: attitude toward authority? Dependency needs? Passivity? Self assertiveness?

Defenses
What kinds of defenses does the individual use? Repressions? Denial? Intellectualization? Are his defenses few and rigid? Or varied and flexible?

III. METHOD

ADMINISTRATION
As said by Klopfer and Davidson (1962) that the purpose of administering the rorschach is to obtain for evaluation as much individualized response as possible from a relatively standardized situation. And the job of the examiner is to help create the relaxed but controlled atmosphere particularly important for obtaining useful rorschach protocol.

Details About Subject
Name : Zulfitri
Age : 25 years old
Class : MA (Prev) English Department
Sex : Female
Status : Single
Time of conduction : from 02.10 pm – 03.50 pm
Place of conduction : Laboratory of psychology department JMI
Condition : Normal


Before the examination
In order to get optimum result we should consider a few things :

The examination atmosphere
The kind of atmosphere created will depend on the subject, the examiner and the situation the subject must be made to feel at ease while at the same time he must be made to understand that certain tasks are required of him the good clinician will be able to create a relaxed but controlled atmosphere by assessing the subject and the situation and acting accordingly.

Seating and equipment
It is advisable for the examiner as well as the subject to be able to see the cards during the administration of the test a recommended arrangement, therefore, is for the examiner to sit next to but slightly behind the subject.

The materials needed are :
The ten Rorschach card arranged in order facing downward on the table
a location chart – either as a separate sheet or as part of the individual record blank. These chart are necessary for making the areas used by the subject for his concepts
Ruled paper for recording the responses of the subject. Pen or pencil
An ordinarily watch or clock with a second hand, or noise

Initial instructions to the subject
There is no standard formulation for introducing the rorschach cards. The preparation of the subject for what is going to happen must naturally vary with the age, experience, and cultural background of the subject.

During the examination
According to Klopfer and Davidson (1962) there are four phases during the examination, namely :




Performance proper
During this phase there is as little interference as possible with the subject’s spontaneous reactions to the cards. The examiner does not pressure of guide the subject, but acts chiefly as a recorder.

Several things should be done by this phase:
a. Notes down the reaction time, that is the time which elapses between the presentation of the card and the examinee’s first scorable score. Reaction time is symbolized by t (Semeonoff 1976, in Singh 2004).
b. Notes down the position of the card. Upright is ^, if the top is turned downward V, the top on the leftside <, and if the top is on the right side >, if the card is rotate without stopping ( O ).
c. The responses are recorded verbatim.
d. Notes down the total time subject take for each card, it is symbolized by T.

Inquiry
To reveal how the subject arrived at his responses, in order to facilitate scoring. Judicious questions are asked by the examiner to clarify, but not to influence the subjects responses.

Analogy, or follow up period
This optional phase uses all available clues produced during the two previous phases to help fill in the existing gaps in the reactions of the subject. The examiner asks whether a determinant, admittedly employed in connection with one response, is applicable to others. He asks analogy questions suchs as, ‘If color (or shading) helped you to see that, how was it here and here?

Testing the limit phase
This part of the examination is undertaken only when the subjects shows no reactions to some of the significant stimuli in the blots. Concepts not formed by the subjects are deliberately introduced.

SCORING
According to Klopfer and Davidson (1962), there are five main categories of classification of responses. They are :
1. Location
2. Determinants
3. Content
4. Popularity-Originality, P-O
5. Form level

Location
Location refers to the part of the blot which produces a particular response.

1. Whole response : W, W, DW
W
When the subject employs the entire blot for his concept, or when the subject clearly intends to use the entire blot but inadvertently omits a small part
W
Or cut off whole, is scored when the subject designates almost all of the blot (at least two-thirds), with the intention of using as much of the blot as possible.
DW
Confabulatory whole, is scored when a subject interprets a detail and then assigns the same interpretation to the entire blot without justification, and without any consciously felt need to reconcile the qualities of the remaining blot material with the qualities of the concept. A DW response is always, therefore, a poor form response, that is, the concepts is a poor match for the blot.
2. Large Usual Detail Responses : D
D
D is scored when a subject employs a comparative large area for his concept, easily marked off by space, shading, or color from the rest of the blot.
3. Small Usual Detail Responses : d
d
d is scored when a subject employs for his concept a relatively small area, but one that easily marked off by space, shading, or color from the rest of the blot.
4. Unusual Detail Response : dd, de, di, and dr
dd
Or tiny detail is used to describe areas that, like d, are marked off from the rest of the blot by space, shading, or color.
de
Or edge detail, is employed for locations using only the edge of the blot
di
Or inside detail, is used for locations which are not easily separated from the rest of the blot by space, color, or shading. These locations are inside the blot.
dr
Or rare detail, is used to score responses using unusual blot locations. These locations cannot be classified as dd, de, or di, and are sufficiently differentiated from a D, d, or W that they cannot be scored as such. The rare detail maybe large or small in size.
5. White Space Responses : S
S
Or white space, is scored when there is complete reversal of figure and ground, and the white space is the location for the concept itself. If the whole blot or part of the blot material is used in addition and in an accessory manner, the blot or parts are scored as additional locations.

Determinants
Determinants refer to the features of the blot which have produced the particular response. Rorschach (1921) suggested five symbols for the scoring of determinants:
1. F for form
2. M for human development
3. FC for form color
4. CF for color form
5. C for pure color response

Symbols, category and description of the rorschach determinants
Symbols
Category
Description
F
Form
Form response
M
FM
M
Movement
Human movement response
Animal movement response
Inanimate or inorganic movement response
C
CF
FC
Cn
Color (chromatic)
Pure color response
Color form response
Form color response
Color naming response
C’
C’F
FC
Color (Achromatic)
Pure achromatic color response
Achromatic color form response
Form achromatic color response
T
TF
FT
Texture (shading)
Pure texture response
Texture form response
Form texture response
V
VF
FV
Dimensionality
Depth or vista (shading)
Pure vista response
Vista form response
Form visa response
Y
YF
FY
General diffuse (shading)
Pure shading response
Shading form response
Form shading response
FD
Dimensionality (based on form)
Form based dimensional response
rF
Fr
(2)
Reflection and pairs
Reflection form response
Form reflection response
Pair response

Content
This phase is meant to select the appropriate content. It usually consist of two subsets. First, the appropriate symbols must be selected to represent the content, and second the response must be checked against the popular responses or P responses.

Symbols
Description
H
Whole or almost whole
(H)
Portrayed as drawings, sculpture, caricatures and the like, or mythological figures such as ghost, monster, witches.
Hd
Parts of human figures which can be thought of as belonging to a living body (that is not anatomical)
(Hd)
Parts of human figures portrayed in drawings, caricatures, sculpture and the like or parts of mythological human figures.
AH
Figures that part human and part animal, such as half man half goat, etc
Hobj
Objects that are closely associated with human such as false teeth
At
Parts of human body, or concepts dealing with the human body in the anatomical sense (except sex organ)
Sex
Sexual organs or sexual activity, or anatomical concepts with reference to sexual function
A
Animal figures, whole or almost
(A)
Mythological animals. Monster with animal characteristics; caricatures, drawings, or the like of animal figures.
Ad
Parts of animal, usually a head or paw
(Ad)
Parts of animal deprived of reality, or humanized
Aobj
Objects derived from or connected with the body of an animal.
A.At
Animal anatomy concepts, including dissections: X-ray of an animal, biology charts, and so on.
Food
Animal parts, fruits or vegetables prepared for eating.
N
Nature concepts, including landscape, aerial views, sunsets, rivers, and lakes when they are part of scenery.
Geo
Geographical concepts, including maps of all kinds, and such concept like islands, gulfs, lakes, and rivers, not seen in vista.
Pl
Plants of all kinds and pparts of plants
Bot
Plants or parts of plants seen as botanical specimens
Obj
All manmade objects, distinguished from statues, which are scored (H) if of humans, or (A) if of animals or animal-shaped ornaments.
Arch
Architectural concepts
Art
Concepts such as designs, or drawings, or paintings, in which d=the drawing or painting has no specific content. A drawing if a human figure would be scored (H), a painting of a landscape would be scored N and so on
Abs
Abstract concepts in which there is no other specific content. A specific content symbolizing something abstract would be scored for content and the subscript sym would be added to it.

Popularity-Originality, P-O
Symbol
Description
P
Popular responses, are those responses given frequently to a particular blot area.
O
Original responses, are those responses given by not more than one subject out of 100 to a particular blot area
O-
If an original concept is not a good fit, but is so distorted as to produce bizzareness.

Scoring for Form Level
Most subjects respond to the ink blots by trying to fit the outline or form of a blot area to a concept they see. The form level rating is gapplied to all responses, main, and additional, regardless of their location, their determinant, their content, or their P – O scores.

Form level is based on three considerations, namely, accuracy, specification, and organization. Each response is rated on a scale from a low of –2.0 to a high of +5.0. The process involves :
1. Assigning a basal plus or a basal minus rating, determined primarily by the accuracy of the fit.
2. Adding to a basal rating in units of 0.5 for good elaborations or specifications and for good organization, or subtracting from the basal rating in units of 0.5 for poor or inaccurate specifications and for organization that weakens the concept.

Three significant levels of form quality are rated :
1. Concepts considered adequate or better are assigned plus ratings of 1.0 or higher.
2. Concepts considered indifferent are assigned 0.0 and 0.5 ratings.
3. Concepts considered poor or inaccurate are assigned the minus ratings of –0.5 to –2.0.

IV. RESULT

Autobiographical Sketch of Subject
Z is the third child in her family, she is single and is the only child girl in the family. Z comes from middle class family in her hometown Medan in Indonesia. Her father runs a shop business. And it runs well, she said.
Z describe her father as a loving person, and he cares about her so much so that he always fulfill her wants.
On the opposite is her mother. She describe her mother as a strict person, even when she asked permission to go to India, she find it a little bit hard, event though in the end she will give approval.
The two elder brother loves her so much that they pampers her since she was a child. To some extent the love is becoming a bit protective. But anyhow she enjoy it.
Z lives alone in a rented room, nearby the university. Actually there are 3 female students from her hometown studying here in India, the other two stay in a room just opposite to her room. She chose it to live alone, because she feels more comfortable that way. Most of the time Z uses her time for studying and reading books.

Verbatim of the test conduction

Performance
Data
Card 1. Ú This is an airplane, Ù Ú <, Ú but if we see from this side it looks like butterfly…well I think it can be both, depend on from which side we see this picture…
Location :
Score : W, F,Obj, 0-,5
Time : 3 minutes
Card 2. Ú this is a body organ, I think this is like a thumb… Ù but this red part looks like a boast of a person.
Location:
Score : D, F, Hd, 1,5
Time : 3 minutes
Card 3. Ù 2 people facing one to another…they are holding something, you see this thing in the middle..these 2 people holding this thing Ú < Ú but this way, it looks like a diafragma…this is like a red ribbon…but Ù it looks also like a cattle…
Location:
Score : W, M, H, P 1,5
Time : 4 minutes
Card 4. Ù it’s jellyfish…this is like a sex organ… the upper one… Ú this way it looks like an animal, a bat Ú > Ú
Location:
Score : W, F, A, 1,0
Time : 3 minutes
Card 5. Ù This is… I think all this cards looks the same… again I think it is a butterfly… this is the leg, this is the head…but it can also a bat Ù Ú it’s an animal…it can also a flower that we see from the backside, this is the stamen.. a bud…
Location:
Score : W, F, A, 1,0
Time : 4 minutes
Card 6. Ù Ú It’s a fan, a star shape fan…
Location:
Score : W, F, Obj, 0,5
Time : 3 minutes
Card 7. Ù it’s two person standing face to face, the hair is long and going up… Ù Ú it can also be a body organ… Ù it looks like sewage system of our body…a diafragma…
Location:
Score : W, M, H, 1,5
Time : 3 minutes
Card 8. Ù This is a symbol or logogram of an organization Ù, well..it can also a military airplane… Ú Ù and there are 2 animals on both side..on the left and right side…
Location:
Score : W, F, Obj, 1,5
aTime : 3 minutes
Card 9. This is red, green and orange…ha..ha..ha… Ú this is a bird, facing one another, this is the small branch…they are sitting on this small branch… it can also a digestion part of our body..an urethra… two head of animal…but it’s only head, the body is not seen…
Location:
Score : W, FM, A, 1,5
Time : 2 minutes
Card 10. This is a small branch, this is flower that has been pull out…what is this picture…?? Ú Ù this a duck or bird, they are fighting over the food…
Location:
Score : W, FM, A, 1,5
Time : 4 minutes
TOTAL TIME : 32 minutes

V. INTERPRETATION

Quantitative Analysis, Case of Z
An initial examination of the psychogram shows an slightly unusual combination for a two M responses and combined with two FM responses. This pattern suggest that sometimes Z is able to react quite freely to her environment, but may be hampered by tensions from utilizing her own resources to a better extent.
The low score of M shows that Z has some difficulty In interpersonal relations, it might be due to lack of empathy.
The proportion of (FK + Fc):F shows that the affectional needs are quite developed and integrated in the personality organization. And it functions as the threshold for giving response to people in a normal way.

Introversive – Extraversive Balance
There are three proportion we need to consider namely, M : sum C of 2 : 0, (FM + m) : (Fc+c+C) of 2 : 0, and the percentage of responses to the last three cards (VIII, IX, X) of 90%.
The M : sum C of 2 : 0 suggests an extroversive imbalance. It indicates that subject is not responsive to environmental factors. This may be an adjustment by a flight in order to protect herself from threat which may present.
And the score for the second ratio (FM + m) : (Fc+c+C) is supporting the above ratio, score 2 : 0 shows that Z tends to be introversive. It means that her direction of interest toward one’s inner world of experience and toward concepts rather than external events and objects.
It should be noted that 90% of her responses is from the last three cards. It means that there is some tendencies that subject is stimulated to greater productiveness by environmental impact. And small amount of response were given to color, it shows that there might be inhibition of over expression to emotional reaction.

Control
The two additional factors to be considered in this area are the form responses of 60% and the total of form plus differentiated shading responses (FK + F + Fc) of 60%. The expected from responses score for normal subject is between 20 % – 50%.
The 60% of F responses indicates the inability to view the world
in an impersonal, matter of fact way, it means that her controlled adjustment is low.
The findings of (FK + F + Fc) of 60%, indicates that she does not have the ability to be responsive to her own needs and to react to emotional impact from outside.

Intellectual Estimate and Manner of Approach
The overall impression about Z’s intelligence, base on comparison between unweighted from level 1.2 and the weighted also 1.2, shows that Z is in average level of intelligence. The real capacity of subject actually can be better than that, but seems like some psychological matter disturb it.
The presence of popular response indicate that subject somehow tie to reality. However it may also mean that Z does not feel free enough to direct her creative energies toward achievement of her goals.