The Rorschach test is a psychological test that uses inkblots to examine a person's personality and thinking processes. During the test, a subject is shown a series of 10 inkblot cards and asked to describe what they see or what imagery the inkblots bring to mind. The examiner carefully observes and records the subject's responses as well as their behaviors. Certain responses are considered more healthy or normal than others. While widely used in the past, many professionals now believe the Rorschach test is outdated and inaccurate for assessing personality traits.

1. Andrew McLay

2. What is a Rorschach Test?
 A Rorschach test is a test involving 6.75” by 10” cards.
 Each of the cards has a fairly symmetrical ink blot
covering as much of the card as possible.
 The subject who is being tested is told to look at the
card and to say what they say or feel immediately after
seeing it.
 It is designed to reveal traits about the person taking
the test, and more about their thinking and their
personality.

3. How it is run…
 The person who is testing the test subject sits next to the
person who is being tested, only slightly behind them.
 The cards are shown in a specific order, each one testing
something different.
 The person who is testing the test subject takes notes of
everything. Their breathing, the way they move the
card, what they say, how they move, everything.
 The “tester” will hide his notes as to keep the test area more
comfortable to the person being tested.
 The cards are usually made up of cardboard, or a plastic
designed to mimic cardboard.
 Everything that the test subject does says something about
them.

4. The bad, and the good responses:
 A bad response would be saying something like: “This
is a…” This would be considered an unhealthy
response. A good response would have been: “This
looks like a…” Because, you should be smart enough to
know that they don’t represent anything.
 Another thing that is considered bad and unhealthy
would be covering up the card, moving it, or making
sounds. This could be because of brain damage, and
this is what they are testing for.
 Saying that it is just an ink blot is also considered very
bad.

5. The Ink Blots
 These are the ten ink blots, in the order that they
appear. There will be possible imagery that is most
commonly said, and some more about them.
Remember, it is not just what you say about them, but
if you were testing, it would be how you look at
them, how you turn them, etc.

6. Common Responses: A face, a mask, the face of a wolf or a fox.

7. Most common responses: People dancing, or touching hands with each other.

8. Most common responses: Two people facing each other, butterfly, mouth

9. Most common responses: Shoes, boots, a male figure

10. Most common responses: bat, or bird like figure

11. Most common responses: awkward view of a person (extremely hard to see
anything)

12. Most Common Responses: Faces pointing to each other, bunny ears

13. Most common responses: animals climbing up the outside, mouth, butterfly, or
a person.

14. Difficult to spot anything. Most common responses are that they don’t see
anything. This is expected, and a “good” response.

15. Lots of activity, very easy to see almost anything.

16. So does it work?
 Many professionals today believe that the Rorschach
Test is outdated, and inaccurate. Today there are
different tests to determine these facts.

17. Works Cited
 "The Rorschach Test." SPARC - Divorce and Custody Help. Web. 24 Oct. 2011.
<http://deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php>.
 Rorschach.org - Home. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://rorschach.org/>.
 "Rorschach Test." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Oct. 2011.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test>.
 Online Rorschach Test. Web. 24 Oct. 2011. <http://theinkblot.com/>.
 "Answers to the Rorschach Test Revealed: Scientific American Podcast." Science
News, Articles and Information | Scientific American. Web. 24 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=answers-to-the-
rorschach-test-revea-09-08-02>.

18. Thanks for
Learning!