Socio-Economic Class Bias in Rorschach Diagnosis: Contributing Psychosocial Attributes of the Clinician

Summary

The study attempted a replication of William Haase's finding (1956) of psychodiagnostic bias detrimental to the lower socio-economic class among clinical psychologists, while positing that psycho-social characteristics of the clinician, in particular Authoritarianism and Status Anxiety, would be significant correlates of this biased behavior. Sixty clinical psychologists were classified as High or Low Authoritarian, with level of status anxiety experimentally induced. Ss then interpreted paired (equated) Rorschach protocols with appended social histories of alleged lower or middle class origin. Social-class-related diagnostic bias was demonstrated, but was unrelated to the psychosocial characteristics of the clinician.