Studies of Rorschach Content: A Review of Research Literature Part III: Theoretical Formulations

Summary

The accumulated yield of Rorschach content research is considered in relation to experimental investigations and theoretical formulations that have originated upon the convergence of the domains of perception, cognition, and personality. The act of meaningfully labeling inkblot stimuli involves perceptual fitting of personality-determined hypotheses, communicated in a specific interpersonal context. Accordingly, perceptual, personality, and social influences upon attribution of content to Rorschach stimuli are discussed. A variety of “false positives” and “false negatives” reduce the degree of correspondence between Rorschach content variables and real-life individual characteristics. Several of the possible sources of the “false positives” and “false negatives” are traced to stylistic, defensive, and other mediating factors that are interposed between the presence of a motivational or personality characteristic and its expression through content on the Rorschach test.