Can Sex Offenders Who Minimize on the MMPI Conceal Psychopathology on the Rorschach?

Abstract

Rorschach sensitivity to minimization is important in forensic evaluations of sex offenders because these individuals frequently deny psychological problems. To study Rorschach minimization, we divided alleged sex offenders according to whether they minimized on the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1943) or MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989) and compared their Rorschachs on indexes of distress, faulty judgment, interpersonal dysfunction, and cognitive distortions. We predicted there would be no differences between MMPI minimizers and nonminimizers on these indexes and that sex offenders of both groups would show greater psychopathology than normative adult samples. Results indicate that minimizers produce normal MMPI clinical profiles but still show evidence of psychopathology on the Rorschach. As predicted, sex offenders showed more Rorschach psychopathology than normative samples. Sex offenders' protocols that contained sexual content also showed perceptual distortions. These findings indicate that the Rorschach is resilient to attempts at faking good and may therefore provide valuable information in forensic settings where intentional distortion is common.