Male Homosexual Psychodynamics and the Rorschach Test

Abstract

Summary: A review of contradictory findings regarding Wheeler's Rorschach content signs of male homosexuality suggested that negative findings may have resulted from a focus on homosexual populations characterized by minimal arousal of underlying unconscious conflicts. It was hypothesized that activating these unconscious psychodynamics would enhance the discriminative power of the Wheeler signs. Inkblot protocols obtained in an earlier study from matched groups of homosexuals and heterosexuals under two experimental conditions—involving subliminal exposure of either an incest-related or a neutral control stimulus—were scored for Wheeler signs. The incest condition brought about a significantly greater incidence of the signs in homosexual records only, suggesting that the intensification of unconscious incest wishes stimulates homosexual reactions, consonant with psychoanalytic formulations.