Bodies Under Investigation: A Review of Body Image and Personality by S. Fisher and S.E. Cleveland (1958)

Abstract

Fisher and Cleveland's (1958) book, Body Image and Personalily, is reviewed and its contributions to personality theory and assessment evaluated. The book influenced three areas of research: (a) It calls attention to the body as a research theme, (b) it demonstrates that scoring Rorschach responses mechanically and objectively was both feasible and clinically useful, and (c) it uses psychoanalytic theory to generate testable hypotheses and helped give that theory scientific respectability.