The Rorschach Inkblot Test is one of the most common projective tests in psychology. It is also one of the most controversial. Projective Tests in general are typically administered by a psychologist with the purpose of discerning something about the subject's personality. They work by asking the subject to "make sense" of ambiguous stimuli such as incomplete sentences, drawings of social situations or in the case of the Rorschach Test, inkblots. How the subject "makes sense" of each stimuli is suppose to say something about their personality. However, recently the test has come under increased scrutiny as its validity has been challenged.
Take a moment to watch the video below:
Online Rorschach Test
From the above video, you can see how conclusions are drawn about someones personality based on interpretations that one gives to the different blots. It is a little scary to think that because you saw a "mouthman" in the first blot or "bat creature" in the fifth blot you might be labeled as crazy by the examiner.
Scientific studies have also looked into the validity of the Rorschach Inkblot Test. What most have found is that the test provides limited validity and no advantages over the much easier to administer and less time consuming MMPI test.
This link will take you to an article in the scientific journal Psychology that concluded the Rorschach Test was no better at predicting the interpersonal skills of popular versus unpopular elementary and middle-school students compared to the MMPI. You must be signed into your x500 account to view the article.
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