Artist Research/ Rorschach test

What is it?

A projective test presents a person with an ambiguous stimulus and assumes that the person will project his or her inner or unconscious psychological processes onto it. In the case of Rorschach's test, the stimulus is nothing more than a symmetrical inkblot that can be perceived to be virtually anything. Rorschach suggested that what a person sees in the inkblot often reveals a great deal about his or her true psychological nature. He called this the interpretation of accidental forms. An often-told story about Rorschach's inkblots tells of a psychotherapist who is administering the test to a client. With the first inkblot card the therapist asks, "What does this suggest to you?" The client replies, "Sex." The same question is asked of the second card, to which the client again replies, "Sex." When the same one-word answer is given to the first five cards, the therapist remarks, "Well, you certainly seem to be preoccupied with sex!" To this the surprised client responds, "Me? Doctor, you're the one showing all the dirty pictures!" Of course, this story oversimplifies Rorschach's test and, although the inkblots themselves are selected to be vaguely suggestive of objects in order to encourage active interpretation, sexual meanings should, on average, be no more likely than any other. Rorschach believed that his projective technique could serve two main purposes. 

Usage:

One was that it could be used as a research tool to reveal unconscious aspects of personality.Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly.^[4] The other purpose, claimed somewhat later by Rorschach, was that the test could be used to diagnose various types of psychopathology. 

Symmetry in Inkblots

A striking characteristic of the Rorschach inkblots is their symmetry. Many unquestionably accept this aspect of the nature of the images but Rorschach, as well as other researchers, certainly did not. Rorschach experimented with both asymmetric and symmetric images before finally opting for the latter.^[49]

He gives this explanation for the decision:

Asymmetric figures are rejected by many subjects; symmetry supplied part of the necessary artistic composition. It has a disadvantage in that it tends to make answers somewhat stereotyped. On the other hand, symmetry makes conditions the same for right and left handed subjects; furthermore, it facilitates interpretation for certain blocked subjects. Finally, symmetry makes possible the interpretation of whole scenes.^[50]

The impact of symmetry in the Rorschach inkblot's has also been investigated further by other researchers

For example, the inkblot should be relatively simple, symmetrical, and moderately suggestive of objects. He also suggested that the forms should be symmetrical, because asymmetrical inkblots are often rejected by subjects as impossible to interpret.