Exner System: Rorschach Inkblot Controversies Thesis

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While different scorers might have very different reactions to a subject that saw a bunny in one blot, for example, the use of color and white space was thought to be something more observable than opinionated. However, the controversy about the test is far from 'blotted out' by Exner's system. Despite its use in court-ordered assessments of mental stability and the fact that "a great strength of Exner's system was thought to be the availability of normative scores for various populations…beginning in the mid-1990s others began to attempt to replicate or update these norms, and found they could not" (Berger 2005).

Current critics would answer the question: 'when should the Rorschach be used vs. multiple-choice methods such as the MMPI' with an empathetic 'never!' The Exner system seems to convey the 'worst of both worlds' in its scoring methods. The Exner system was supposed to eliminate subjective bias, but standardized interpretations of different projected uses of the inkblots that are then compared to a database of responses is not so different than using the multiple choice format of the MMPI. The MMPI is far easier to grade and poses less risk of subjective or untrained analysis in its scoring.

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Ultimately, personality tests should only be a small component of a subject's assessment, and the time and intensive training for a 'standardized' projective test like the Rorschach seems to demand too much time for a faulty test. The chance of error is simply too great: "if the assessment is too broad, the analyzer can make such definite assertions as "a patient who attends only to a small part of the blot is 'indicative of obsessive personality;' while one who sees figures which are half-human and half-animal indicates that he is alienated, perhaps on the brink of schizophrenic withdrawal from people" (Carroll 2008). Finally, problems arise in compiling a significantly broad cross-cultural sample of projected responses to suit the needs of an increasingly diverse population, who may use white space, color, and shading in a different manner.

Reference

Berger, Vince. (2005). Rorschach inkblot. Psychologist Anywhere. Retrieved November 23,

2009.

http://www.psychologistanywhereanytime.com/tests_psychological/psychological_tests_rorschach_inkblot.htm

Carroll, Robert. (2009). The Rorschach inkblot test. Skeptic's Dictionary.

Retrieved November 23, 2009.

http://skepdic.com/inkblot.html.....

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