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{{Short description|Projective psychological test created in 1921}}
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{{Infobox diagnostic
| Name = Rorschach test
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| Caption = The first of the ten cards in the Rorschach test<ref>{{Cite book|isbn=978-88-464-5475-1|page=147|year=2004|publisher=F. Angeli|location=Milano|title=Il Rorschach in pratica: strumenti per la psicologia clinica e l'ambito giuridico|author1=Santo Di Nuovo |author2=Maurizio Cuffaro }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|isbn=978-84-87840-92-0|page=71|author=Fátima Miralles Sangro|year=1996|publisher=Universidad Pontifícia Comillas|location=Madrid|title=Rorschach: tablas de localización y calidad formal en una muestra española de 470 sujetos}}</ref>
| pronounce = {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɔːr|ʃ|ɑː|k}},<ref>{{Dictionary.com|Rorschach test|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref> {{small|UK also}} {{IPAc-en|-|ʃ|æ|k}}<br />{{IPA|de|ˈʁoːɐ̯ʃax|lang}}
| synonyms = Rorschach inkblot test, the Rorschach technique, inkblot test
| ICD10 = 
| ICD9 = 
| MeshID = D012392
| OPS301 = 
| OtherCodes = 
}}
The '''Rorschach test''' is a [[projective test|projective]] [[psychological test]] in which subjects' perceptions of [[ink]]blots are recorded and then analyzed using [[psychology|psychological]] interpretation, complex [[algorithm]]s, or both.  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.<ref name='Gacano1994a'>{{harvnb|Gacano|Meloy|1994}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> The test is named after its creator, Swiss psychologist [[Hermann Rorschach]]. The Rorschach can be thought of as a psychometric examination of [[pareidolia]], the active pattern of perceiving objects, shapes, or scenery as meaningful things to the observer's experience, the most common being faces or other patterns of forms that are not present at the time of the observation.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dacey|first=Mike|date=December 2017|title=Anthropomorphism as Cognitive Bias|work=Philosophy of Science, 84(5), 1152-1164|volume=84 |issue=5 |pages=1152–1164 |doi=10.1086/694039}}</ref> In the 1960s, the Rorschach was the most widely used [[projective test]].<ref name=chapman />

The original Rorschach testing system faced numerous criticisms, which the [[John E. Exner|Exner Scoring System]]—developed after extensive research in the 1960s and 1970s<ref name=Exner>{{Cite book| last=Exner|first=John E.|author-link=John E. Exner|year=2002|title=The Rorschach: Basic Foundations and Principles of Interpretation: Volume 1|location=Hoboken, NJ|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]| isbn= 978-0-471-38672-8}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>—aimed to address, particularly to improve consistency and reduce subjectivity. Despite these efforts, researchers continue to raise concerns about aspects of the test, including the objectivity of testers and [[inter-rater reliability]], the verifiability and general [[Test validity|validity]] of the test, bias in the test's [[pathology]] scales toward higher numbers of responses, its limited diagnostic utility and lack of replicability, its use in court-ordered evaluations and the value of projected images in general.<ref name=sciam01>Scott O. Lilienfeld, James M- Wood and Howard N. Garb: [http://www.psychologicalscience.org/newsresearch/publications/journals/sa1_2.pdf What's wrong with this picture?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224025816/http://www.psychologicalscience.org/newsresearch/publications/journals/sa1_2.pdf |date=2010-12-24 }} [[Scientific American]], May 2001</ref>
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==History==
[[File:Hermann Rorschach c.1910.JPG|thumb|right|upright|[[Hermann Rorschach]] created the inkblot test in 1921. (Photo from {{c.|1910}})]]
The use of interpreting "ambiguous designs" to assess an individual's personality is an idea that goes back to [[Leonardo da Vinci]] and [[Botticelli]].<ref>da Vinci,&nbsp;L.&nbsp;(2012).&nbsp;A Treatise on Painting.&nbsp;United States:&nbsp;Dover Publications. p. 149</ref> Interpretation of inkblots was central to a game, ''[[Klecksography#History|Gobolinks]]'', from the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q-MRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA143 |title=Book News |year=1897 |page=143 |access-date=10 August 2013}}</ref> The Rorschach test, however, was the first systematic approach of this kind.<ref>{{harvnb|Groth-Marnat|2003|p=408}}</ref>

After studying 300 mental patients and 100 control subjects, in 1921 Hermann Rorschach wrote his book ''[[Psychodiagnostik]]'', which was to form the basis of the inkblot test. After experimenting with several hundred inkblots which he drew himself, he selected a set of ten for their diagnostic value.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tibon-Czopp |first1=Shira |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wBlaCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Rorschach Assessment of Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Practice |last2=Weiner |first2=Irving B. |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4939-3151-4 |page=3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Textbook Of Statistics, Psychology and Education |year=2014 |page=225 |isbn=978-81-261-1411-5 |author=Verma, Romesh|publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. }}</ref> Although he had served as Vice President of the Swiss Psychoanalytic Society, Rorschach had difficulty in publishing the book and it attracted little attention when it first appeared.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/04/dayintech_0402 |title=April 2, 1922: Rorschach Dies, Leaving a Blot on |magazine=Wired |date=1 April 2009}}</ref> Rorschach died the following year.

It has been suggested that Rorschach's use of inkblots may have been influenced by German doctor [[Justinus Kerner]] who, in 1857, had published a popular book of poems, each of which was inspired by an accidental inkblot.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Pichot P |year=1984 |title=Centenary of the birth of Hermann Rorschach. (S. Rosenzweig & E. Schriber, Trans.) |journal=Journal of Personality Assessment |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=591–596 |doi=10.1207/s15327752jpa4806_3 |pmid=6394738}}</ref> French psychologist [[Alfred Binet]] had also experimented with inkblots as a [[Creativity test#Measuring creativity|creativity test]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Test Developer Profiles |url=http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/psychtesting/profiles/rorschach.htm |access-date=22 February 2015 |work=mhhe.com}}</ref> and, after the turn of the century, psychological experiments where inkblots were utilized multiplied, with aims such as studying imagination and consciousness.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookpsycholo00gold |title=Handbook of psychological assessment |publisher=[[Pergamon Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-08-043645-6 |editor1=Gerald Goldstein |location=Amsterdam |page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookpsycholo00gold/page/n445 437] |editor2=Michel Hersen |url-access=limited}}</ref>

In 1927, the newly founded {{Interlanguage link|Hans Huber (publisher)|de|Hans Huber (Verleger)|lt=Hans Huber}} publishing house purchased Rorschach's book ''[[Psychodiagnostik]]'' from the inventory of [[Ernst Bircher]].<ref name='IRS'>{{cite web |url=http://www.rorschach.com/pages/rorschach-test/about-the-test.html |title=About the Test |access-date=2009-07-01 |publisher=The International Society of the Rorschach and Projective Methods |archive-date=2009-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413054707/http://www.rorschach.com/pages/rorschach-test/about-the-test.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Huber remains the publisher of the test and related book, with Rorschach a registered trademark of Swiss publisher Verlag Hans Huber, Hogrefe AG.<ref name='Hogrefe'>{{cite web |url=http://www.hogrefe.com/program/r-rorschach-test.html |title=Rorschach Test |access-date=2014-01-18 |website=Hogrefe.com |archive-date=2014-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201225943/http://www.hogrefe.com/program/r-rorschach-test.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The work has been described as "a densely written piece couched in dry, scientific terminology".<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Acklin M. W. |author2=Oliveira-Berry J. | year = 1996 | title = Return to the source: Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics | journal = Journal of Personality Assessment | volume = 67 | issue = 2| pages = 427–433 | doi = 10.1207/s15327752jpa6702_17 | pmid = 16367686 }}</ref>

After Rorschach's death, the original test scoring system was improved by Samuel Beck, [[Bruno Klopfer]] and others.<ref>[[John E. Exner|Exner Jr., John E.]]: "Obituary: Samuel J. Beck (1896–1980)", "American Psychologist", 36(9)</ref> [[John E. Exner]] summarized some of these later developments in the ''comprehensive system'', at the same time trying to make the scoring more statistically rigorous. Some systems are based on the psychoanalytic concept of [[object relations]]. The Exner system remains very popular in the [[United States]], while in [[Europe]] other methods sometimes dominate,<ref>{{Cite book|isbn=978-88-204-9876-4|page=302|quote=''Nonostante il Sistema Comprensivo di J.E. Exner rappresenti ai nostri giorni il Metodo Rorschach più diffuso a livello mondiale, in Italia è ancora non molto utilizzato.'' Although J. E. Exner's Comprehensive Systems nowadays represents the most widely adopted method worldwide, it is not yet very widespread in Italy.|year=1989|publisher=F. Angeli|location=Milano|title=Psicologia clinica|author=a cura di Franco Del Corno, Margherita Lang}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=329}} "Although it has enormously expanded throughout Europe [...] use of the RCS remains, as it where, somewhat confidential in many countries."</ref> such as that described in the textbook by {{Interlanguage link|Ewald Bohm|de}}, which is closer to the original Rorschach system and rooted more deeply in the original [[psychoanalysis]] principles.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}

Rorschach never intended the inkblots to be used as a general personality test, but developed them as a tool for the diagnosis of [[schizophrenia]]. It was not until 1939 that the test was used as a projective test of personality, a use of which Rorschach had always been skeptical.<ref name=Radio4/> Interviewed in 2012 for a [[BBC Radio 4]] documentary, Rita Signer, curator of the Rorschach Archives in [[Bern]], [[Switzerland]], suggested that the blots selected by Rorschach were not random, but rather were carefully chosen to be as ambiguous and "conflicted" as possible.<ref name=Fidgen/>

==Method==
[[File:Rorschach blot 04.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Card IV of the test, sometimes subjectively called the “Father Card” (without empirical verification), is noted for its imposing image and thematic emphasis on authority, strength, and male figures.<ref name="Hayden">{{Cite journal|doi=10.1207/s15327752jpa4503_1|last=Hayden |first=Brian C. |title=Rorschach Cards IV and VII Revisited |journal=Journal of Personality Assessment |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=226–229 |year=1981|pmid=7252752}}</ref><ref name="auto34">Exner, J. (1991). ''The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System, Vol. 2: Interpretation (2nd Edition)''. Wiley.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/29/archives/inkblot-test-proves-strong-despite-years-of-misuse-research-on.html|title='Inkblot Test' Proves Strong Despite Years of Misuse; Research on Inkblots Some See Human Movement Test Attracted Ridicule Test's Predictive Power Grows}}</ref>]]
The Rorschach test is appropriate for subjects from the age of five to adulthood. The administrator and subject typically sit next to each other at a table, with the administrator slightly behind the subject. Side-by-side seating of the examiner and the subject is used to reduce any effects of inadvertent cues from the examiner to the subject. In other words, side-by-side seating mitigates the possibility that the examiner will accidentally influence the subject's responses.<ref name="harvnb|Klopfer|Davidson|1962">{{harvnb|Klopfer|Davidson|1962}}</ref> This is to facilitate a "relaxed but controlled atmosphere".

There are ten official inkblots, each printed on a separate white card, approximately 18 by 24&nbsp;cm in size.<ref name="Goldman 2000 158">{{harvnb|Goldman|2000|p=158}}</ref> Each of the blots has near perfect [[Reflection symmetry|bilateral symmetry]]. The inkblots include variations in color (some monochromatic, some multicolored) and shading, each potentially eliciting different types of responses.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rorschach|first=Hermann|title=Rorschach Test – Psychodiagnostic Plates|publisher=Hogrefe|year=1927|isbn=978-3-456-82605-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Clinical management of behavior disorders in children|page=249|publisher=[[Elsevier|Saunders]]|year=1960|quote=The Rorschach Test consists of 10 inkblots, printed on a white background and mounted on cardboard 7 by 9 inches |author=Harry Bakwin |author2=Ruth Mae Morris Bakwin|author2-link=Ruth Mae Morris Bakwin|author-link=Harry Bakwin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Modern synopsis of Comprehensive textbook of psychiatry|publisher=[[Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|Williams & Wilkins]]|year=1972|page=168|quote=The Rorschach test [...] consists of 10 symmetrical inkblots printed on a white background|author1=Alfred M. Freedman |author2=Harold I. Kaplan |author3=Benjamin J. Sadock }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Experimental social psychology: an interpretation of research upon the socialization of the individual|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.187480|publisher=Harper & Brothers|year=1931|quote=It consists of ten irregular but symmetrical ink blots, five of them in blacks and grays, and five partially in colors, on a white background.|author1=Gardner Murphy |author2=Lois Barclay Murphy |author3=Theodore Mead Newcomb }}</ref> According to various authors, they commonly evoke perceptions of animals, human figures, or abstract shapes, and may provoke associations related to authority, interpersonal dynamics, or sexuality.<ref>{{Cite book|page=72|isbn=978-0-89116-780-8|year=1989|publisher=Hemisphere Pub. Corp.|location=New York|title=Rorschach's test: scoring and interpretation|author1=Alvin G. Burstein |author2=Sandra Loucks }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Piotrowski|first=Z. A.|title=Perceptanalysis: The Rorschach Method Fundamentally Reworked, Expanded and Systematized|year=1987|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-8058-0102-6|page=107}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=338}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|Greene|2007|pp=390–395}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|pp=102–109}}</ref> Certain inkblots are also noted for thematic emphasis.<ref name="Hayden"/> The test introduces increasing visual complexity and color, which can assess the subject's emotional and cognitive responses to less structured stimuli.<ref name="Hayden"/> Together, the images are designed to reveal patterns in personality, thought processes, and affective functioning as the subject progresses through the test.

After the test subject has seen and responded to all of the inkblots (''free association'' phase), the tester then presents them again one at a time in a set sequence for the subject to study: the subject is asked to note where they see what they originally saw and what makes it look like that (''inquiry'' phase). The subject is usually asked to hold the cards and may rotate them. Whether the cards are rotated, and other related factors such as whether permission to rotate them is asked, may expose personality traits and normally contribute to the assessment.<ref>{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=214}}</ref>

[[File:Rorschach blot 10.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Card X is one of the cards to feature color, often evoking more complex associations than the monochrome plates.<ref name="auto34"/>]]
As the subject examines the inkblots, the psychologist writes down everything the subject says or does, no matter how trivial. Analysis of responses is recorded by the test administrator using a tabulation and scoring sheet and, if required, a separate location chart.<ref name="harvnb|Klopfer|Davidson|1962" />

The general goal of the test is to provide data about [[cognition]] and [[personality psychology|personality]] variables such as [[motivation]]s, response tendencies, cognitive operations, [[affect (psychology)|affectivity]], and personal/interpersonal [[perception]]s. The underlying assumption is that an individual will class external stimuli based on person-specific perceptual sets, and including [[need]]s, [[base motive]]s, [[Emotional conflict|conflict]]s, and that this clustering process is representative of the process used in real-life situations.<ref>{{harvnb|Groth-Marnat|2003|p=407}}</ref>

Methods of interpretation differ. Rorschach scoring systems have been described as a system of pegs on which to hang one's knowledge of personality.<ref name="mons1950">{{Cite book|last=Mons |first=W. |title=Principles and Practice Of the Rorschach Personality Test |year=1950 |edition=2nd |publisher=Faber |pages=30–31}}</ref> The most widely used method in the United States is based on the work of Exner. Administration of the test to a group of subjects, by means of projected images, has also occasionally been performed, but mainly for research rather than diagnostic purposes.<ref name="harvnb|Klopfer|Davidson|1962" />

Test administration is not to be confused with test interpretation:
<blockquote>
The interpretation of a Rorschach record is a complex process. It requires a wealth of knowledge concerning personality dynamics generally as well as considerable experience with the Rorschach method specifically. Proficiency as a Rorschach ''administrator'' can be gained within a few months. However, even those who are able and qualified to become Rorschach ''interpreters'' usually remain in a "learning stage" for a number of years.<ref name="harvnb|Klopfer|Davidson|1962"/>
</blockquote>

===Features or categories===<!--- which term to use, which is more widely used? Sources seem to use both-->
The interpretation of the Rorschach test is not based primarily on the contents of the response, i.e., ''what'' the individual sees in the inkblot (the ''content''). The contents of the response are only a comparatively small portion of a broader cluster of variables that are used to interpret the Rorschach data: for instance, information is provided by the time taken before providing a response for a card can be significant (taking a long time can indicate "shock" on the card).<ref name="auto9">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=232}}</ref> As well as by any comments the subject may make in addition to providing a direct response.<ref name="auto17">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=224}}.</ref>

In particular, information about ''determinants'' (the aspects of the inkblots that triggered the response, such as form and color) and ''location'' (which details of the inkblots triggered the response) is often considered more important than content, although there is contrasting evidence.<ref name="auto12">{{Cite book|page=458|isbn=978-1-84169-360-6|last=Eysenck|first=Michael W.|year=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|location=Hove|title=Psychology: an international perspective}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{Cite book|isbn=978-0-86377-257-3|page=48|last=Eysenck|first=Michael W.|year=1998|publisher=Psychology Press|location=Hove|title=Individual differences: normal and abnormal}}</ref>
"Popularity" and "originality" of responses<ref name="auto19">{{Cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/handbookpsycholo00reyn/page/n77 61]|isbn=978-1-57230-884-8|editor1=Cecil R. Reynolds |editor2=Randy W. Kamphaus|year=2003|publisher=[[Guilford Press]]|location=New York|title=Handbook of psychological and educational assessment of children personality, behavior, and context|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookpsycholo00reyn|url-access=limited}}</ref> can also be considered as basic dimensions in the analysis.<ref name="auto10">{{harvnb|Groth-Marnat|2003|pp=423}}</ref>
<!-- Should probably add two more sections about content and location, and perhaps popularity, and maybe should also find a layout that doesn't involve such deep-level headings but still makes it clear these are the categories -->

====Content====<!-- This may be over-specific to a system and may need to be generalized, since we are talking about features common to all systems here -->
The goal in coding content of the Rorschach is to categorize the objects that the subject describes in response to the inkblot. There are 27 established codes for identifying the name of the descriptive object. The codes are classified and include terms such as "human", "nature", "animal", "abstract", "clothing", "fire", and "x-ray", to name a few. Content described that does not have a code already established should be coded using the code "idiographic contents" with the shorthand code being "Idio."<ref name="Exner, J. E. 1986">Exner, J. E. (1986). The Rorschach: A comprehensive system, Volume 1: Basic Foundations (2nd ed.). Wiley & Sons, Inc.</ref> Items are also coded for statistical popularity (or, conversely, originality).<ref name="auto24">{{Cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/anthropologicalr00pel_byx/page/90 90]|isbn=978-0-521-29228-3|year=1996|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|location=Cambridge|title=Anthropological research: the structure of inquiry|author1=Pertti J. Pelto|author2=Gretel H. Pelto|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/anthropologicalr00pel_byx/page/90}}</ref>

More than any other feature in the test, content response can be controlled consciously by the subject, and may be elicited by very disparate factors, which makes it difficult to use content alone to draw any conclusions about the subject's personality; with certain individuals, content responses may potentially be interpreted directly, and some information can at times be obtained by analyzing thematic trends in the whole set of content responses (which is only feasible when several responses are available), but in general content cannot be analyzed outside of the context of the entire test record.<ref name="auto1">{{harvnb|Schachtel|2001|pp=258–261}}</ref>

====Location====
Identifying the location of the subject's response is another element scored in the Rorschach system. Location refers to how much of the inkblot was used to answer the question. Administrators score the response "W" if the whole inkblot was used to answer the question, "D" if a commonly described part of the blot was used, "Dd" if an uncommonly described or unusual detail was used, or "S" if the white space in the background was used. A score of W is typically associated with the subject's motivation to interact with his or her surrounding environment. D is interpreted as one having efficient or adequate functioning. A high frequency of responses coded Dd indicate some maladjustment within the individual. Responses coded S indicate an oppositional or uncooperative test subject.<ref name="Goldman 2000 158"/><ref name="Exner, J. E. 1986"/>

====Determinants====
Systems for Rorschach scoring generally include a concept of "determinants": These are the factors that contribute to establishing the similarity between the inkblot and the subject's content response about it. They can also represent certain basic experiential-perceptual attitudes, showing aspects of the way a subject perceives the world. Rorschach's original work used only ''form'', ''color'' and ''movement'' as determinants. However currently, another major determinant considered is ''shading'',<ref name="auto21">{{harvnb|Schachtel|2001|pp=76–78}}</ref> which was inadvertently introduced by poor printing quality of the inkblots. Rorschach initially disregarded shading,<ref name=":3" /> since the inkblots originally featured uniform saturation, but later recognized it as a significant factor.<ref name=":3">{{harvnb|Schachtel|2001|p=243}}</ref><ref name="auto3">{{Cite book|title=Rorschach content interpretation|publisher=Grune and Stratton|year=1976|page=7|isbn=978-0-8089-0961-3|quote=The printer also reduced the blot cards in size and altered their colors. In addition an imperfect printing process resulted in varieties of shading that were not originally intended by Rorschach (Ellenberger, 1954).|author1=Edward Aronow |author2=Marvin Reznikoff }}</ref><ref name="auto22">{{Cite book|title=The Rorschach: a developmental perspective|last=Leichtman|first=Martin|publisher=Routledge|year=1996|isbn=978-0-88163-138-8|quote="[...] the printing of the cards was more than unsatisfactory. The cards were reduced in size, the colors changed and the original uniformity of the black areas was reproduced in a variety of shades, delineating all kinds of vague forms. The printer probably did not expect congratulations for his slovenly work, but as soon as Rorschach had seen the proofs he was seized by a renewed enthusiasm, and understood at once the new possibilities the prints offered." (Ellenberger 1954, p. 206) Far from being outraged that the integrity of his experiment was violated, Rorschach appreciated immediately that shading enriched the test by further increasing the creative possibilities the cards afforded.}}</ref>

''Form'' is the most common determinant, and is related to intellectual processes. ''Color'' responses often provide direct insight into one's emotional life. ''Movement'' and ''shading'' have been considered more ambiguously, both in definition and interpretation. Rorschach considered ''movement'' only as the experiencing of actual motion, while others have widened the scope of this determinant, taking it to mean that the subject sees something "going on".<ref name="mcvhunt">{{Cite book|title=Personality And The Behavior Disorders – Vol I|author=J. Mcv Hunt|publisher= Braithwaite Press|year=2007|pages=230–231|isbn=978-1-4067-4440-8}}</ref>

More than one determinant can contribute to the formation of the subject's perception. Fusion of two determinants is taken into account, while also assessing which of the two constituted the primary contributor. For example, "''form''-''color''" implies a more refined control of impulse than "''color''-''form''". It is, indeed, from the relation and balance among determinants that personality can be most readily inferred.<ref name=mcvhunt/>

===Symmetry of the test items===
A characteristic of the Rorschach inkblots is their symmetry. For many, this is unexceptional, but Rorschach, and subsequent researchers, considered the issue. Rorschach experimented with both asymmetric and symmetric images before choosing the latter,<ref name="JSYMB">Justine Sergent & Yitzchak M. Binik, "On the Use of Symmetry in the Rorschach Test". ''Journal of Personality Assessment'', Volume 43, Issue 4, 1979. pp. 355–359.[https://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4304_3]</ref> giving the explanation:

<blockquote>
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.<ref name="auto5">Rorschach. H., Psychodiagnostics; a diagnostic test based on perception: including Rorschach's paper, The application of the form interpretation test (published posthumously by Dr. Emil Oberholzer). Grune & Stratton inc, New York (1942). p15.</ref>
</blockquote>

===Exner scoring system===
The ''Exner scoring system'', also known as the ''Rorschach Comprehensive System'' (RCS),<ref name="auto11">{{Cite book|page=213|isbn=978-0-8058-4451-1|author1=Giuseppe Costantino |author2=Richard H. Dana |author3=Robert G. Malgady. |year=2007|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis|Lawrence Erlbaum]]|location=Mahwah, N.J.|title=TEMAS (Tell-Me-A-Story) assessment in multicultural societies}}</ref> is the standard method for interpreting the Rorschach test. It was developed in the 1960s by [[John E. Exner]], as a more rigorous system of analysis. It has been extensively validated and shows high [[inter-rater reliability]].<ref name=Exner/><ref name="auto26">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
In 1969, Exner published ''The Rorschach Systems'', a concise description of what would be later called "the Exner system". He later published a study in multiple volumes called ''The Rorschach: A Comprehensive system'', the most accepted full description of his system.

Creation of the new system was prompted by the realization that at least five related, but ultimately different methods were in common use at the time, with a sizeable minority of examiners not employing any recognized method at all, basing instead their judgment on subjective assessment, or arbitrarily mixing characteristics of the various standardized systems.<ref name="auto33">{{harvnb|Groth-Marnat|2003|pp=406–407}}</ref>

The key components of the Exner system are the clusterization of Rorschach variables and a sequential search strategy to determine the order in which to analyze them,<ref name="auto18">{{Harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=61}}</ref> framed in the context of standardized administration, objective, reliable coding and a representative normative database.<ref name="auto7">{{Harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=59}}</ref>
The system places a lot of emphasis on a [[Beck's cognitive triad|cognitive triad]] of ''[[Information processing (psychology)|information processing]]'', related to how the subject processes input data, ''cognitive [[data mediation|mediation]]'', referring to the way information is transformed and identified, and ''[[Ideation (idea generation)|ideation]]''.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=http://www.psicologi-italia.it/il_test_di_rorschach.htm|title=Il test di Rorschach secondo il sistema comprensivo di Exner|last=Ravaioli|first=Laura|year=2008|access-date=2009-08-29}}</ref>

In the system, responses are scored with reference to their level of vagueness or synthesis of multiple images in the blot, the location of the response, which of a variety of determinants is used to produce the response (i.e., what makes the inkblot look like what it is said to resemble), the form quality of the response (to what extent a response is faithful to how the actual inkblot looks), the contents of the response (what the respondent actually sees in the blot), the degree of mental organizing activity that is involved in producing the response, and any illogical, incongruous, or incoherent aspects of responses.  "Bat" is a popular response to the first card.<ref name="auto30">{{Cite book| last=Exner|first=John E.|title=The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System, Vol 1: Basic Foundations|date=23 April 1993 |publisher=Wiley | isbn= 978-0-471-55902-3}}</ref>

Using the scores for these categories, the examiner then performs a series of calculations producing a structural summary of the test data.  The results of the structural summary are interpreted using existing research data on personality characteristics that have been demonstrated to be associated with different kinds of responses.

With the Rorschach plates (the ten inkblots), the area of each blot which is distinguished by the client is noted and coded—typically as "commonly selected" or "uncommonly selected".  There were many different methods for coding the areas of the blots. Exner settled upon the area coding system promoted by S. J. Beck (1944 and 1961). This system was in turn based upon Klopfer's (1942) work.

As pertains to response form, a concept of "form quality" was present from the earliest of Rorschach's works, as a subjective judgment of how well the form of the subject's response matched the inkblots (Rorschach would give a higher form score to more "original" yet good form responses), and this concept was followed by other methods, especially in Europe; in contrast, the Exner system solely defines "good form" as a matter of word occurrence frequency, reducing it to a measure of the subject's distance to the population average.<ref name="auto16">{{harvnb|Dana|2000|pp=337,338}}</ref>

{{anchors|Performance assessment system|R-PAS}}
===Performance assessment system (R-PAS)===
{{Main|Rorschach Performance Assessment System}}
Rorschach performance assessment system (R-PAS) is a scoring method created by several members of the Rorschach Research Council. They believed that the Exner scoring system was in need of an update, but after Exner's death, the Exner family forbade any changes to be made to the Comprehensive System.<ref name="auto14">{{cite web | url=http://www.rorschachtraining.com/rorschach-comprehensive-system-current-issues/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421051026/http://www.rorschachtraining.com/rorschach-comprehensive-system-current-issues/ | url-status=usurped | archive-date=April 21, 2010 | title=Rorschach Comprehensive System: Current issues | publisher=Rorschach Training Programs, INC. (RTP) | access-date=7 December 2013 |author1=Anthony D. Sciara |author2=Barry Ritzler }}</ref> Therefore, they established a new system: the R-PAS. It is an attempt at creating a current, empirically based, and internationally focused scoring system that is easier to use than Exner's Comprehensive System.<ref name="auto31">{{cite web|url=http://www.r-pas.org/Home/About |title=About |publisher=R-PAS |date= |accessdate=2022-03-18}}</ref>  The R-PAS manual is intended to be a comprehensive tool for administering, scoring, and interpreting the Rorschach.  The manual consists of two chapters that are basics of scoring and interpretation, aimed for use for novice Rorschach users, followed by numerous chapters containing more detailed and technical information.<ref name="auto27">{{cite book |title=R-PAS manual |chapter=Table of Contents |url=https://r-pas.org/Docs/Manual_TOC.pdf}}</ref>

In terms of updated scoring, the authors only selected variables that have been empirically supported in the literature.  The authors did not create new variables or indices to be coded, but systematically reviewed variables that had been used in past systems.<ref name="Meyer2012">Meyer, G. J., & Eblin, J. J. (2012) An overview of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). ''Psychological Inj. and Law'', ''5'', 107-121.</ref> While all of these codes have been used in the past, many have been renamed to be more face valid and readily understood. Scoring of the indices has been updated (e.g. utilizing [[percentile]]s and [[standard score]]s) to make the Rorschach more in line with other popular [[Personality test|personality measures]]. Preliminary evidence suggests that the R-PAS exhibits good inter-rater reliability.<ref name="auto25">{{Cite journal |last1=Viglione |first1=Donald J. |last2=Blume-Marcovici |first2=Amy C. |last3=Miller |first3=Heidi L. |last4=Giromini |first4=Luciano |last5=Meyer |first5=Gregory |date=2012 |title=An Inter-Rater Reliability Study for the Rorschach Performance Assessment System |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00223891.2012.684118 |journal=Journal of Personality Assessment |language=en |volume=94 |issue=6 |pages=607–612 |doi=10.1080/00223891.2012.684118 |pmid=22574907 |hdl=2318/1508165 |s2cid=31800521 |issn=0022-3891|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="auto13">{{Cite journal |last1=Kivisalu |first1=Trisha M. |last2=Lewey |first2=Jennifer H. |last3=Shaffer |first3=Thomas W. |last4=Canfield |first4=Merle L. |date=2016-07-03 |title=An Investigation of Interrater Reliability for the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R–PAS) in a Nonpatient U.S. Sample |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223891.2015.1118380 |journal=Journal of Personality Assessment |language=en |volume=98 |issue=4 |pages=382–390 |doi=10.1080/00223891.2015.1118380 |pmid=26730817 |s2cid=22787894 |issn=0022-3891|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="auto23">{{Cite journal |last1=Pignolo |first1=Claudia |last2=Giromini |first2=Luciano |last3=Ando' |first3=Agata |last4=Ghirardello |first4=Davide |last5=Di Girolamo |first5=Marzia |last6=Ales |first6=Francesca |last7=Zennaro |first7=Alessandro |date=2017-11-02 |title=An Interrater Reliability Study of Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R–PAS) Raw and Complexity-Adjusted Scores |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00223891.2017.1296844 |journal=Journal of Personality Assessment |language=en |volume=99 |issue=6 |pages=619–625 |doi=10.1080/00223891.2017.1296844 |pmid=28375651 |hdl=2318/1632018 |s2cid=21540404 |issn=0022-3891|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In addition to providing coding guidelines to score examinee responses, the R-PAS provides a system to code an examinee's behavior during Rorschach administration.  These behavioral codes are included as it is believed that the behaviors exhibited during testing are a reflection of someone's task performance and supplements the actual responses given.  This allows generalizations to be made between someone's responses to the cards and their actual behavior.

The R-PAS also recognized that scoring on many of the Rorschach variables differed across countries.<ref name = Meyer2012/> Therefore, starting in 1997, Rorschach protocols from researchers around the world were compiled.<ref name="auto32">Shaffer, T. W., Erdberg, P., & Meyer, G. J. (2007). Introduction to the JPA special supplement on international reference samples for the Rorschach Comprehensive System. ''Journal of Personality Assessment'', ''89'', S2-S6.</ref>  After compiling protocols for over a decade, a total of 15 adult samples were used to provide a normative basis for the R-PAS. The protocols represent data gathered in the United States, Europe, Israel, Argentina and Brazil.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

===Cultural differences===
Comparing North American Exner normative data with data from European and South American subjects showed marked differences in some features, some of which impact important variables, while others (such as the average number of responses) coincide.<ref name="auto6">{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=332}}</ref>
For instance, texture response is typically zero in European subjects (if interpreted as a need for closeness, in accordance with the system, a European would seem to express it only when it reaches the level of a ''craving'' for closeness),<ref name="dana335">{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=335}}</ref> and there are fewer "good form" responses, to the point where schizophrenia may be suspected if data were correlated to the North American norms.<ref name="auto15">{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=333}}</ref>
Form is also often the only determinant expressed by European subjects;<ref name="auto20">{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=334}}</ref> while color is less frequent than in American subjects, color-form responses are comparatively frequent in opposition to form-color responses; since the latter tend to be interpreted as indicators of a defensive attitude in processing affect, this difference could stem from a higher value attributed to spontaneous expression of emotions.<ref name=dana335/>

The differences in form quality are attributable to purely cultural aspects: different cultures will exhibit different "common" objects (French subjects often identify a [[chameleon]] in card VIII, which is normally classed as an "unusual" response, as opposed to other animals like cats and dogs; in Scandinavia, "Christmas elves" ''([[Nisse (folklore)|nisser]])'' is a popular response for card II, and "musical instrument" on card VI is popular for Japanese people),<ref name="auto29">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=53}}</ref> and different languages will exhibit semantic differences in naming the same object (the figure of card IV is often called a ''troll'' by Scandinavians and an ''ogre'' by French people).<ref name="dana338">{{harvnb|Dana|2000|p=338,339,354}}</ref>
Many of Exner's "popular" responses (those given by at least one third of the North American sample used) seem to be universally popular, as shown by samples in Europe, Japan and South America, while specifically card IX's "human" response, the crab or spider in card X and one of either the butterfly or the bat in card I appear to be characteristic of North America.<ref name=dana338/><ref name="auto28">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=52}}</ref>

Form quality, popular content responses and locations are the only coded variables in the Exner systems that are based on frequency of occurrence, and thus immediately subject to cultural influences; therefore, cultural-dependent interpretation of test data may not necessarily need to extend beyond these components.<ref name="auto8">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=54}}</ref>

The cited language differences can result in misinterpretation if not administered in the subject's native language or a very well mastered second language, and interpreted by a master speaker of that language. For example, a bow tie is a frequent response for the center detail of card III, but since the equivalent term in French translates to "butterfly tie", an examiner not appreciating this language nuance may code the response differently from what is expected.<ref name="auto4">{{harvnb|Weiner|2003|p=55}}</ref>

==Usage==

===United States===
The Rorschach test is used almost exclusively by psychologists. Up to 2007 forensic psychologists used the Rorschach 36% of the time.<ref name=hughes>{{Cite journal|author=Hughes|last2=Gacono|first2=Carl B.|last3=Owen|first3=Patrick F. |title=Current status of Rorschach assessment: implications for the school psychologist |journal=Psychology in the Schools|volume=44|issue=3|page=281|year=2007|doi=10.1002/pits.20223 }}</ref>
In custody cases, 23% of psychologists use the Rorschach to examine a child.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Butcher, James Neal |title=Oxford Handbook of Personality Assessment (Oxford Library of Psychology) |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]], USA |year=2009 |page=290 |isbn=978-0-19-536687-7 }}</ref>
Another survey found that 124 out of 161 (77%) of clinical psychologists engaging in assessment services utilize the Rorschach,<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Camara|last2=Nathan|first2=Julie S.|last3=Puente|first3=Anthony E. |title=Psychological Test Usage: Implications in Professional Psychology|journal=Professional Psychology: Research and Practice |volume=31 |issue= 2|pages=131–154 |year=2000|doi= 10.1037/0735-7028.31.2.141|s2cid=25068174|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/53c5/e020dd48dfa3e82908d493aa7c69b15da4da.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224061552/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/53c5/e020dd48dfa3e82908d493aa7c69b15da4da.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2019-02-24|display-authors=etal}}</ref> and 80% of [[psychology]] graduate programs teach its use.<ref name="weiner402">{{harvnb|Weiner|Greene|2007|p=402}}</ref>
Another study found that its use by clinical psychologists was only 43%, while it was used less than 24% of the time by school psychologists.<ref name=hughes/>

During [[World War II]], [[United States Army Medical Corps]] chief psychiatrist [[Douglas Kelley]] and psychologist [[Gustave Gilbert]] administered the Rorschach test to the 22 defendants in the Nazi leadership group prior to the first [[Nuremberg trials]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Main |first=Douglas |date=September 7, 2015 |title=Nazi Criminals Were Given Rorschach Tests at Nuremberg |url=http://www.newsweek.com/nazi-criminals-were-given-rorschach-tests-nuremberg-psychology-369413 |work=Newsweek |access-date=November 17, 2019}}</ref> and the test scores were published some decades later.<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Miale, F.R. |author2=Selzer, M.|title=The Nuremberg mind: The psychology of the Nazi leaders |publisher=Quadrangle Books |year=1975}}</ref>

Because of the large amount of data used to interpret the test, psychologist Zygmunt Piotrowski began work to computerize ink blot interpretation in the 1950s and 1960s. This work included over 1,000 rules and included no summary nor narrative conclusions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Exner, J.E.|title=The Rorschach systems|publisher=Grune & Stratton|year=1969|pages=147–154}}</ref>  A subsequent computerized interpretation of Rorschach test scores, that included summary and conclusions <ref>{{Cite book|author1=Perline, I.H. |author2=Perline, J.P. |title=Century Diagnostics Rorschach handbook|publisher=Century Diagnostics, Inc. |year=1979}}</ref> was developed in the 1970s by psychologists Perline and Cabanski, and marketed internationally.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Tests, products, and services for psychological assessment.|publisher=The Psychological Corporation, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers|page=33}}</ref>  This computerized interpretation of the test was used to interpret the set of scores developed by Gilbert on Nazi Hermann Goering<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Tallent, N.|title=Psychological report writing. 2nd Ed.|publisher=Prentice-Hall, Inc.|year=1983|pages=215–228}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|author1=Cohen, R.J. |author2=Montague, P. |author3=Nathanson, L.S. |author4=Swedlik, M.E. |title=Psychological testing: An introduction to tests & measurement |publisher=Mayfield Publishing Co. |year=1988 |pages=327–329}}</ref> along with several other Nazis while awaiting trial at Nuremberg Prison.<ref>{{Cite book |author=El-Hai, J. |title=The Nazi and the psychiatrist|publisher=MJF Books|year=2013}}</ref>

In the 1980s psychologist John Exner developed a computerized interpretation of the Rorschach test, based on his own scoring system, the Exner Comprehensive System.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Harris, W.G. |author2=Niedner, D. |author3=Feldman, C. |author4=Fink, A. |author5=Johnson, H. |date=1981 |title=An on-line interpretive Rorschach approach: Using Exner's comprehensive system |journal=Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation |volume=13|issue=4 |pages=588–591 |doi=10.3758/BF03202070 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Presently, of the three computerized assessments, only the Exner system is available on the market.

The arguments for or against computerized assessment of the Rorschach is likely to remain unresolved for some time, as there is no absolute correct interpretation against which the different markers (scores) denoting mental health can be compared.  Although scores for a theoretically typical healthy adult have been proposed<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Klopfer, B. |author2=Davidson, H.H. |title=The Rorschach technique: An introductory manual |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers |year=1962 |pages=147–148}}</ref> and reasonable attempts to standardize the computer interpretation against these scores have been obtained,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> more work in this area needs to be done.

===United Kingdom===
Many psychologists in the United Kingdom do not trust its efficacy and it is rarely used.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/08/hermann-rorschach-google-doodle-inkblot-test |title=Hermann Rorschach Google doodle asks users to interpret inkblot test|work=theguardian.com |date=8 November 2013<!-- 10.52 GMT--> |access-date=9 December 2013}}</ref> Although skeptical about its scientific validity, some psychologists use it in therapy and coaching "as a way of encouraging self-reflection and starting a conversation about the person's internal world."<ref name=Radio4>{{cite news|title=What's behind the Rorschach inkblot test?|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18952667|newspaper=BBC News Magazine|date=24 July 2012}}</ref> It is still used, however, by some mental health organisations such as the [[Tavistock Clinic]].<ref name=Radio4Blot>{{cite news|title=Dr Inkblot|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l0kch|newspaper=On Radio 4 Now|date=25 July 2012}}</ref> In a survey done in the year 2000, 20% of psychologists in correctional facilities used the Rorschach while 80% used the [[Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory|MMPI]].<ref name=raynor>{{Cite book |title=Developments in Social Work Offenders (Research Highlights in Social Work)|publisher=[[Jessica Kingsley Publishers]]|location=London|year=2008|page=138|isbn=978-1-84310-538-1|author1=Raynor, Peter |author2=McIvor, Gill }}</ref>

===Japan===
Shortly after the publication of Rorschach's book, Japanese psychologist Yuzaburo Uchida came across a copy in a second-hand book shop. His positive reaction created an enduring popularity for the tests in Japan.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Development of the Rorschach in Japan|journal=Rorschachiana|first1=Kenzo|last1=Sorai|first2=Keiichi|last2=Ohnuki|date=1 January 2008|volume=29|issue=1|pages=38–63|doi=10.1027/1192-5604.29.1.38}}</ref> The Japanese Rorschach Society is the world's largest and the test is "routinely put to a wide range of purposes",<ref name=Fidgen>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l0kch|title=BBC Radio 4 - Dr Inkblot|work=BBC|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref> being described in 2012 as "more popular than ever".<ref name=Radio4Blot/>

==Controversy==
Some [[skeptics]] consider the Rorschach inkblot test [[pseudoscience]],<ref name=sciam01/><ref>{{Cite book
 |title       = ALLEA Annual Report 2003
 |last        = Drenth
 |first       = Pieter J.D.
 |chapter     = Growing Anti-intellectualism in Europe: A Menace to Science
 |year        = 2003
 |publisher   = [[ALLEA]]
 |url         = http://www.allea.org/Pages/ALL/4/881.bGFuZz1FTkc.pdf
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110616080310/http://www.allea.org/Pages/ALL/4/881.bGFuZz1FTkc.pdf
 |archive-date = 2011-06-16
}}</ref> as several studies suggested that conclusions reached by test administrators since the 1950s were akin to [[cold reading]].<ref>James M. Wood, M. Teresa Nezworski, Scott O. Lilienfeld, & Howard N. Garb: [http://www.csicop.org/si/show/rorschach_inkblot_test_fortune_tellers_and_cold_reading/ The Rorschach Inkblot Test, Fortune Tellers, and Cold Reading] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312125833/http://www.csicop.org/si/show/rorschach_inkblot_test_fortune_tellers_and_cold_reading |date=2012-03-12 }}. [[Skeptical Inquirer]] magazine, Jul 2003.</ref>  In the 1959 edition of ''Mental Measurement Yearbook'', [[Lee Cronbach]] (former President of the Psychometric Society and American Psychological Association)<ref>{{Cite news
  | last = Alexander
  | first = Meredith
  | title = Lee Cronbach, dead at 85
  | newspaper = Stanford Report
  | publisher = Stanford University School of Education
  | date = October 5, 2001
  | url = http://ed.stanford.edu/suse/news-bureau/displayRecord.php?tablename=press&id=12
  }}</ref> is quoted in a review: "The test has repeatedly failed as a prediction of practical criteria.  There is nothing in the literature to encourage reliance on Rorschach interpretations." In addition, major reviewer Raymond J. McCall writes (p.&nbsp;154): "Though tens of thousands of Rorschach tests have been administered by hundreds of trained professionals since that time (of a previous review), and while many relationships to personality dynamics and behavior have been hypothesized, the vast majority of these relationships ''have never been validated empirically'', despite the appearance of more than 2,000 publications about the test."<ref>{{Cite journal
  | first = Dawes
  | last = Robyn M
  | title = Giving up Cherished Ideas: The Rorschach Ink Blot Test
  | journal = Institute for Psychological Therapies Journal
  | url = http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume3/j3_4_5.htm
  | year = 1991
  | volume = 3
  | issue = 4
  }}</ref> A moratorium on its use was called for in 1999.<ref>{{Cite journal|author=Garb HN |title=Call for a moratorium on the use of the Rorschach Inkblot Test in clinical and forensic settings |journal=Assessment |volume=6 |issue=4|pages=313–8 |date=December 1999 |pmid=10539978 |doi= 10.1177/107319119900600402|s2cid=44835783 }}</ref>

A 2003 report by Wood and colleagues had more mixed views:  "More than 50 years of research have confirmed Lee J. Cronbach's (1970) final verdict: that some Rorschach scores, though falling woefully short of the claims made by proponents, nevertheless possess 'validity greater than chance' (p.&nbsp;636). [...] Its value as a measure of thought disorder in schizophrenia research is well accepted. It is also used regularly in research on dependency, and, less often, in studies on hostility and anxiety.  Furthermore, substantial evidence justifies the use of the Rorschach as a clinical measure of intelligence and thought disorder."<ref>{{Cite journal
  | last1 = Wood
  | first1 = James M.
  | last2 = Nezworski
  | first2 = M. Teresa
  | last3 = Garb
  | first3 = Howard N.
  | title = What's Right with the Rorschach?
  | journal = The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice
  | volume = 2
  | issue = 2
  | year = 2003
  | url = http://www.srmhp.org/0202/focus.html
  }}</ref>

===Test materials===
The basic premise of the test is that objective meaning can be extracted from responses to blots of ink which are supposedly meaningless. Supporters of the Rorschach inkblot test believe that the subject's response to an ambiguous and meaningless stimulus can provide insight into their thought processes, but it is not clear ''how'' this occurs. Also, recent research shows that the blots are not entirely meaningless, and that a patient typically responds to meaningful as well as ambiguous aspects of the blots.<ref name=Exner/> [[Arthur S. Reber|Reber]] (1985) describes the blots as merely "...{{nbsp}}the vehicle for the interaction{{nbsp}}..." between client and therapist, concluding: "...{{nbsp}}the usefulness of the Rorschach will depend upon the sensitivity, empathy and insightfulness of the tester totally independently of the Rorschach itself. An intense dialogue about the wallpaper or the rug would do as well provided that both parties believe."<ref name=Reber>{{Cite book|isbn=978-0-14-051079-9|page=653|author=Arthur S. Reber|year=1985|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|title=Penguin Dictionary of Psychology|author-link=Arthur S. Reber}}</ref>

===Illusory and invisible correlations===
In the 1960s, research by psychologists Loren and Jean Chapman, at the [[University of Wisconsin]], published in the ''[[Journal of Abnormal Psychology]]'', showed that at least some of the apparent validity of the Rorschach was due to an illusion.<ref name="sutherland">{{Harvnb |Sutherland|2007|pp=117–120}}</ref><ref name="plous164">{{Harvnb |Plous|1993|pp=164–166}}</ref> At that time, the five signs most often interpreted as diagnostic of [[homosexuality]] were 1) buttocks and anuses; 2) feminine clothing; 3) male or female sex organs; 4) human figures without male or female features; and 5) human figures with both male and female features.<ref name=plous164 /><ref name="hardman">{{Harvnb |Hardman|2009|p=57}}</ref> The Chapmans surveyed 32 experienced testers about their use of the Rorschach to diagnose homosexuality. At this time homosexuality was regarded as a [[psychopathology]], and the Rorschach was the most popular projective test.<ref name=chapman /> The testers reported that [[homosexual men]] had shown the five signs more frequently than heterosexual men.<ref name=plous164 /><ref name=fine>{{Harvnb |Fine|2006|pp=66–70}}</ref> Despite these beliefs, analysis of the results showed that heterosexual men were just as likely to report these signs, which were therefore totally ineffective for determining homosexuality.<ref name=sutherland /><ref name=hardman /><ref name=fine /> The five signs did, however, match the guesses students made about which imagery would be associated with homosexuality.<ref name=hardman />

The Chapmans investigated the source of the testers' false confidence. In one experiment, students read through a stack of cards, each with a Rorschach blot, a sign and a pair of "conditions" (which might include homosexuality). The information on the cards was fictional, although subjects were told it came from case studies of real patients.<ref name=sutherland /> The students reported that the five invalid signs were associated with homosexuality, even though the cards had been constructed so there was no association at all.<ref name=hardman /><ref name=fine /> The Chapmans repeated this experiment with another set of cards, in which the association was negative; the five signs were never reported by homosexuals. The students still reported seeing a strong positive correlation.<ref name=chapman /><ref name=fine /> These experiments showed that the testers' prejudices could result in them "seeing" non-existent relationships in the data. The Chapmans called this phenomenon "[[illusory correlation]]" and it has since been demonstrated in many other contexts.<ref name=sutherland /><ref name=plous164 />

A related phenomenon called "invisible correlation" applies when people fail to see a strong [[correlation|association between two events]] because it does not match their expectations.<ref name=plous164 /> This was also found in clinicians' interpretations of the Rorschach. Homosexual men are more likely to see a monster on Card IV or a part-animal, part-human figure in Card V.<ref name="chapman" /><ref name=hardman /> Almost all of the experienced clinicians in the Chapmans' survey missed these valid signs.<ref name="chapman">{{Cite book |editor1-last=Kahneman |editor1-first=Daniel |editor2-first=Paul |editor2-last=Slovic |editor3-first=Amos |editor3-last=Tversky |year=1982 |title=Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases |url=https://archive.org/details/judgmentunderunc00kahn_450 |url-access=limited |location=Cambridge, UK |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-28414-1|chapter=Test results are what you think they are|first1=Loren J. |last1=Chapman |first2=Jean |last2=Chapman|pages=[https://archive.org/details/judgmentunderunc00kahn_450/page/n233 238]–248}}</ref><ref name="sutherland" /> The Chapmans ran an experiment with fake Rorschach responses in which these valid signs were always associated with homosexuality. The subjects missed these perfect associations and instead reported that invalid signs, such as buttocks or feminine clothing, were better indicators.<ref name="sutherland" />

In 1992, the psychologist [[Stuart Sutherland]] argued that these artificial experiments are easier than the real-world use of the Rorschach, and hence they probably underestimated the errors that testers were susceptible to. He described the continuing popularity of the Rorschach after the Chapmans' research as a "glaring example of irrationality among psychologists".<ref name=sutherland />

===Tester projection===
Some critics argue that the testing psychologist must also project onto the patterns. A possible example sometimes attributed to the psychologist's subjective judgement is that responses are coded (among many other things), for "Form Quality": in essence, whether the subject's response fits with how the blot actually looks. Superficially this might be considered a subjective judgment, depending on how the examiner has internalized the categories involved. But with the Exner system of scoring, much of the subjectivity is eliminated or reduced by use of frequency tables that indicate how often a particular response is given by the population in general.<ref name=Exner/> Another example is that the response "bra" was considered a "sex" response by male psychologists, but a "clothing" response by females.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{harvnb|Wood|2003}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>
In Exner's system, however, such a response is always coded as "clothing" unless there is a clear sexual reference in the response.<ref name=Exner/>

Third parties could be used to avoid this problem, but the Rorschach's [[inter-rater reliability]] has been questioned. That is, in some studies the scores obtained by two independent scorers do not match with great consistency.<ref>{{harvnb|Wood|2003|pp=227–234}}</ref>
This conclusion was challenged in studies using large samples reported in 2002.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Meyer G. J. |author2=Hilsenroth M. J. |author3=Baxter D. |author4=Exner J. E. |author5=Fowler J. C. |author6=Piers C. C. |author7=Resnick J. | year = 2002 | title = An examination of interrater reliability for scoring the Rorschach comprehensive system in eight data sets | journal = Journal of Personality Assessment | volume = 78 | issue = 2| pages = 219–274 | doi = 10.1207/S15327752JPA7802_03 | pmid = 12067192 |citeseerx=10.1.1.559.6551 |s2cid=5730091 }}</ref>

===Validity===
When interpreted as a projective test, results are poorly verifiable. The Exner system of scoring (also known as the "Comprehensive System") is meant to address this, and has all but displaced many earlier (and less consistent) scoring systems. It makes heavy use of what factor (shading, color, outline, etc.) of the inkblot leads to each of the tested person's comments. Disagreements about test validity remain: while Exner proposed a rigorous scoring system, latitude remained in the actual interpretation, and the clinician's write-up of the test record is still partly subjective.<ref>{{harvnb|Goldman|2000|p=159}}</ref>
Reber (1985) comments "...{{nbsp}}there is essentially no evidence whatsoever that the test has even a shred of validity."<ref name=Reber />

Nevertheless, there is substantial research indicating the utility of the measure for a few scores. Several scores correlate well with general [[intelligence]]. One such scale is R, the total number of responses; this reveals the questionable side-effect that more intelligent people tend to be elevated on many pathology scales, since many scales do not correct for high R: if a subject gives twice as many responses overall, it is more likely that some of these will seem "pathological". Also correlated with intelligence are the scales for Organizational Activity, Complexity, Form Quality, and Human Figure responses.<ref>{{harvnb|Wood|2003|loc=Table 9.4}}</ref> The same source reports that validity has also been shown for detecting such conditions as [[schizophrenia]] and other [[psychotic disorders]]; [[thought disorder]]s; and [[personality disorders]] (including [[borderline personality disorder]]). There is some evidence that the Deviant Verbalizations scale relates to [[bipolar disorder]]. The authors conclude that "Otherwise, the Comprehensive System doesn't appear to bear a consistent relationship to psychological disorders or symptoms, personality characteristics, potential for violence, or such health problems as cancer".<ref>{{harvnb|Wood|2003|pp=249–250}}</ref>
(Cancer is mentioned because a small minority of Rorschach enthusiasts have claimed the test can predict cancer.)<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Graves P.L. |author2=Thomas C.B. |author3=Mead L.A. | year = 1991 | title = The Rorschach Interaction Scale as a potential predictor of cancer | url = http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/reprint/48/8/549.pdf | journal = Psychosomatic Medicine | volume = 48 | issue = 8| pages = 549–563 | pmid = 3809367 | doi=10.1097/00006842-198611000-00002|s2cid=24365682 }}</ref>

===Reliability===
It is also thought that the test's reliability can depend substantially on details of the testing procedure, such as where the tester and subject are seated, any introductory words, verbal and nonverbal responses to subjects' questions or comments, and how responses are recorded. Exner has published detailed instructions, but Wood et al.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> cite many court cases where these had not been followed. Similarly, the procedures for coding responses are fairly well specified but extremely time-consuming leaving them very subject to the author's style and the publisher to the quality of the instructions (such as was noted with one of Bohm's textbooks in the 1950s<ref>(1958) ''Journal of personality assessment'' Volumes 22–23; Page 462</ref>) as well as clinic workers (which would include examiners) being encouraged to cut corners.<ref>Lowrey, Lawson Gentry (1946) ''[[American Journal of Orthopsychiatry]]'', Volume 16 American Orthopsychiatric Association pg 732</ref><ref>Buros, Oscar Krisen (1975) ''Personality tests and reviews: including an index to The mental measurements yearbooks'', Volume 1. Gryphon Press, pg Page 411</ref>

United States courts have challenged the Rorschach as well. ''Jones v Apfel'' (1997) stated (quoting from ''Attorney's Textbook of Medicine'') that Rorschach "results do not meet the requirements of standardization, reliability, or validity of clinical diagnostic tests, and interpretation thus is often controversial".<ref name="Gacono, Carl B. 2007 pg 83">Gacono, Carl B., F. Barton Evans (2007) "The Handbook of Forensic Rorschach Assessment" pg 83</ref>  In ''State ex rel H.H.'' (1999) where under cross-examination Bogacki stated under oath "many psychologists do not believe much in the validity or effectiveness of the Rorschach test"<ref name="Gacono, Carl B. 2007 pg 83"/> and ''US v Battle'' (2001) ruled that the Rorschach "does not have an objective scoring system."<ref name="Gacono, Carl B. 2007 pg 83"/>

===Population norms===
{{Technical|date=September 2010|section}}
Another controversial aspect of the test is its [[Psychometrics|statistical norms]]. Exner's system was thought to possess normative scores for various populations. But, beginning in the mid-1990s others began to try to replicate or update these norms and failed.  In particular, discrepancies seemed to focus on indices measuring [[narcissism]], disordered thinking, and discomfort in close relationships.<ref name=Lilienfeld>{{cite journal|last1=Lilienfeld|first1=S.O.|last2=Wood|first2=J.M.|last3=Garb|first3=H.N.|title=The scientific status of projective techniques|journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest|volume=1|pages=27–66|date=2000|issue=2|doi=10.1111/1529-1006.002|pmid=26151980|s2cid=8197201}}</ref> Lilienfeld and colleagues, who are critical of the Rorschach, have stated that this proves that the Rorschach tends to "overpathologise normals".<ref name=Lilienfeld/> Although Rorschach proponents, such as Hibbard,<ref name= Hibbard>{{cite journal|last=Hibbard|first=S.|title=A Critique of Lilienfeld et al.'s (2000) The Scientific status of Projective Techniques|journal=Journal of Personality Assessment|volume=80|pages=260–271|date=2003|issue=3|doi=10.1207/S15327752JPA8003_05|pmid=12763700|s2cid=44025493}}</ref> suggest that high rates of pathology detected by the Rorschach accurately reflect increasing psychopathology in society, the Rorschach also identifies half of all test-takers as possessing "distorted thinking",<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.livescience.com/culture/090731-badscience-rorschach.html|title=Rorschach Test: Discredited But Still Controversial|last=Radford|first=Benjamin|date=July 31, 2009|magazine=[[Live Science]]|access-date=October 9, 2020}}</ref> a [[false positive rate]] unexplained by current research.

The accusation of "over-pathologising" has also been considered by Meyer et al. (2007). They presented an international collaborative study of 4704 Rorschach protocols, obtained in 21 different samples, across 17 countries, with only 2% showing significant elevations on the index of perceptual and thinking disorder, 12% elevated on indices of depression and hyper-vigilance and 13% elevated on persistent stress overload—all in line with expected frequencies among non-patient populations.<ref name=Meyer>{{cite journal|last1=Meyer|first1=G.J.|last2=Erdberg|first2=P.|last3=Shaffer|first3=T.W.|title=Toward international normative reference data for the Comprehensive System|journal=Journal of Personality Assessment|volume=89|pages=S201–S206|date=2007|issue=S1 |doi=10.1080/00223890701629342|pmid=18039164|s2cid=23951172}}</ref>

===Applications===
The test is also controversial because of its common use in court-ordered evaluations.{{Citation needed|date=May 2009}}  This controversy stems, in part, from the limitations of the Rorschach, with no additional data, in making official diagnoses from the ''[[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]]'' ([[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders|DSM-IV]]).<ref>[[American Psychiatric Association]]. (1994). ''Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.)''. Washington, DC.</ref> [[Irving B. Weiner]] (co-developer with John Exner of the Comprehensive system) has stated that the Rorschach "is a measure of personality functioning, and it provides information concerning aspects of personality structure and dynamics that make people the kind of people they are. Sometimes such information about personality characteristics is helpful in arriving at a differential diagnosis, if the alternative diagnoses being considered have been well conceptualized with respect to specific or defining personality characteristics".<ref name=Weiner>{{Cite book|last=Weiner|first=Irving B.|author-link=Irving B. Weiner|title=What the Rorschach Can do for you: Incremental validity in clinical applications. Assessment 6|year=1999|pages=327–338}}</ref>
In the vast majority of cases, anyway, the Rorschach test was not singled out but used as one of several in a battery of tests,<ref name=gaconoevans>{{Cite book|page=80|isbn=978-0-8058-5823-5|editor1=Carl B. Gacono |editor2=F. Barton Evans |editor3=Lynne A. Gacono |editor4=Nancy Kaser-Boyd. |year=2007|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis|Lawrence Erlbaum]]|location=Mahwah, NJ|title=The handbook of forensic Rorschach psychology}}</ref> and despite the criticism of usage of the Rorschach in the courts, out of 8,000 cases in which forensic psychologists used Rorschach-based testimony, the appropriateness of the instrument was challenged only six times, and the testimony was ruled inadmissible in only one of those cases.<ref name = "weiner402"/> One study has found that use of the test in courts has increased by three times in the decade between 1996 and 2005, compared to the previous fifty years.<ref name=gaconoevans/>  Others however have found that its usage by forensic psychologists has decreased.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Garb HN, Wood JM, Lilienfeld SO, Nezworski MT |title=Roots of the Rorschach controversy |journal=Clin Psychol Rev|volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=97–118 |date=January 2005 |pmid=15596082 |doi=10.1016/j.cpr.2004.09.002 |s2cid=31393467 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1258875}}</ref>

Exner and others have claimed that the Rorschach test is capable of detecting [[suicidality]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Exner J.E. |author2=Wylie J. | year = 1977 | title = Some Rorschach data concerning suicide | journal = Journal of Personality Assessment | volume = 41 | issue = 4| pages = 339–348 | doi = 10.1207/s15327752jpa4104_1 | pmid = 886425 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Viglione D | year = 1999 | title = A review of recent research addressing the utility of the Rorschach | journal = Psychological Assessment | volume = 11 | issue = 3| pages = 251–265 | doi = 10.1037/1040-3590.11.3.251 }}</ref><ref>Fowler, J. C., Piers, C., Hilsenroth, M. J., Holdwick, D. J., & Padawer, J. R. The Rorschach suicide constellation: Assessing various degrees of lethality. ''Journal of Personality Assessment'', 76 (2), 333–351.</ref>

===Protection of test items and ethics===
Psychologists object to the publication of psychological test material out of concerns that a patient's test responses will be influenced ("''[[priming (psychology)|primed]]''") by previous exposure. The [[Canadian Psychological Association]] takes the position that, "Publishing the questions and answers to any psychological test compromises its usefulness" and calls for "keeping psychological tests out of the public domain."<ref name="cpa1">{{cite web|url=http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/advocacy/2009%20CPA%20Psychological%20test%20statement%20.pdf|title=Canadian Psychological Association Position on Publication and Dissemination of Psychological Tests|publisher=Canadian Psychological Association|date=August 4, 2009|quote=Publishing the questions and answers to any psychological test compromises its usefulness.|access-date=2010-07-08|archive-date=2011-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706174603/http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/advocacy/2009%20CPA%20Psychological%20test%20statement%20.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> The same statement quotes their president as saying, "The CPA's concern is not with the publication of the cards and responses to the Rorschach test per se, for which there is some controversy in the psychological literature and disagreement among experts, but with the larger issue of the publication and dissemination of psychological test content".

From a legal standpoint, the Rorschach test images have been in the [[public domain]] for many years in most countries, particularly those with a [[Copyright extension|copyright term]] of up to 70 years ''[[post mortem auctoris]]''. They have been in the public domain in Hermann Rorschach's native Switzerland since 1992 (70 years after the author's death, or 50 years after the cut-off date of 1942), according to [[Swiss copyright law]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eucopyright.org/copyright-durations-worldwide/|title=Copyright Durations Worldwide – EU Copyright|publisher=[[Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property]]|access-date=2009-08-26|archive-date=2009-04-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426054459/http://www.eucopyright.org/copyright-durations-worldwide/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ige.ch/en/copyright/copyrights.html|title=Copyrights – Terms of Protection|publisher=[[Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property]]|access-date=2009-08-26|archive-date=2011-05-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527204314/https://www.ige.ch/en/copyright/copyrights.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> They are also in the public domain under [[United States copyright law]]<ref name="copy1">{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/276688|title=Rorschach Personality Test: Did Wikipedia Leak a 'Cheat Sheet'|author=Carol Forsloff|date=30 July 2009|work=Digital Journal}}</ref><ref name="copy2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/technology/internet/29inkblot.html|title=Has Wikipedia Created a Rorschach Cheat Sheet? Analyze That|author=Noam Cohen|work=[[New York Times]]|date=28 July 2009|quote=Because the Rorschach plates were created nearly 90 years ago, they have lost their copyright protection in the United States.}}</ref> where all works published before 1923 are considered to be in the public domain.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm | title= Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States|work=[[Cornell University|Cornell]] Copyright Information Center|date=1 January 2009}}</ref> This means that the Rorschach images may be used by anyone for any purpose. [[William Poundstone]] was, perhaps, first to make them public in his 1983 book ''[[Big Secrets]]'', where he also described the method of administering the test.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}}

The [[American Psychological Association]] (APA) has a code of ethics that supports "freedom of inquiry and expression" and helping "the public in developing informed judgments".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apa.org/ethics/code2002.html|title=Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct|date=2003-06-01|access-date=2009-06-23|publisher=[[American Psychological Association]]}}</ref>
It claims that its goals include "the welfare and protection of the individuals and groups with whom psychologists work", and it requires that psychologists "make reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity and security of test materials". The APA has also raised concerns that the dissemination of test materials might impose "very concrete harm to the general public". It has not taken a position on publication of the Rorschach plates but noted "there are a limited number of standardized psychological tests considered appropriate for a given purpose".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apa.org/science/disclosu.html | publisher=[[American Psychological Association]]| title= ''Statement on the Disclosure of Test Data''| date= February 1996| access-date=2009-08-09 }}</ref> A public statement by the [[British Psychological Society]] expresses similar concerns about psychological tests (without mentioning any test by name) and considers the "release of [test] materials to unqualified individuals" to be misuse if it is against the wishes of the test publisher.<ref name='BPS2007'>{{cite web|url=http://www.bps.org.uk/downloadfile.cfm?file_uuid=A83A1E6C-1143-DFD0-7E62-15AB90E2714A&ext=pdf |title=Statement on the Conduct of Psychologists providing Expert Psychometric Evidence to Courts and Lawyers |access-date=2009-06-23 |date=2007-10-15 |publisher=The British Psychological Society }}</ref>
In his 1998 book ''Ethics in Psychology'', [[Gerald Koocher]] notes that some believe "reprinting copies of the Rorschach plates ... and listing common responses represents a serious unethical act" for psychologists and is indicative of "questionable professional judgment".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ethics in psychology|pages=159–160|last1=Koocher|first1=Gerald P.|last2=Keith-Spielgel|first2=Patricia|isbn=978-0-19-509201-1|year=1998|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York}}</ref>
Another association, the {{lang|it|Associazione Italiana di Psicoterapia Strategica Integrata}} (literally: Italian Association of Strategic Psychotherapy), recommend that even information about the purpose of the test or any detail of its administration should be kept from the public, even though "cheating" the test is held to be practically impossible.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psicologiagiuridica.eu/psicologia-giuridica/42-psicodiagnostica-forense/70-rorschach-test.html|title=Rorschach Test|publisher=Associazione Italiana di Psicoterapia Strategica Integrata|date=21 July 2009|quote=Infatti il Rorschach porta con sé (dovrebbe portare) il riserbo assoluto su come si somministra, sul suo significato generale e su quello delle tavole in particolare. [...] Tuttavia, al contrario di quanto si possa credere, "mentire" al Rorschach è praticamente impossibile [...]|access-date=2009-08-29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005041445/http://www.psicologiagiuridica.eu/psicologia-giuridica/42-psicodiagnostica-forense/70-rorschach-test.html|archive-date=2009-10-05}}<!--As of 2024, psicologiagiuridica.eu auto-redirects to psicologiagiuridica.marcopingitore.it where the text can be found in https://psicologiagiuridica.marcopingitore.it/rorschach-test/2009/07/21/686/ . However, an archive of the older site is cited here to aid verifying the original date of authorship. --></ref>{{Importance inline|reason=Notability of this organization need to be demonstrated|date=February 2024}}

On September 9, 2008, Hogrefe attempted to claim copyright over the Rorschach ink blots during filings of a complaint with the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] against the [[Brazilian people|Brazilian]] psychologist Ney Limonge.  These complaints were denied.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2008/d2008-1206.html |title=WIPO Domain Name Decision: D2008-1206 |access-date=Oct 15, 2009}}</ref>  Further complaints were sent to two other websites that contained information similar to the Rorschach test in May 2009 by legal firm Schluep and Degen of Switzerland.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://extra.listverse.com/rorschach.pdf|title=extra.listverse.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://theinkblot.com/legal/index.htm |title=Online Rorschach Test: Legal Threats }}</ref>

Psychologists have sometimes refused to disclose tests and test data to courts when asked to do so by the parties, citing ethical reasons; it is argued that such refusals may hinder full understanding of the process by the attorneys, and impede [[cross-examination]] of the experts. APA ethical standard 1.23(b) states that the psychologist has a responsibility to document processes in detail and of adequate quality to allow reasonable scrutiny by the court.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.thelizlibrary.org/liz/Are-psychologists-hiding-evidence.html|author1=Paul R. Lees-Haley |author2=John C. Courtney |title=Are Psychologists Hiding Evidence? – A Need for Reform|journal=Claims Magazine|year=2000}}</ref>

Controversy ensued in the psychological community in 2009 when the original Rorschach plates and research results on interpretations were published in the "Rorschach test" article on [[Wikipedia]].<ref name=nytimes/> Hogrefe & Huber Publishing, a German company that sells editions of the plates, called the publication "unbelievably reckless and even cynical of Wikipedia" and said it was investigating the possibility of legal action.<ref name=nytimes/> Due to this controversy an {{self-reference link|Wikipedia:edit filter|edit filter}} was temporarily established on Wikipedia to prevent the removal of the plates.<ref>{{cite journal  |vauthors=Heilman JM, Kemmann E, Bonert M, etal |title=Wikipedia: a key tool for global public health promotion |journal=Journal of Medical Internet Research |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=e14 |year=2011 |pmid=21282098 |doi=10.2196/jmir.1589 |pmc=3221335 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[James Heilman]], an [[Emergency department|emergency room]] physician involved in the debate, compared it to the publication of the [[Snellen chart|eye test chart]]: though people are likewise free to memorize the eye chart before an eye test, its general usefulness as a diagnostic tool for eyesight has not diminished.<ref name=nytimes>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/technology/internet/29inkblot.html?pagewanted=all A Rorschach Cheat Sheet on Wikipedia?], The New York Times, July 28, 2009</ref> For those opposed to exposure, publication of the inkblots is described as a "particularly painful development", given the tens of thousands of research papers which have, over many years, "tried to link a patient's responses to certain psychological conditions."<ref name=nytimes/> Controversy over Wikipedia's publication of the inkblots has resulted in the blots being published in other locations, such as ''[[The Guardian]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jul/29/rorschach-answers-wikipedia|title=Testing times for Wikipedia after doctor posts secrets of the Rorschach inkblots|work=[[The Guardian]]|author=Ian Simple|date=29 July 2009}}</ref> and ''[[The Globe and Mail]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/rorschach-and-wikipedia-thebattleoftheinkblots/article1235586/|title=Rorschach and Wikipedia: The battle of the inkblots|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|author=Patrick White|date=31 July 2009}}{{registration required}}</ref> Later that year, in August 2009, two psychologists filed a complaint against Heilman with the [[Saskatchewan]] medical licensing board, arguing that his uploading of the images constituted unprofessional behavior.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/business/24inkblot.html|title=Complaint Over Doctor Who Posted Inkblot Test|author=Noam Cohen|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 23, 2009|access-date=April 17, 2013}}</ref> In 2012, two articles were published showing consequences of the publication of the images in Wikipedia. The first one studied negative attitudes towards the test generated during the Wikipedia-Rorschach debate,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schultz|first=Douglas S.|author2=Loving, James L. |title=Challenges Since Wikipedia: The Availability of Rorschach Information Online and Internet Users' Reactions to Online Media Coverage of the Rorschach–Wikipedia Debate|journal=Journal of Personality Assessment|date=1 January 2012|volume=94|issue=1|pages=73–81|doi=10.1080/00223891.2011.627963|pmid=22176268|s2cid=26869906}}</ref> while the second suggested that reading the Wikipedia article could help to fake "good" results in the test.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schultz|first=DS|author2=Brabender, VM |title=More Challenges Since Wikipedia: The Effects of Exposure to Internet Information About the Rorschach on Selected Comprehensive System Variables.|journal=Journal of Personality Assessment|date=Oct 2, 2012|pmid=23030722|doi=10.1080/00223891.2012.725438|volume=95|issue=2|pages=149–58|s2cid=21422063}}</ref>

Publication of the Rorschach images is also welcomed by critics who consider the test to be [[pseudoscience]]. [[Benjamin Radford]], editor of ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' magazine, stated that the Rorschach "has remained in use more out of tradition than good evidence" and was hopeful that publication of the test might finally hasten its demise.<ref name="Radford2009">{{Cite news| first=Benjamin | last=Radford | title=Rorschach Test: Discredited But Still Controversial | date=2009-07-31 | publisher=Imaginova Corp. | url =http://www.livescience.com/culture/090731-badscience-rorschach.html | work =Live Science | access-date = 2009-09-01 }}</ref>

==In art and media==
Australian artist [[Ben Quilty]] has used the Rorschach technique in his paintings, by loading [[impasto]] oil paint onto a [[canvas]] and then pressing a second, unpainted, canvas onto the first, and proceeding to create an artwork from the shape created by this method.<ref name=mca>{{cite web | title=Ben Quilty | website=[[Museum of Contemporary Art Australia]] | url=https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/ben-quilty/|first=Lisa |last=Slade | access-date=7 September 2021}}</ref>

The mask of the fictional [[antihero]] of the [[Rorschach (character)|same name]] in the [[graphic novel]] [[Limited series (comics)|limited series]] ''[[Watchmen]]'' and its [[Watchmen#Adaptations|adaptations]] displays a constantly morphing inkblot based on the designs used in the tests.<ref>{{cite news |title=Everything You Need to Know About Watchmen's Rorschach |url=https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a28172621/rorschach-watchmen/ |work=[[Men's Health]]}}</ref> In the 1999 [[Sofia Coppola]] movie ''[[The Virgin Suicides (film)|The Virgin Suicides]]'' the character of Cecilia is given the test<ref>{{cite web |title=Review: Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides on Criterion Blu-ray |date=17 July 2018 |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/the-virgin-suicides-bd/ |publisher=[[Slant Magazine]]}}</ref> and in [[David Cronenberg]]'s ''[[Spider (2002 film)|Spider]]'' (2002) the Rorschach inkblots are incorporated into the opening of the film.<ref>{{cite book |title=Movies and Mental Illness Using Films to Understand Psychopathology |date=1999 |publisher=[[Hogrefe Publishing Group]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cronenberg's 'Spider' Gets Inside Unhinged Mind |date=22 March 2003 |url=https://www.kpbs.org/news/arts-culture/2003/03/22/cronenberg-spider |publisher=[[KPBS Public Media]]}}</ref>

In 2022, a [[Malayalam]] language film titled ''Rorschach'' was announced with actor [[Mammootty]] in the lead role, inspiring queries and discussion in social media about the test.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/first-look-poster-mammootty-s-rorschach-out-163502|access-date=3 May 2022|title=First look poster of Mammootty's Rorschach is out}}</ref>

The trailer for season 1 of the 2017 TV series ''[[Mindhunter (TV series)|Mindhunter]]'' features a bloody inkblot.<ref>{{cite news |title='Mindhunter' Teaser: Netflix Spatters Blood for David Fincher's Killer Rorschach Test — Watch |url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/mindhunter-trailer-netflix-david-fincher-1201788734/ |work=[[IndieWire]]}}</ref>

In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', the character Doc Mitchell uses three cards from the test to give judgment on the player character who is recovering from a bullet to the head. Cards VII, VI, and II are used in that order. The player answers from a premade list of answers which then determine the player's skill bonuses.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Psychological_evaluation | title=Psychological evaluation }}</ref> A community mod for Card II was created due to popular agreement from the community that it looked like "Two bears high fiving".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/36850/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812120828/http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/36850/ | archive-date=2016-08-12 | title=Mod unavailable }}</ref> This would inspire a character in the Honest Hearts addon called "Two Bears High Fiving".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.formspring.me/JESawyer/q/195993412057463335 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130321032929/http://www.formspring.me/JESawyer/q/195993412057463335 | archive-date=2013-03-21 | title=Well at least with the Dead Horses, there seems to be a lot of influence from Native Americans. And my friend was saying how she saw that "Two-Bears-High-Fiving" joke as being very insensitive. She took it as mocking the NAtive American naming culture. &#124; Formspring }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Blacky pictures test]]
* [[Fumage]], a surrealist art technique using smoke
* [[Holtzman inkblot technique]], a similar inkblot test designed to correct the limitations of the Rorschach
* [[Picture arrangement test]]
* [[Thematic apperception test]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin|40em}}
*{{Cite book|isbn=978-0-8058-2789-7|last=Dana|first=Richard H.|year=2000|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis|Lawrence Erlbaum]]|title=Handbook of cross-cultural and multicultural personality assessment}}
*{{Cite book|title=The Rorschach: A Comprehensive System (Vol 1: Basic Foundations) |last=Exner|first=John E.|author-link=John E. Exner|year=1995|isbn=978-0-471-55902-3|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|location=New York|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/rorschachcompreh0001exne}}
*{{Cite book|last=Fine |first=Cordelia |title=A Mind of its Own: how your brain distorts and deceives |publisher=Icon books |location=Cambridge, UK |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84046-678-2 |oclc=60668289 }}
*{{Cite book| last1 = Gacano | first1 = Carl B. | first2= J. Reid| last2=Meloy | title = The Rorschach Assessment of Aggressive and Psychopathic Personalities | publisher = [[Taylor & Francis|Lawrence Erlbaum]] | year = 1994 | location = Hillsdale, New Jersey Hove, UK | url = https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=26031482 | isbn = 978-0-8058-0980-0 }}
*{{Cite book|isbn=978-0-8385-8434-7|last=Goldman|first=Howard H.|year=2000|publisher=Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill, Medical Pub. Division|location=New York|title=Review of general psychiatry}}
*{{Cite book|title=Handbook of psychological assessment|last=Groth-Marnat|first=Gary|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-471-41979-2}}
*{{Cite book|last=Hardman|first=David |title=Judgment and decision making: psychological perspectives|year=2009|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-4051-2398-3}}
*{{Cite book|last1=Klopfer|first1=B.|author-link=Bruno Klopfer|last2=Davidson|first2=H. H.|title=The Rorschach Technique: An Introductory Manual|url=https://archive.org/details/rorschachtechniq0000klop|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt, Brace & World]]|location=New York|year=1962|page=[https://archive.org/details/rorschachtechniq0000klop/page/245 245] |isbn=978-0-15-577873-3}}
*{{Cite book|last=Plous |first=Scott |title=The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-07-050477-6 |oclc=26931106 }}
*{{Cite book|last=Rorschach|first=H.|title=Rorschach Test – Psychodiagnostic Plates|publisher=Hogrefe Publishing Corp.|location=Cambridge, MA|year=1927|isbn=978-3-456-82605-9}}
*{{Cite book|last=Rorschach|first=H.|title=Psychodiagnostics: A Diagnostic Test Based on Perception|publisher=Hogrefe Publishing Corp.|location=Cambridge, MA|year=1998|edition=10th|isbn=978-3-456-83024-7}}
*{{Cite book|isbn=978-0-88163-354-2|last=Schachtel|first=Ernest G.|year=2001|publisher=Analytic Press|location=Hillsdale, NJ|title=Experiential foundations of Rorschach's test}}
*{{Cite book|last=Sutherland |first=Stuart |title=Irrationality |edition=2nd |publisher= Pinter and Martin |location=London |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-905177-07-3 |oclc=72151566}}
*{{Cite book|isbn=978-0-8058-4232-6|last=Weiner|first=Irving B.|author-link=Irving B. Weiner|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis|Lawrence Erlbaum]]|location=Mahwah, N.J.|title=Principles of Rorschach interpretation|year=2003}}
*{{Cite book|last1=Weiner|first1=Irving B.|last2=Greene|first2=R.L.|author-link=Irving B. Weiner|year=2007|title=Handbook of Personality Assessment|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]]|isbn=978-0-471-22881-3}}
*{{Cite book|last1=Wood|first1=Jim|last2=Nezworski|first2=M. Teresa|last3=Lilienfeld|first3=Scott O.|last4=Garb|first4=Howard N.|title=What's Wrong with the Rorschach?|location=San Francisco, CA|publisher=Jossey-Bass, [[John Wiley & Sons]]|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7879-6056-8|ref={{harvid|Wood|2003}}}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons}}
{{wikiquote|Hermann Rorschach}}
* [https://www.internationalrorschachsociety.com/ The International Society of the Rorschach and Projective Methods (ISR)]
* [http://captainmnemo.se/ro/ Overview of the Rorschach test, published by the Göteborgs Universitet, Sweden]
* Interactive version of the [https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/HEMCR/ Multiple Choice Rorschach] from Harrower-Erickson (1945)
* [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/why-the-rorschach-test-is-still-so-big-in-japan/384668/ "Why the Rorschach Test Is So Big in Japan"] at ''[[The Atlantic]]'', 21 January 2015

{{Psychologic and psychiatric evaluation and testing}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rorschach Test}}
[[Category:Projective tests]]
[[Category:Mental disorders screening and assessment tools]]
[[Category:Freudian psychology]]
[[Category:1921 introductions]]
[[Category:Pareidolia]]