Affective-Symbolic Connotations of the Rorschach Inkblots: Fact or Fantasy

Abstract

The Rorschach inkblots were rated for their similarity to 40 concepts by 111 female and 116 male students. A 5-point scale was used to compare the inkblots with eight concepts in each of five categories: psychoanalytic affective-symbolic connotations, an alternate set of affective-symbolic connotations, “popular” Rorschach responses, affectively toned concepts, and randomly selected nouns. A one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance for each inkblot provided the error terms for Dunn's multiple-comparison test. Although results varied considerably from inkblot to inkblot, the cards were rated over-all more similar to the derived concepts than to their traditionally assumed connotations. These findings and the results of other studies suggest that reliance on any set of hypothesized a priori meanings in Rorschach interpretation may be hazardous or, at best, premature.