Principles and Practice of the Rorschach Test

In common with other pioneer Rorschach workers in this country, Dr. Mons learnt the hard way, teaching himself by reading, experience, and comparison of notes with colleagues. With his own past tribulations in mind he sets out to smooth the path of beginners in this complex method of personality assessment, and does so with much skill. Unlike intelligence tests in which answers are scorable as correct or incorrect, there is in the Rorschach test no such measure of success or failure; indeed, in the latter a response of adverse significance in one record might be considered of positive value in the total personality pattern of another type. The test material consists of standardized inkblots upon ten cards, of which five are in monochrome and the rest partly or wholly coloured. To these the testee is asked to give his percepts, which are then scored in relation to location, to determining perceptual factors, to their content, and to the popular or original nature of things seen. Assessment depends upon the quantitative and qualitative interrelation of components, together with the clinical estimation of the material presented. There are thus involved measurable factors which can be matched against norms, so disciplining the tester's approach; also the no less important analysis of conscious and unconscious themes apparent in the content of responses. A combination of both modes of assessment?of science and art?is essential if the Rorschach test is to produce a full and accurate picture of an individual personality with its effective and latent