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Lai C, Ciacchella C, Altavilla D, Veneziani G, Aceto P, Cecchini M, Luciani M. Attachment style dimensions are associated with neural activation during projection of mental states. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:899418. [PMID: 35992957 PMCID: PMC9387349 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.899418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between attachment dimensions and neural correlates in response to the Rorschach inkblots. Twenty-seven healthy volunteers were recruited for the electroencephalographic registration during a visual presentation of the Rorschach inkblots and polygonal shapes. The Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) was administered to participants. Correlations between the ASQ scores and standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) intensities were performed. The Rorschach inkblots elicited several projective responses greater than the polygonal shapes (distortions, human and total movements, and embellishments). Only during the Rorschach inkblots presentation, discomfort with closeness and relationships as secondary subscales were negatively correlated with the activation of right hippocampus, parahippocampus, amygdala, and insula; need for approval subscale was negatively correlated with the activation of orbital and prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus. Moreover, the correlations between attachment dimensions and neural activation during the Rorschach inkblots were significantly higher compared to the same correlations in response to polygonal shapes. These findings suggest that attachment style can modulate brain activation during the projective activity of the Rorschach inkblots.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlo Lai
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- *Correspondence: Carlo Lai,
| | - Chiara Ciacchella
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Daniela Altavilla
- Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy
| | - Giorgio Veneziani
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Aceto
- Department of Emergency, Anesthesiological and Reanimation Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
- Department of Basic Biotechnological Sciences, Intensive Care and Perioperative Clinics, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Cecchini
- Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, and Health Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
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Pianowski G, Meyer GJ, de Villemor-Amaral AE, Zuanazzi AC, do Nascimento RSGF. Does the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Differ from the Comprehensive System (CS) on Variables Relevant to Interpretation? J Pers Assess 2019; 103:132-147. [PMID: 31633395 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2019.1677678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
We examined the impact of the changes in administration and coding introduced by the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) relative to the Comprehensive System (CS) on the Rorschach response process, as manifested in variables relevant to interpretation. We also examined the efficiency of each system to obtain protocols in an optimal range of responses (R) for interpretation. As hypothesized, when comparing 50 CS and 50 R-PAS nonpatient protocols, R-PAS produced many more protocols in the optimal R range (18-27) than the CS (78% vs. 24%) and it eliminated the need for re-administration, which was required for five CS protocols. As expected, R was less variable with R-PAS, as were two variables derived from it, R8910% and Complexity. In addition, as expected because of different Form Quality tables, R-PAS showed notably fewer and less variable perceptual distortions than the CS, and an increase in more conventional perceptions. The other 58 variables showed no reliable differences in means or standard deviations, though modest power precluded definitive inferences about equivalence. Overall, our results support previous findings about the benefit of R-PAS to obtain protocols in an optimal range for interpretation, while keeping the core manifestations of the response process unchanged.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giselle Pianowski
- Department of Psychology, Universidade São Francisco (USF), Campinas, Brazil
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Meyer GJ, Hosseininasab A, Viglione DJ, Mihura JL, Berant E, Resende AC, Reese J. The Effect of CS Administration or an R-Optimized Alternative on Potential Projective Material in Rorschach Responses From Six Studies and a Meta-Analysis of Their Findings. J Pers Assess 2018; 102:135-146. [PMID: 30142303 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2018.1492926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
The Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011) introduced R-optimized administration to reduce variability in the number of Responses (R). We provide new data from six studies of participants randomly assigned to receive a version of this method or Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) administration. We examine how administration methods affect 3 types of codes most likely to contain potential projective material and the frequency of these codes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or last response to a card (R in Card). In a meta-analytic summary, we found 37% of responses have 1 type of code, 19% have 2 types, and 3% have all 3 types, with stable proportions across responses within cards. Importantly, administration method had no impact on potential projective variable means. Differential skew across samples made variability harder to interpret. Initial results suggesting differences in 3 of the 18 specific Type by R in Card pairs did not follow a coherent pattern and disappeared when using raw counts from all participants. Overall, data do not support concerns that R-optimized administration might alter potential projective processes, or make potentially "signature" last responses to the card any different in R-PAS than the CS.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Donald J Viglione
- California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University
| | | | - Ety Berant
- Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliyya, Israel
| | - Ana Cristina Resende
- Department of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil
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Pianowski G, Meyer GJ, Villemor-Amaral AED. Potential Projective Material on the Rorschach: Comparing Comprehensive System Protocols to Their Modeled R-Optimized Administration Counterparts. J Pers Assess 2016; 98:398-407. [DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2016.1147451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Bornstein RF. Personality Assessment in the Diagnostic Manuals: On Mindfulness, Multiple Methods, and Test Score Discontinuities. J Pers Assess 2015; 97:446-55. [PMID: 25856565 PMCID: PMC4545313 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2015.1027346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Recent controversies have illuminated the strengths and limitations of different frameworks for conceptualizing personality pathology (e.g., trait perspectives, categorical models), and stimulated debate regarding how best to diagnose personality disorders (PDs) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), and in other diagnostic systems (i.e., the International Classification of Diseases, the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual). In this article I argue that regardless of how PDs are conceptualized and which diagnostic system is employed, multimethod assessment must play a central role in PD diagnosis. By complementing self-reports with evidence from other domains (e.g., performance-based tests), a broader range of psychological processes are engaged in the patient, and the impact of self-perception and self-presentation biases can be better understood. By providing the assessor with evidence drawn from multiple modalities, some of which provide converging patterns and some of which yield divergent results, a multimethod assessment compels the assessor to engage this evidence more deeply. The mindful processing that ensues can help minimize the deleterious impact of naturally occurring information processing bias and distortion on the part of the clinician (e.g., heuristics, attribution errors), bringing greater clarity to the synthesis and integration of assessment data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert F Bornstein
- a Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University
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Hartmann E, Hartmann T. The impact of exposure to Internet-based information about the Rorschach and the MMPI-2 on psychiatric outpatients' ability to simulate mentally healthy test performance. J Pers Assess 2014; 96:432-44. [PMID: 24528223 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2014.882342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
To examine the impact of Internet-based information about how to simulate being mentally healthy on the Rorschach (Exner, 2003) and the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989), 87 psychiatric outpatients completed the tests under 4 conditions: uncoached and Internet-coached outpatients under faking healthy instructions (faking patients and Internet-faking patients) and patients and nonpatients under standard instructions (standard patients and standard nonpatients). On the Rorschach, faking patients and Internet-faking patients did not manage to portray healthy test performance and, like standard patients, revealed a significantly greater number of perceptual and cognitive disturbances than standard nonpatients. Faking patients scored in the psychopathological direction on most variables. Internet-faking patients produced constricted protocols with significantly higher F% (57%) and lower use of provoking and aggressive contents than the other groups. On the MMPI-2, faking patients and Internet-faking patients were able to conceal symptoms and, like standard nonpatients, scored in the normal range on the clinical scales. The validity scale L successfully detected the faking patients and the Internet-faking patients, whereas the F scale only distinguished the Internet-faking patients and K only the faking patients. We conclude that Internet-based information could threaten test validity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ellen Hartmann
- a Department of Psychology , University of Oslo , Norway
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Bornstein RF. Rorschach score validation as a model for 21st-century personality assessment. J Pers Assess 2012; 94:26-38. [PMID: 22176264 DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2011.627961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Recent conceptual and methodological innovations have led to new strategies for documenting the construct validity of test scores, including performance-based test scores. These strategies have the potential to generate more definitive evidence regarding the validity of scores derived from the Rorschach Inkblot Method (RIM) and help resolve some long-standing controversies regarding the clinical utility of the Rorschach. After discussing the unique challenges in studying the Rorschach and why research in this area is important given current trends in scientific and applied psychology, I offer 3 overarching principles to maximize the construct validity of RIM scores, arguing that (a) the method that provides RIM validation measures plays a key role in generating outcome predictions; (b) RIM variables should be linked with findings from neighboring subfields; and (c) rigorous RIM score validation includes both process-focused and outcome-focused assessments. I describe a 4-step strategy for optimal RIM score derivation (formulating hypotheses, delineating process links, generating outcome predictions, and establishing limiting conditions); and a 4-component template for RIM score validation (establishing basic psychometrics, documenting outcome-focused validity, assessing process-focused validity, and integrating outcome- and process-focused validity data). The proposed framework not only has the potential to enhance the validity and utility of the RIM, but might ultimately enable the RIM to become a model of test score validation for 21st-century personality assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert F Bornstein
- Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530, USA.
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Odendaal IE, Brink M, Theron LC. Rethinking Rorschach Interpretation: An Exploration of Resilient Black South African Adolescents' Personal Constructions. SOUTH AFRICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2011. [DOI: 10.1177/008124631104100411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
We explore Exner's Rorschach Comprehensive System as a schema-processing task to understand how six Black1 South African adolescents' personal constructions informed their transactional resilience. Transactional resilience is conceptualised as a process of meaning-making of present and past experiences to knit a healthy sense of self. We first provide a framework for a culturally sensitive, conceptual Rorschach interpretation. Then, using six case studies, we illustrate how a schema-processing approach to Rorschach interpretation facilitated the identification of four personal constructions informing their transactional resilience. These constructions were case-specific, self-reflective strategies and included (1) emotional stoicism, (2) frequent introspection, (3) honouring the past, and (4) adopting a new identity. These findings offer an opportunity for rethinking how a culturally sensitive, conceptual Rorschach interpretation allowed understanding of these strategies to emerge. We conclude by discussing the Rorschach indicators that contributed significantly to a better understanding of the role of personal constructions in the resilient participants' process of self-knitting, and encourage psychologists to replicate this schema-processing Rorschach approach.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Linda C. Theron
- School of Educational Sciences, North-West University, Vanderbijlpark
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Bornstein RF, Becker-Matero N. Reconnecting Psychoanalysis to Mainstream Psychology: Metaphor as Glue. PSYCHOANALYTIC INQUIRY 2011. [DOI: 10.1080/07351690.2010.515874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Bornstein RF. Heisenberg, Kandinsky, and the Heteromethod Convergence Problem: Lessons From Within and Beyond Psychology. J Pers Assess 2009; 91:1-8. [DOI: 10.1080/00223890802483235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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McGrath RE. The Rorschach in the Context of Performance-Based Personality Assessment. J Pers Assess 2008; 90:465-75. [DOI: 10.1080/00223890802248760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Bornstein RF. Toward a Process-Based Framework for Classifying Personality Tests: Comment on Meyer and Kurtz (2006). J Pers Assess 2007; 89:202-7. [PMID: 17764397 DOI: 10.1080/00223890701518776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Meyer and Kurtz (2006) argued that the longstanding psychological test labels "objective" and "projective" have outlived their usefulness, and invited further work focusing on alternative terms for these measures. This Comment describes a framework for classifying personality tests based on the psychological processes that occur as people respond to test stimuli. Because an attribution process is involved in responding to both types of measures, those instruments formerly called "objective" tests are labeled self-attribution tests, and those formerly classified as "projective" tests are labeled stimulus-attribution tests. The possibility of extending the process-based framework beyond personality, to psychological tests in general, is also discussed. Clinical and empirical implications of a process-based framework are considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert F Bornstein
- Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530, USA.
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