Potential Projective Material on the Rorschach: Comparing Comprehensive System Protocols to Their Modeled R-Optimized Administration Counterparts

Comparing the Validity of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System and Exner's Comprehensive System to Differentiate Patients and Nonpatients

Building on the comparative nonpatient study of Pianowski et al., we examine data from the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) and Comprehensive System (CS) in 100 nonpatients and 100 patients, 50 of each per system. Replicating their results but now in a patient sample, R-PAS produced more patient protocols having an optimal number of responses (R) for interpretation and eliminated the need for readministration due to low R. The R-PAS protocols were also much less variable in R, despite having about 2.5 more responses. Extending their results, we document that the primary markers of psychopathology in each system validly differentiate patients from nonpatients. However, R-PAS produced stronger effects. Finally, Complexity added to the valid discrimination of patients from nonpatients just for R-PAS, with patients producing less complex and rich records. The more erratic variability in R for the CS produced larger Complexity standard deviations (SDs) that obscured these genuine differences in people. We discuss implications for research and applied practice, along with directions for future research.

Attachment style dimensions are associated with neural activation during projection of mental states

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.

Does the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Differ from the Comprehensive System (CS) on Variables Relevant to Interpretation?

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.

The Effects of Coding the Location of Individual Objects in a Normative Sample of Rorschach Data

The locations people use when constructing responses to the Rorschach task demonstrate their style of perceiving the environment. Current systems code location use into three mutually exclusive categories: use of the whole inkblot (W), common detail areas (D), and rare detail areas (Dd). The location of objects within multiobject W responses typically are never classified and those within D areas might or might not be, which could lead to a biased understanding of the visual structure embedded in the task. To better understand this structure, we systematically coded the location of all individual response objects in 145 normative protocols, finding some notable differences relative to conventional coding guidelines. Across cards, from 8% to 71% (M = 40.2%) of W responses had multiple subcomponent objects that typically are never tallied, and multiple unnumbered location areas are used more often than many specific numbered areas. To assess generalizability, we documented correspondence with location frequencies in 4,786 protocols gathered using Rorschach Performance Assessment System guidelines. The results contribute to an improved understanding of the visual structure built into the inkblot stimuli and a method for quantifying exhaustiveness, commonness, and atypicalness as independent dimensions. We discuss implications for coding and interpreting inkblot location use.

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

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.

Rorschach Assessment of Two Distinctive Personality States of a Person With Dissociative Identity Disorder

This case study used test data from a patient with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID; American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ) to illustrate how two main personality states of the patient ("Ann" and "Ben") seemed to function. The Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011 ) and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Circumplex (IIP-64; Horowitz, Alden, Wiggins, & Pincus, 2000 ), administered to Ann and Ben in separate settings, exposed two diverse R-PAS and IIP-64 profiles. Ann's R-PAS profile suggested an intellectualized style of information processing with few indications of psychological problems. Ben's profile indicated severe perceptual, cognitive, and interpersonal difficulties combined with suspicion and anxiety. Ann's IIP-64 profile suggested minor interpersonal problems, whereas Ben's indicated serious relational difficulties. The findings were discussed in relation to the theory of trauma-related structural dissociation of the personality (van der Hart, Nijenhuis, & Steele, 2006 ), which implies an enduring split in the organization of the personality with more or less separate entities with their own sense of self, perception of the world, and ways of organizing emotional, cognitive, and social functions. The DID personality structure is seen as a defense strategy and as a pathway in the personality development producing serious psychological pain and symptoms.

The Effect of CS Administration or an R-Optimized Alternative on R-PAS Variables: A Meta-Analysis of Findings From Six Studies

Controlling the number of Rorschach responses (R) as a method to reduce variability in the length of records has stimulated controversy among researchers for many years. Recently, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011 ) introduced an R-Optimized method to reduce variability in R. Using 4 published and 2 previously unpublished studies (N = 713), we examine the extent to which 51 Comprehensive System-based scores on the R-PAS profile pages are affected as a result of receiving Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003 ) administration versus a version of R-Optimized administration. As hypothesized, R-the intended target of R-Optimized administration-showed reliable weighted average differences across each method of administration. As expected, its mean modestly increased and its standard deviation notably decreased. Also as hypothesized, the next largest effects were decreases in the variability (SD) of 2 variables directly related to R, R8910% and Complexity. No other reliable differences were observed. Therefore, because R-Optimized administration does not notably modify the existing CS-based normative values for other profiled R-PAS variables, the data do not support concerns that R-Optimized administration notably modifies the Rorschach task or that existing CS research data would not generalize to R-PAS. However, because R-Optimized administration reduces variability in R, it allows a single set of norms to apply readily to more people.

The Impact of R-Optimized Administration Modeling Procedures on Brazilian Normative Reference Values for Rorschach Scores

To generate normative reference data for the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS), modeling procedures were developed to convert the distribution of responses (R) in protocols obtained using Comprehensive System (CS; Exner 2003 ) administration guidelines to match the distribution of R in protocols obtained using R-Optimized Administration (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011 ). This study replicates the R-PAS study, examining the impact of modeling R-Optimized Administration on Brazilian normative reference values by comparing a sample of 746 CS administered protocols to its counterpart sample of 343 records modeled to match R-Optimized Administration. The results were strongly consistent with the R-PAS findings, showing the modeled records had a slightly higher mean R and, secondarily, slightly higher means for Complexity and V-Comp, as well as smaller standard deviations for R, Complexity, and R8910%. We also observed 5 other small differences not observed in the R-PAS study. However, when comparing effect sizes for the differences in means and standard deviations observed in this study to the differences found in the R-PAS study, the results were virtually identical. These findings suggest that using R-Optimized Administration in Brazil might produce normative results that are similar to traditional CS norms for Brazil and similar to the international norms used in R-PAS.