Ink spots, drawings, color sets… What these tests reveal and how they relate to the unconscious, explains clinical psychologist Elena Sokolova.
There is hardly a person who has never heard of the Rorschach test. Especially after the character of the same name was used in the popular comics, and then the movie and the computer game.
«Rorschach» is a hero in a mask, on which changeable black and white spots are constantly moving. He calls this mask his «true face». So the idea penetrates into mass culture that behind the appearance (behavior, status) that we present to society, something else, much closer to our essence, can be hidden. This idea is directly related to psychoanalytic practice and to the theory of the unconscious.
The Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist Hermann Rorschach created his «inkblot method» at the beginning of the XNUMXth century in order to find out if there was a connection between creativity and personality type. But soon the test began to be used for deeper, including clinical studies. It was developed and supplemented by other psychologists.
The Rorschach test is a series of ten symmetrical spots. Among them are color and black-and-white, «female» and «male» (according to the type of image, and not according to who they are intended for). Their common feature is ambiguity. There is no «original» content embedded in them, so they allow everyone to see something of their own.
Uncertainty principle
The whole testing situation is built in such a way as to give the test taker as much freedom as possible. The question put before him is rather vague: “What could it be? What does it look like?
This is the same principle used in classical psychoanalysis. Its creator, Sigmund Freud, laid the patient on the couch, and he himself was located out of sight. The patient lay on his back: this posture of defenselessness contributed to his regression, a return to earlier, childish sensations.
The invisible analyst became a «projection field», the patient directed his usual emotional reactions to him — for example, confusion, fear, search for protection. And since there was no prior relationship between analyst and patient, it became clear that these reactions were inherent in the patient’s personality itself: the analyst helped the patient to notice and become aware of them.
In the same way, the indefiniteness of spots allows us to see in them those images that already existed in our mental space before: this is how the mechanism of psychological projection works.
Projection principle
Projection was also first described by Sigmund Freud. This psychological mechanism makes us see in the external world what actually comes from our psyche, but is not consistent with our self-image. Therefore, we attribute our own ideas, motives, moods to others … But if we manage to detect the effect of the projection, we can “return it to ourselves”, appropriate our feelings and thoughts to ourselves already at a conscious level.
“I was convinced that all the girls around were looking at me with lust,” says 27-year-old Pavel, “until a friend made fun of me. Then I realized that in fact I want them, but I am ashamed to admit to myself this too aggressive and all-encompassing desire.
According to the principle of projection, inkblots «work» in such a way that a person, looking at them, projects the contents of his unconscious onto them. It seems to him that he sees depressions, bulges, chiaroscuro, outlines, forms (animals, people, objects, parts of bodies), which he describes. Based on these descriptions, the test professional makes assumptions about the speaker’s experiences, reactions, and psychological defenses.
Principle of Interpretation
Hermann Rorschach was primarily interested in the connection of perception with the individuality of a person and possible painful experiences. He believed that the indefinite spots invented by him cause “ekphoria” — that is, they extract images from the unconscious that can be used to understand whether a person has creative abilities and how the orientation to the world and the orientation to oneself correlate in his character.
For example, some have described static spots in terms of movement («maids make the bed»). Rorschach considered this a sign of a vivid imagination, high intelligence, empathy. The emphasis on the color characteristics of the image indicates emotionality in the worldview and in relationships. But the Rorschach test is only a part of the diagnosis, which itself is included in a more complex therapeutic or advisory process.
“I hated the rain, it turned into torture for me, I was afraid to step over a puddle,” recalls 32-year-old Inna, who turned to a psychoanalyst with this problem. — During testing, it turned out that I associated water with the maternal principle, and my fear was the fear of absorption, returning to the state before birth. Over time, I began to feel more mature, and the fear went away.”
With the help of the test, you can see the social attitudes and patterns of relationships: what is characteristic of the patient in communicating with other people, hostility or goodwill, whether he is set to cooperate or compete. But not a single interpretation will be unambiguous, all of them are checked in further work.
Only a professional should interpret the test results, as too hasty or inaccurate interpretations can be detrimental. The specialist undergoes lengthy psychoanalytic training in order to learn to recognize the structures and symbols of the unconscious and correlate the answers received during testing with them.