Projection on projective techniques = pathology: the problem that is not being addressed

The Scientific Status of Projective Techniques

Although projective techniques continue to be widely used in clinical and forensic settings, their scientific status remains highly controversial. In this monograph, we review the current state of the literature concerning the psychometric properties (norms, reliability, validity, incremental validity, treatment utility) of three major projective instruments: Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), and human figure drawings. We conclude that there is empirical support for the validity of a small number of indexes derived from the Rorschach and TAT. However, the substantial majority of Rorschach and TAT indexes are not empirically supported. The validity evidence for human figure drawings is even more limited. With a few exceptions, projective indexes have not consistently demonstrated incremental validity above and beyond other psychometric data. In addition, we summarize the results of a new meta-analysis intended to examine the capacity of these three instruments to detect child sexual abuse. Although some projective instruments were better than chance at detecting child sexual abuse, there were virtually no replicated findings across independent investigative teams. This meta-analysis also provides the first clear evidence of substantial file drawer effects in the projectives literature, as the effect sizes from published studies markedly exceeded those from unpublished studies. We conclude with recommendations regarding the (a) construction of projective techniques with adequate validity, (b) forensic and clinical use of projective techniques, and (c) education and training of future psychologists regarding projective techniques.

The impact of rock videos and music with suicidal content on thoughts and attitudes about suicide

In Experiment 1, 133 college student volunteers watched a rock music video with or without suicidal content and then completed written measures assessing mood, priming of suicide-related thoughts, perceptions of personal risk, sensitivity to suicidality in others, and attitudes/beliefs about suicide. In Experiment 2, 104 college student volunteers listened to rock music with either suicidal or neutral content and then completed measures similar to Experiment 1, with the addition of a hopelessness measure. In both experiments, participants exposed to suicidal content wrote more scenarios with suicide-related themes in a projective storytelling task than those exposed to nonsuicidal content. However, there were virtually no group differences on explicit measures of affect, attitudes, and perceptions. Music and videos with suicide content appeared to prime implicit cognitions related to suicide but did not affect variables associated with increased suicide risk.

The Influence of Color on Emotions in the Holtzman Inkblot Technique

Abstract: In this study, the influence of chromatic and achromatic color on emotions in the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) was tested empirically. Samples of normals (n = 30), patients with neurotic disorders (n = 30), borderline patients (n = 30), and both acute (n = 25) and chronic schizophrenics (n = 25) were studied with the HIT. A computerized investigation of verbally expressed emotions was performed by means of the “Affective Dictionary Ulm” (ADU; Dahl, Hölzer, & Berry, 1992 ), which was applied to the responses in the HIT. The effect of color was tested separately for cards containing red vs. non-red colors. According to the results, normals, patients with neurotic disorders, and borderline patients expressed love and anger significantly more often in response to cards containing red colors. For the non-red color cards neither an effect on love and anger, nor on anxiety and depression could be demonstrated. Furthermore, the chromatic cards of the HIT elicited significantly more different words given in response to a card than the achromatic cards. Again, this was true for normals, patients with neurotic disorders, and borderline patients, but not for schizophrenics. Structural ambiguity of the HIT cards correlated significantly negatively with the number of emotion words given in response to a card, again with the exception of schizophrenics. The latter result is discussed referring to the “almost axiomatic rule” ( Gunderson & Singer, 1975, p. 6 ) that borderline patients function adequately on structured tests but appear more seriously disturbed on less structured tests.

The Role of Structure in the Assessment of Psychopathology

Summary: This study investigated the role that the structure of a diagnostic instrument plays in the assessment of personality functioning. Empirical studies have shown that the cards of the Rorschach and Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) vary significantly with regard to their structure. Thus, it was possible to investigate if cards of high vs. low structure tend to elicit specific diagnostically useful responses. For this purpose, samples of normals (n = 30), patients with neurotic disorders (n = 30), borderline patients (n = 30), acute schizophrenics (n = 25), and chronic schizophrenics (n = 25) were studied with the HIT. For each diagnostic group it was examined if cards of high vs. low structure tended to elicit more thought disordered responses, hostility, and anxiety according to the HIT scoring system. With regard to structure, two aspects were differentiated, structural vs. interpretative ambiguity of the HIT cards. In all nonschizophrenic groups, cards of high structural ambiguity elicited significantly less thought disordered responses. By contrast, cards of high interpretative ambiguity elicited more thought disordered responses, anxiety, and hostility in all groups except the chronic schizophrenics. The measures of structural vs. interpretative ambiguity of the HIT cards showed a negative correlation in all diagnostic groups. According to these results, both aspects of ambiguity and their interplay play an important role in the assessment of psychopathology, at least within the range of ambiguity represented by the inkblots of the HIT.