101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Ticklers: Related and Unrelated Stimuli 101

18. Rorschach Revisionist

Background

This exercise uses what psychologists call “ambiguous stimulus materials.” To keep

things simple, we’ll call them ASM. ASM are stimuli that have no apparent meaning.

Instead, we tend to project meaning onto these stimuli based on how we interpret the

world.

A psychologist, for instance, might use Rorschach inkblots to determine whether a

client has an aggressive personality. The client presumably will project aggressive tenden-

cies in response to seeing the inkblots. Another person with a different personality might

describe feelings of tranquility in response to the same inkblot.

Rorschach Revisionist is based on the principle of standard inkblot tests. However,

instead of using inkblots to assess one’s personality, they are used as sources of stimula-

tion to generate ideas. Thus, instead of projecting personality, participants project their

ideas and thinking perspectives.

Objectives

• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible


• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants

Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials, Supplies, and Equipment

• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart
  sheets


• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots
  (^1 ⁄ 2 ” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it®Notes.


• One or two bottles of washable, black liquid ink for each table


• One sheet of 8.5” x 11” paper for each participant

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