Hertz, Piotrowski, and Rapaport each offered Ror-
schach systems (Exner, 1993). The systems differ in
the manner in which they administer, score, and
interpret the results of the test and in the instructions
they provide to examinees. This has created many
problems in interpreting the results of research stud-
ies and in generalizing from one study to another. In
addition, Exner and Exner (1972) discovered that
22% of the clinicians they surveyed did not formally
score the Rorschach at all, and 75% reported that
when they did use a scoring system, it was a highly
idiosyncratic one. However, it is now virtually a
requirement for research publication that Rorschach
protocols be scored in a systematic fashion and that
adequate interscorer agreement be demonstrated
(Weiner, 1991). At a minimum, we expect that
Rorschach responses should be scored similarly by
independent raters.
Description. The Rorschach consists of ten cards
on which are printed inkblots that are symmetrical
from right to left. Five of the ten cards are black and
white (with shades of gray), and the other five are
colored. A simulated Rorschach card is shown in
Figure 8-2.
Administration. There are various techniques for
administering the Rorschach. However, for many
clinicians, the process goes something like this. The
clinician hands the patient the first card and says,
“Tell me what you see—what it might be for
you. There are no right or wrong answers. Just
tell me what it looks like to you.”All of the subse-
quent cards are administered in order. The clinician
takes down verbatim everything the patient says.
Some clinicians also record the length of time it
takes the patient to make the first response to
each card as well as the total time spent on each
card. Some patients produce many responses per
card, and others produce very few. The clinician
also notes the position of the card as each response
is given (right side up, upside down, or sideways).
All spontaneous remarks or exclamations are also
recorded.
Following this phase, the clinician moves to
what is called the Inquiry. Here, the patient is
reminded of all previous responses, one by one, and
asked what it was that prompted each response.
The patient is also asked to indicate for each card
the exact location of the various responses. This is
also a time when the patient may elaborate or clar-
ify responses.Scoring. Although Rorschach scoring techniques
vary, most employ three major determinants.Location
refers to the area of the card to which the patient
responded—the whole blot, a large detail, a small
detail, white space, and so on.Contentrefers to the
nature of the object seen (an animal, a person, a rock,
fog, clothing, etc.).Determinantsrefer to those aspects
of the card that prompted the patient’s response (the
form of the blot, its color, texture, apparent move-
ment, shading, etc.). Some systems also score Popular
responses and Original responses (often based on
the relative frequency of certain responses in the gen-
eral population). Currently, Exner’s ComprehensiveF I G U R E 8-2 Inkblot similar to those employed
by Rorschach.238 CHAPTER 8