Issue 1 Spring 2022

Drops Blots:
Ink
Written
and
By: Emily Attar
Designed By: Claire Chou
Tests Rorschach
Have you ever seen a splotch of ink on a piece of
paper and thought it looked something like a tiger or a
duck? Rorschach tests, or inkblots, began as a
children’s game called Klecksography, where kids used
ink as a way of playing charades. Eventually, they
became a way to test people’s brains and determine
their mental states.
Hermann Rorschach, the creator of these diagnostic
inkblots and an avid player of klecksography as a child,
experimented on many people with these tests. He
noticed that different people saw different shapes from
the same inkblots, and hypothesized that a person's
sanity could be measured by analyzing what they see in
a given image. He researched this hypothesis for a few
years and published his research to the public in 1921.
Then, he used the new tests to diagnose psychiatric
patients at Herisau Hospital.
Patients were asked to state what
they had seen in a series of inkblot
pictures. Many schizophrenic patients saw very
different things in the tests compared to regular
patients, an example of how this test effectively
displays differences in mental states.
The questions that initially came out of these tests
were captivating. However, Rorschach did not live
much longer after sharing his discoveries, and would
not be able to continue experimenting. Although a few
others tried to push the test’s abilities farther, inkblot
diagnoses were later discarded and seen as biased.
They were shunned by the scientific community,
despite being said to have potential in 1993. These
tests didn’t turn out to be the best diagnostic test for
psychology, but they are still fun to take! Try your
hand at some below:
W H A T D O Y O U S E E ?
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