HERMANN RORSCHACH
By Mackenzie Senicki & Kelsey Graham
Biography
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Born November 8, 1884 in Zurich, Switzerland
Eldest of 4 children
At age 2, moved to Schafflausen, where his father
taught art at local schools
Lost his mother at age 12 and his father at 19
After high school (1904) studied geology and
botany at Academie de Neuchate for one term
Biography
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Completed a course in French at University de Dijon
Entered medical school at University of Zurich
At age 22, he decided to become a psychiatrist
Winter term 1906/1907 studied in Berlin, then
traveled to Russia to study for one semester
Continued studies at University of Zurich and
graduated in the spring of 1909
Biography
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He worked as a resident in Thurgovian
Psychiatric Hospital in Munsterlingen,
Switzerland in 1909
Married his fellow student Olga
Stempelin from Russia
His doctoral dissertation was published
in 1912
Moved to Russia in 1913 and
obtained a well paying job in
Krjukovo Asylum near Moscow
Biography
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In July 1914, accepted a job in Switzerland as
resident at Waldan Psychiatric University Hospital
near Berne
1 year later, was appointed associate director of
the Asylum at Herisau
In 1917, his first child Elizabeth was born
In 1919, his second child Wadid was born
The Inkblot Test Background
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In 1919-1920, he came up with the inkblot test and
tried to get 15 cards published
No one would agree to publish his inkblots because
of high printing costs
In 1921, he found a publisher who agreed to only
print 10 cards
On April 2, 1922, he died at the
age of 37 from peritonitis, caused
by a burst appendix after only 4
years of using the inkblot test
The Inkblot Test Purpose
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Used to determine information
about an individual’s personality
functioning
Ex. Thought processes, perceptions,
motivations, attitude toward
environment, internal & external
pressures, illogical or psychotic
thought patterns
Used for diagnostic processes
Ex. Depression, schizophrenia,
anxiety disorders, developmental
problems in children & adolescents
The Inkblot Test
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Consisted of ten cards each containing
inkblots
Five were in colour and the other were
in black and white
The subject was first asked what they
saw
Then the cards are shown a second
time and are asked to explain any
ambiguous responses and to point out
what part in the picture made them
react
The Inkbot Test
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The interviewer records and
social behaviour and then
evaluated by the following;
Location:
does the subject respond to
the whole inkblot or specific
parts of it?
Quality:
does the subject respond to
the colour, shade, or what they
perceive as movement?
The Inkblot Test
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Content:
does the subject perceive animals, humans, and
animate or inanimate objects?
Conventionality:
How do the responses
compare statistically with
average responses.
Bibliography
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http://www.zb.unibe.ch/rorschach/en/kurzbiografi
e.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Hermann_Rors
chach.aspx
http://www.phil.gu.se/fu/who.html
Google Images