The Rorschach Inkblot Test has been used by psychologists for more than half a century. Some regard it as one of their most important diagnostic tools; the truth is that there isn't even a hint of genuine scientific validity to them. Yes, even people trained in science can be fooled.

The July 2003 issue of Skeptical Inquirer has an interesting explanation of the nature, history, and problems with Rorschach tests:

The Rorschach--including Exner’s version--tends to mislabel most normal people as “sick.” In addition, the test cannot detect most psychological disorders (with the exception of schizophrenia and related conditions marked by thinking disturbances), nor does it do an adequate job of detecting most personality traits (Lilienfeld 1999; Lilienfeld, Wood, and Garb 2000).

Despite such shortcomings, the Rorschach is still administered hundreds of thousands of times each year in clinics, courts, and schools. Psychologists often use the test to help courts determine which parent should be granted custody of a child. It’s used in schools to identify children’s emotional problems, and in prisons to evaluate felons for parole. Convicted murderers facing the death penalty, suspected victims of sexual abuse, airline pilots suspended from their jobs for alcohol abuse--all may be given the Rorschach by a psychologist who will use the test to make critical decisions about their lives.

Why did the inkblot tests become so popular? One reason was the large number of stories of “amazing” blind diagnoses that were uncannily accurate and based almost entirely on Rorschach responses:

Certainly one secret of the Rorschach’s success is clinicians’ tendency to rely on striking anecdotes about its extraordinary powers--rather than on careful scientific studies--when assessing its value. Psychologists who treasure the Rorschach can recount colorful stories of how the test miraculously uncovered hidden facts about a patient that other tests failed to detect. Indeed, the test’s rise to popularity was due mainly to the near-magical performances--known as “blind analyses”--that Rorschach experts exhibited to their amazed colleagues during the 1940s and 1950s.

In a blind analysis, the Rorschach expert was told a patient’s age and gender and given the patient’s responses to the blots. From this modest sample of information, the expert would then proceed to generate an amazing, in-depth description of the patient’s personality. During the 1950s, the ability to make such astounding “blind diagnoses” came to be regarded among American psychologists as the mark of a true Rorschach genius.

These performances, however, had far more in common with readings done by fortune tellers than with real science or the best that clinical psychology should be able to offer. At their heart, Rorschach evaluations are more like cold readings than science and as a consequence, many people “evaluated” with them have suffered.

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