True story about multiple choice Rorschach tests.

[MineralMan]

My first year at a California State College was in 1963. All incoming Freshmen had to take a battery of tests, for placement and other things. One of these that appeared on Freshman testing day was, of all things, a multiple choice Rorschach ink blot test. Multiple choice! Since the test is normally administered individually with free-form responses, the expectation is that the person being tested will reveal things by the things he or she seems to see in the ink blot, it's one psychological test that doesn't seem to lend itself to a multiple-choice administration. We also took the MMPI on the same day.

Having read quite a few psychology books in high school, I was skeptical. Then, I noticed that one of the choices on every one of the ink blots was "female sexual organs." Given the method used to create the inkblots, they all could have that as an answer. So, I dutifully marked that option for every one of the things to show my disdain for their methodology.

A couple of weeks later, I got a message to come and visit the psychologist at the student health center. I went. He asked me about my answers, and I told him that the test was absurd, so I provided an absurd response. He nodded and said, "Never mind, then."

[ZombieHorde]

1. Rorschach tests should be true or false. nt

[laconicsax]

2. That could actually reveal a lot...

Question #21:

True or false?

[ZombieHorde]

3. Um, I think I have to alert on your post for pornographic imagery. nt

[laconicsax]

4. It can't be pornographic--it's either true or false.

[ZombieHorde]

5. False! nt

[laconicsax]

7. Tell me more about your mother...

[Warpy]

6. It's neither true nor false, it's the next reality show on TCM

It's obviously an Xmas tree decorating contest.

[laconicsax]

8. Interesting, now how do you feel about that?

[MicaelS]

10. I see dead people n/t

[laconicsax]

11. I'll put you down for "true."

[LeftishBrit]

9. Best story ever!

[dimbear]

12. Always be prepared beforehand. To get a really good score on the Rohrshach,

you should usually answer vagina, but occasionally alter and replace with the more obscure 'vagina dentata.'

Serious question: is that really the purpose of the test? I've heard that claim before somewhere............

[Nevernose]

13. I realize this is an older thread

But a similar thing happened to me once. As part of an effort to get 20 hours of volunteering time, I took a 3 hour multiple choice test, over a thousand questions. "Have you ever felt your body was seperate from your mind?" and "Have you ever accidentally read anyone's thoughts?"

I answered yes to most of that stuff.

Later I would determine, after they asked me many other questions and hooked me up to wires and shit that seemed a lot like the research methods from Ghostbusters, that they were doing something regarding the thought processes of a "new" schizophrenic (someone, about the age of college entrance, that hasn't be On my way! fully schizoid yet).

It wasn't until the end of a few months of "working with me" that I noticed a copy of the initial test laying around in the office. It had clearly stated "When you were NOT on drugs...". Oh, shit. I totally misread that. The actual sentence was quite long with several dependent and independent clauses and I just kind of skipped through the whole "not" word.

So I answered the questions with "Oh, yeah, at that Dead show in Oakland I could totally read everyone's mind around me" in the back of my mind. Hell YES I'd uncontrollably astrally projected -- I owned a four foot bong, and astral projection is the whole point in owning a bong the size of a small child.

And no, I never 'fessed up. I figured statistics would take care of me, and I needed the five bucks an hour stipend for more weed.

[sudopod]

14. "Hell YES I'd uncontrollably astrally projected -- I owned a four foot bong, and astral projection

is the whole point in owning a bong the size of a small child. "

That's the best story ever, lol.

[hedgehog]

15. I had a doctor ask if anyone in my family had

a history of seeing things or hearing voices.......and I had to explain that several people hear the banshee and/or talk with ghosts of loved ones...........he said that was OK but not what he was thinking of.

[Odin2005]

16. back in the day high-functioning autistics were often misdiagnosed as "psychotic" because...

...they would answer the "Do you hear voices" question too literally. This was back when many H-F-ing autistic kids were diagnosed with "Childhood Schizophrenia".