It is a common phenomenon to see imaginary figures in the dance of light and shadow or in the mutations of a cloud. To students of the mind, such illusions represent more than mere fancy. What is discerned is, in a sense, a projection of personality, reflecting in individual’s experiences and expectations. Recognizing this, Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach prepared a set of ambiguous images – symmetrical inkblots formed by folding and blotting paper in puddles of ink. He had 30 psychiatric patients and 100 nonpatients interpret the blots, analyzed their responses.

Rorschach’s test was little used during his own lifetime, but later it gained wide employment as a diagnostic tool – for example, to evaluate the mental condition of U.S. servicemen returning from World War II. However, the test had come under fire, with critics charging statistical carelessness in the analysis of patient’s interpretations. Nevertheless, the Rorschach test and other variations that also been developed continue to serve as valuable clinical guides.

What observers see in an inkblot may be less significant than the way they see it. Rorschach established four basic dimensions for interpreting test responses: location, organization, determinants, and content. Location refers to how much of a blot and which parts of blots the subject uses to make interpretations. In a series of blots, for example, consistently looking at one area rarely selected by other subjects may suggest a tendency to focus on the unusual – a sign of either creative individuality or perhaps an inability to follow conventional thought processes. Rorschach’s organization dimension assesses how well the subject sees the world in complex terms. Determinants indicate whether the subject sees only shape, or color, texture, and movements as well. And content is a measure of the subject’s tendency to interpret the blots as recognizable objects.

This test now is very useful in psychiatric activities and diagnostic tool. They didn’t see test a very useful tool before but it has been doing so well in understanding patients thought now.