Inkblot Perception and Personality

Inkblots are just meaningless blobs of ink. Yet like clouds and rock formations, inkblots have stirred the Imagination for centuries. In recent years, serious attention has been given to the study of personality through inkblots.

How does an Inkblot test tell the psychologist something about personality? The inkblots don't really do anything. What's important is what people say about the image they see. You might say that the inkblots act as a mirror of the mind.

This kind of personality test is called a projective technique. Other projective techniques include word association and storytelling. All these techniques encourage viewers to say what they see when looking at or thinking about an ambiguous, complex, or even "meaningless" image like a blot of ink on a piece of paper. What may come out in the response is an expression of the person's private world of ideas, fears and wishes.

You've probably heard about the Rorschach Inkblot Test. Working with mental patients In Switzerland, Herman Rorschach In 1921, developed a system of analysis for inkblots which is still used today.

A different approach to Inkblot testing was undertaken by Wayne Holtzman and his colleagues who developed the Holtzman Inkblot technique (HIT) to overcome limitations in the Rorschach. Unlike the Rorschach, which uses only 10 inkblots, the HIT is a more extensive set of 45 inkblots in the test series plus two practice blots. The inkblots were drawn from a pool of several thousand. While retaining the sensitivity of the Rorschach blots, the HIT is scored for 22 characteristics that can be objectively defined, reliably scored, and efficiently handled by statistical methods.

It is important to remember that the Inkblot test is only one of many tests that psychologists use to help them learn about an individual's personality.

The Holtzman Inkblot Technique is featured as part of a traveling exhibition titled "Psychology: Understanding Ourselves, Understanding Each Other", sponsored by the American Psychological Association in partnership with the Ontario Science Centre, and housed permanently at the Smithsonian Institution.

For more information, refer to the following publications:

  • Holtzman, W. H., Thorpe, J. S., Swartz. J. D., & Herron, E. W. Inkblot perception and personality. Austin; University of Texas Press, 1961.
  • Holtzman, W. H. Holtzman Inkblot Technique. In A. I. Rabin (Ed.), Introduction to modern projective techniques. New York: Springer, 1968, pp. 136-170.
  • Holtzman, W. H. New developments on the Holtzman Inkblot Technique. In P. McReynolds (Ed.), Advances in Psychological Assessment, Vol. 3. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1974.
  • Holtzman, W. H. Inkblots through the looking glass. In M. H. Siegel and H. P. Ziegler (Eds.), Psychological Research: The Inside Story. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.

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