Shrinks Fume Over Wiki's 'Rorschach Cheat Sheet'

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2009 2:12 AM CDT
Shrinks Fume Over Wiki's 'Rorschach Cheat Sheet'
A series of inkblot images similar to this one form the basis of Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach's famous test.   (Shutter Stock)

Psychologists are seeing red in a row over Rorschach's famous inkblots, the New York Times reports. The original series of 10 inkblot images, whose interpretations are used to gain insight into a viewer's mind, have been posted on Wikipedia along with the most common responses. Psychologists fear that some people may use the site as a "cheat sheet," destroying the test's value as a diagnostic tool, built up over many decades of research.

The images are no longer copyrighted in the US and information on them has long been available. But psychologists worry Wikipedia will tip off many more people to the normal "expected" responses and they won't react honestly to the images. "The more test materials are promulgated widely, the more possibility there is to game it,” warns a leading psychologist. Subjects knowing the Rorschach "answers" won't bring about wrong diagnoses, but will “render the results meaningless," he said.
(More Rorschach test stories.)

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