Simulating Local Biases in Visual Attention in Neurocognitive Performance.

Typical visual perception includes an attention bias toward right hemisphere mediated global, holistic cortical processing. An atypically local, detail-oriented focus of attention is characteristic of left hemisphere processing and is often observed in patients whose field of attention is restricted by certain types of neurocognitive impairment. We designed the present pair of studies to induce a local attentional focus to observe its consequences on neurocognitive measures of visuospatial processing. In Experiment I, participants wore glasses mimicking simultanagnosia, a disorder of visual attention, to induce a narrowed, atypical attentional style while they completed visual neuropsychological tasks. This simulation impaired participants' capacities to visually synthesize and efficiently reproduce Complex Figure stimuli as measured with the Boston Qualitative Scoring System (BQSS), and it induced an atypical attentional style on Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) responses. In Experiment II, participants wore glasses designed to provoke differential hemispheric activation, also hypothesized to influence style of visual attention; but this manipulation did not influence neurocognitive task performance. We discuss implications for the interpretation of BQSS and R-PAS scores and offer directions for future research.

Comparing the Validity of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System and Exner's Comprehensive System to Differentiate Patients and Nonpatients.

Building on the comparative nonpatient study of Pianowski et al., we examine data from the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) and Comprehensive System (CS) in 100 nonpatients and 100 patients, 50 of each per system. Replicating their results but now in a patient sample, R-PAS produced more patient protocols having an optimal number of responses (R) for interpretation and eliminated the need for readministration due to low R. The R-PAS protocols were also much less variable in R, despite having about 2.5 more responses. Extending their results, we document that the primary markers of psychopathology in each system validly differentiate patients from nonpatients. However, R-PAS produced stronger effects. Finally, Complexity added to the valid discrimination of patients from nonpatients just for R-PAS, with patients producing less complex and rich records. The more erratic variability in R for the CS produced larger Complexity standard deviations (SDs) that obscured these genuine differences in people. We discuss implications for research and applied practice, along with directions for future research.

Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) in a Brazilian Sample.

The study of the relationship between reasoning and emotional processes is not new in Psychology. There are currently two main approaches to understanding the aspects related to these processes called emotional intelligence: the ability model and the trait model. This study focuses on the latter, analyzing the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) in a Brazilian sample. 4314 adults with ages ranging from 18 to 60 years (M = 30.37; SD = 9.73) answered the TEIQue and other online instruments measuring emotional regulation, impulsiveness, alexithymia, loneliness, quality of life, positive and negative affect, personality traits, emotional perception, emotional understanding, and reasoning tests. The original four-factor structure of the TEIQue was replicated, Cronbach's alphas ranged from 0.60 to 0.89 for the facets, and from 0.76 to 0.90 for the factors and global score. The correlations followed theoretically expected directions, showing a stronger pattern for self-report measures than for performance tasks. Our results corroborated previous studies with the TEIQue, confirming the psychometric adequacy of the instrument in the Brazilian context. Future studies may focus on participants with lower levels of education and additional external criteria, such as career preferences, job performance, and health.

Can the Rorschach be Administered Remotely? A Review of Options and a Pilot Study Using a Newly Developed R-PAS App.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has required psychologists to adopt measures like physical distancing and mask wearing, though other safety procedures such as travel restrictions or prohibitions on in-person practice and research have fostered the use of tele-health tools. In this article, we review options for using the Rorschach task via videoconference and provide preliminary data from using a new electronic app for remote R-PAS administration to determine whether the remote administration in an electronic form yields different information than in-person administration with the cards in hand. As a pilot study, our focus is on the "first factor" of all Rorschach scores, i.e., complexity. Data were collected from 60 adult Italian community volunteers, and statistical analyses evaluated the extent to which the average complexity score significantly departed from R-PAS normative expectations (SS = 100), accompanied by Bayesian likelihoods for supporting the null hypothesis. Results suggest that the general level of complexity shown by the test-takers when administered the Rorschach remotely with the new R-PAS app closely resembles that previously observed using "standard" in-person procedures. Tentative analyses of other R-PAS scores suggested normative departures that could be due to the effects of the app, testing at home, or responses to the pandemic. We offer recommendations for future research and discuss practical implications.

Legal Admissibility of the Rorschach and R-PAS: A Review of Research, Practice, and Case Law.

The special issue editors selected us to form an "adversarial collaboration" because our publications and teaching encompass both supportive and critical attitudes toward the Rorschach and its recently developed system for use, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). We reviewed the research literature and case law to determine if the Rorschach and specifically R-PAS meet legal standards for admissibility in court. We included evidence on norms, reliability, validity, utility, general acceptance, forensic evaluator use, and response style assessment, as well as United States and selected European case law addressing challenges to mental examination motions, admissibility, and weight. Compared to other psychological tests, the Rorschach is not challenged at unusually high rates. Although the recently introduced R-PAS is not widely referenced in case law, evidence suggests that information from it is likely to be ruled admissible when used by a competent evaluator and selected variables yield scores that are sufficiently reliable and valid to evaluate psychological processes that inform functional psycholegal capacities. We identify effective and ethical but also inappropriate uses (e.g., psychological profiling) of R-PAS in criminal, civil, juvenile, and family court. We recommend specific research to clarify important aspects of R-PAS and advance its utility in forensic mental health assessment.

Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Interrater Reliability in a Brazilian Adolescent Sample and Comparisons With Three Other Studies.

We examine interrater reliability for scoring the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) in a sample of 89 adolescents (MAge = 13.2, SD = 1.01) from Brazil using exact agreement intraclass correlations coefficient (ICCs) for the 60 protocol-level scores that are the focus of interpretation. The first author completed or reviewed all of the primary coding, and seven R-PAS proficient psychologists trained at different sites independently produced secondary coding. Overall, excellent agreement was found (M ICC = 0.89; SD = 0.09). When averaged across this study and three other comparison studies, stronger reliability was present, in general, for commonly coded variables (M = 0.87) as opposed to rare or infrequent variables (M = 0.78). In addition, 78.3% of the variables showed excellent interrater reliability and an additional 20.0% had good reliability. The results also showed that the ICCs for most variables had low variability across studies, suggesting clear coding guidelines. However, variables with higher ICC variability across studies indicated domains where it would be desirable to expand guidelines with more detailed parameters. Overall, the findings indicate excellent interrater reliability for the great majority of codes and present solid grounds for future research on interrater reliability with R-PAS.

Does the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) Differ from the Comprehensive System (CS) on Variables Relevant to Interpretation?

We examined the impact of the changes in administration and coding introduced by the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS) relative to the Comprehensive System (CS) on the Rorschach response process, as manifested in variables relevant to interpretation. We also examined the efficiency of each system to obtain protocols in an optimal range of responses (R) for interpretation. As hypothesized, when comparing 50 CS and 50 R-PAS nonpatient protocols, R-PAS produced many more protocols in the optimal R range (18-27) than the CS (78% vs. 24%) and it eliminated the need for re-administration, which was required for five CS protocols. As expected, R was less variable with R-PAS, as were two variables derived from it, R8910% and Complexity. In addition, as expected because of different Form Quality tables, R-PAS showed notably fewer and less variable perceptual distortions than the CS, and an increase in more conventional perceptions. The other 58 variables showed no reliable differences in means or standard deviations, though modest power precluded definitive inferences about equivalence. Overall, our results support previous findings about the benefit of R-PAS to obtain protocols in an optimal range for interpretation, while keeping the core manifestations of the response process unchanged.

Narcissism and Reactions to a Self-Esteem Insult: An Experiment Using Predictions from Self-Report and the Rorschach Task.

We used self-reported narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability and a component derived from 11 potential grandiosity and narcissism variables (GNVs) coded from Rorschach behavior to predict fluctuations in self-esteem and their links to anger and defensive reactions. We assessed state mood, state self-esteem, and performance attributions in 105 college students who underwent a self-esteem manipulation involving success followed by failure on cognitive testing. Self-reported grandiosity predicted the disavowal of effortful ability as a factor in failure, but we did not replicate other previously reported findings for this variable. Self-reported vulnerability predicted oscillations in self-reported mood and self-esteem. The GNV scale predicted spontaneously expressed hostility and externalization following self-esteem insult, and attributions mediated its relationship with anger expressed after failure. We discuss implications of these results and recommend additional replication research.

Correspondence of Maximum and Typical Performance Measures of Cognitive Processing.

We examined associations among cognitive processing measures that varied on a continuum from maximum to typical performance tasks in the context of an ego depletion study. Our intent was to replicate and extend the findings of Charek, Meyer, and Mihura, which showed that ego depletion had an expected effect on selected scores from the Rorschach inkblot task. We hypothesized that Rorschach variables indicative of cognitive sophistication would correlate with neuropsychological measures of cognitive ability and that Rorschach variables theoretically unassociated with cognitive processing would not correlate with those criterion measures. These hypotheses were supported, providing evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. We also hypothesized ego depletion effects on all measures; however, none were evident. Methodological considerations and implications of the findings are discussed.

The Effects of Coding the Location of Individual Objects in a Normative Sample of Rorschach Data.

The locations people use when constructing responses to the Rorschach task demonstrate their style of perceiving the environment. Current systems code location use into three mutually exclusive categories: use of the whole inkblot (W), common detail areas (D), and rare detail areas (Dd). The location of objects within multiobject W responses typically are never classified and those within D areas might or might not be, which could lead to a biased understanding of the visual structure embedded in the task. To better understand this structure, we systematically coded the location of all individual response objects in 145 normative protocols, finding some notable differences relative to conventional coding guidelines. Across cards, from 8% to 71% (M = 40.2%) of W responses had multiple subcomponent objects that typically are never tallied, and multiple unnumbered location areas are used more often than many specific numbered areas. To assess generalizability, we documented correspondence with location frequencies in 4,786 protocols gathered using Rorschach Performance Assessment System guidelines. The results contribute to an improved understanding of the visual structure built into the inkblot stimuli and a method for quantifying exhaustiveness, commonness, and atypicalness as independent dimensions. We discuss implications for coding and interpreting inkblot location use.

The Effect of CS Administration or an R-Optimized Alternative on Potential Projective Material in Rorschach Responses From Six Studies and a Meta-Analysis of Their Findings.

The Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011) introduced R-optimized administration to reduce variability in the number of Responses (R). We provide new data from six studies of participants randomly assigned to receive a version of this method or Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) administration. We examine how administration methods affect 3 types of codes most likely to contain potential projective material and the frequency of these codes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or last response to a card (R in Card). In a meta-analytic summary, we found 37% of responses have 1 type of code, 19% have 2 types, and 3% have all 3 types, with stable proportions across responses within cards. Importantly, administration method had no impact on potential projective variable means. Differential skew across samples made variability harder to interpret. Initial results suggesting differences in 3 of the 18 specific Type by R in Card pairs did not follow a coherent pattern and disappeared when using raw counts from all participants. Overall, data do not support concerns that R-optimized administration might alter potential projective processes, or make potentially "signature" last responses to the card any different in R-PAS than the CS.

The Effect of CS Administration or an R-Optimized Alternative on R-PAS Variables: A Meta-Analysis of Findings From Six Studies.

Controlling the number of Rorschach responses (R) as a method to reduce variability in the length of records has stimulated controversy among researchers for many years. Recently, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS; Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011 ) introduced an R-Optimized method to reduce variability in R. Using 4 published and 2 previously unpublished studies (N = 713), we examine the extent to which 51 Comprehensive System-based scores on the R-PAS profile pages are affected as a result of receiving Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003 ) administration versus a version of R-Optimized administration. As hypothesized, R-the intended target of R-Optimized administration-showed reliable weighted average differences across each method of administration. As expected, its mean modestly increased and its standard deviation notably decreased. Also as hypothesized, the next largest effects were decreases in the variability (SD) of 2 variables directly related to R, R8910% and Complexity. No other reliable differences were observed. Therefore, because R-Optimized administration does not notably modify the existing CS-based normative values for other profiled R-PAS variables, the data do not support concerns that R-Optimized administration notably modifies the Rorschach task or that existing CS research data would not generalize to R-PAS. However, because R-Optimized administration reduces variability in R, it allows a single set of norms to apply readily to more people.

Contemporary Data on the Location of Response Objects in Rorschach's Inkblots.

Using a diverse sample of 4,786 protocols obtained with the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (Meyer, Viglione, Mihura, Erard, & Erdberg, 2011), we provide a contemporary overview of how people organize Rorschach's inkblots into identifiable regions while formulating responses. After examining how frequently each location was used across all cards in this sample, we examined the consistency of their use by computing parallel information in 17 samples (N = 4,701) obtained using the Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003), including clinical, nonclinical, and adult, child, and adolescent data. Even though the CS data could only record a single location for each response, the average correlation of location use across samples was .96. The results also document continuous dimensionality in use rather than any discontinuities that would demarcate a boundary between common and uncommon locations. Implications of this notable reproducibility and dimensionality are discussed for future conceptualization of location typicality, including location coding considerations and possibilities for improved measures of perceptual fit.

Development and preliminary validation of a brief behavioral measure of psychotic propensity.

Extensive research demonstrates that the dimensional assessment of psychotic manifestations is a primary strength of the Rorschach inkblot task, which provides an in vivo sample of problem-solving behavior and normative standards concerning the logic and coherence of thought processes and the typicality of perceptual representations. This article presents foundational research for the Thought and Perception Assessment System (TPAS), a Rorschach-based system designed to assess solely for disordered thinking and perceptual aberrations using either the standard 10-card set of inkblots or alternative 3-, 4-, and 5-card short forms. Using data from three patient samples (ns = 61, 93, and 133) and one nonpatient sample (n = 118), we document the equivalence of mean scores across the full and short-form card sets. We also document satisfactory interrater reliability and validity for the full and short forms, as well as strong part-whole reliability coefficients between the short forms and the full form. Consistent with psychometric theory and the principle of aggregation, each type of coefficient decreased as a function of decreasing the number of cards. We discuss implications and future applications in research and clinical assessment.

Assessing Narcissism Using Rorschach-Based Imagery and Behavior Validated by Clinician Reports: Studies With Adult Patients and Nonpatients.

We evaluate 11 Rorschach variables with potential for assessing grandiosity and narcissism. Seven of these variables were drawn from previous literature: Omnipotence, Idealization, Reflection, Personal Knowledge Justification, Exhibitionism, Magic, and Elevated Mood States; four were developed for this research: Expanded Personal Reference, Narcissistic Devaluation, Narcissistic Deflation, and Narcissistic Denial. Using Rorschach protocols from American normative adults and Italian adult outpatients, the dimensional structure of these variables was evaluated by principal components analysis, and validity was tested by correlations with clinician ratings of narcissism on two scales from the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 that were made after at least five sessions with the primary clinician. A cohesive dimension was found in both data sets defined by Expanded Personal Reference, Personal Knowledge Justification, Omnipotence, and Idealization, and it was meaningfully correlated with the clinician ratings of narcissism ( M r = .41). Implications of the findings include the applicability of these variables in clinical practice and research for assessing narcissistic personality dynamics.

The Incremental Validity of Self-Report and Performance-Based Methods for Assessing Hostility to Predict Cardiovascular Disease in Physicians.

We evaluated the utility of an integrative, multimethod approach for assessing hostility-related constructs to predict premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) and premature coronary heart disease (CHD) using participants from the Johns Hopkins Precursors Study, which was designed to identify risk factors for heart disease. Participants were assessed at baseline while in medical school from 1946 to 1962 (M age = 24.6) and have been followed annually since then. Baseline assessment included individually administered Rorschach protocols (N = 416) scored for aggressive imagery (i.e., Aggressive Content, Aggressive Past) and self-reports of 3 possible anger responses to stress. Cox regression analyses predicting morbidity or mortality by age 55 revealed a significant interaction effect; high levels of Aggressive Content with high self-reported hostility predicted an increased rate of premature CVD and CHD, and incrementally predicted the rate of these events after controlling for the significant covariates of smoking (CVD and CHD) and cholesterol (CHD) that were also assessed at baseline. The hostility and anger measures, as well as other baseline covariates, were not predictors of CVD risk factors assessed at midlife during follow-up. Overall, this integrative model of hostility illustrates the potential value of multimethod assessment to areas of health psychology and preventive medicine.

The Centrality of the Response Process in Construct Validity: An Illustration via the Rorschach Space Response.

Recently, psychologists have emphasized the response process-that is, the psychological operations and behaviors that lead to test scores-when designing psychological tests, interpreting their results, and refining their validity. To illustrate the centrality of the response process in construct validity and test interpretation, we provide a historical, conceptual, and empirical review of the main uses of the background white space of the Rorschach cards, called space reversal (SR) and space integration (SI) in the Rorschach Performance Assessment System. We show how SR and SI's unique response processes result in different interpretations, and that reviewing their literatures with these distinct interpretations in mind produces the expected patterns of convergent and discriminant validity. That is, SR was uniquely related to measures of oppositionality; SI was uniquely related to measures of cognitive complexity; and both SR and SI were related to measures of creativity. Our review further suggests that the Comprehensive System use of a single space code for all uses of white space likely led to its lack of meta-analytic support as a measure of oppositionality (Mihura, Meyer, Dumitrascu, & Bombel, 2013 ). We close by discussing the use of the response process to improve test interpretation, develop better measures, and advance the design of research.

A Survey of Challenges Experienced by New Learners Coding the Rorschach.

Learning to code the imagery, communication, and behavior associated with Rorschach responding is challenging. Although there is some survey research on graduate students' impressions of their Rorschach training, research has not identified which coding decisions students find to be the most problematic and time-consuming. We surveyed students to identify what they struggled with most when learning coding and to quantify how difficult it is to learn how to code. Participants (n = 191) from the United States, Brazil, Denmark, Israel, and Italy rated 57 aspects of coding using a 4-point scale that encompassed both the time required to code and the subjective difficulty of doing so. Mean ratings for coding in general indicated that students considered the overall task challenging. Ratings also revealed that students struggled most with Cognitive Special Scores, Determinants, and extrapolating from the tables to code Form Quality for objects that were not specifically listed. The findings offer suggestions about how to improve the guidelines for some of the more difficult variables and where it is most necessary to focus teaching time. Taking these steps might help new students in learning the Rorschach.

On Conducting Construct Validity Meta-Analyses for the Rorschach: A Reply to Tibon Czopp and Zeligman (2016).

We respond to Tibon Czopp and Zeligman's (2016) critique of our systematic reviews and meta-analyses of 65 Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS) variables published in Psychological Bulletin (2013). The authors endorsed our supportive findings but critiqued the same methodology when used for the 13 unsupported variables. Unfortunately, their commentary was based on significant misunderstandings of our meta-analytic method and results, such as thinking we used introspectively assessed criteria in classifying levels of support and reporting only a subset of our externally assessed criteria. We systematically address their arguments that our construct label and criterion variable choices were inaccurate and, therefore, meta-analytic validity for these 13 CS variables was artificially low. For example, the authors created new construct labels for these variables that they called "the customary CS interpretation," but did not describe their methodology nor provide evidence that their labels would result in better validity than ours. They cite studies they believe we should have included; we explain how these studies did not fit our inclusion criteria and that including them would have actually reduced the relevant CS variables' meta-analytic validity. Ultimately, criticisms alone cannot change meta-analytic support from negative to positive; Tibon Czopp and Zeligman would need to conduct their own construct validity meta-analyses.

Potential Projective Material on the Rorschach: Comparing Comprehensive System Protocols to Their Modeled R-Optimized Administration Counterparts.

Exner ( 1989 ) and Weiner ( 2003 ) identified 3 types of Rorschach codes that are most likely to contain personally relevant projective material: Distortions, Movement, and Embellishments. We examine how often these types of codes occur in normative data and whether their frequency changes for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or last response to a card. We also examine the impact on these variables of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System's (R-PAS) statistical modeling procedures that convert the distribution of responses (R) from Comprehensive System (CS) administered protocols to match the distribution of R found in protocols obtained using R-optimized administration guidelines. In 2 normative reference databases, the results indicated that about 40% of responses (M = 39.25) have 1 type of code, 15% have 2 types, and 1.5% have all 3 types, with frequencies not changing by response number. In addition, there were no mean differences in the original CS and R-optimized modeled records (M Cohen's d = -0.04 in both databases). When considered alongside findings showing minimal differences between the protocols of people randomly assigned to CS or R-optimized administration, the data suggest R-optimized administration should not alter the extent to which potential projective material is present in a Rorschach protocol.