PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Holtzman Inkblot Test”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Ideation and memory in the inkblot technique after focal cerebral lesions.

The aim was to study whether an inkblot technique can reveal differential deficits of ideation and memory related to the side and site of brain damage. Seventy-three patients with focal brain lesions and nine control patients were studied with a modified Holtzman Inkblot Technique. The results confirmed the previous Rorschach test finding that left-hemisphere-damaged patients have poor ideational productivity, whereas right-hemisphere-damaged patients have a perceptual disturbance indicated by a high number of diffuse color responses to whole blots. Furthermore, the patients with anterior lesions were inferior to the patients with posterior lesions in perceptual integration and in memory for inkblots. Deficient verbal recall was linked to left-hemisphere lesions, poor recognition and preserved verbal recall being associated with right-hemisphere lesions. The inkblot perception findings specific to the side and site of the brain lesion were unrelated to conventional intelligence test scores.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Generating an image from an ambiguous visual input: an electroencephalographic (EEG) investigation.

Fourteen right-handed males were shown slides of common objects (e.g., wristwatch), familiar situations (e.g., two people shaking hands), and inkblots from a popular projective test (Holtzman, 1986) and then asked to name the object, assess the situation, or describe the most salient image emerging from the inkblot. Alpha power suppression was monitored over the left and right frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes to determine the brain circuitry responsible for the processing of each type of stimulus. When processing common objects and familiar situations there was bilateral activation of the parietal and occipital lobes; when processing inkblots, bilateral activation of the parietal and occipital lobes was again obtained, but complemented by selective activation of the right frontal lobe. The later suggests that anterior regions of the right cerebral hemisphere contribute to the generation of dynamic images like those evoked by visually ambiguous inkblots.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Over half a century of playing with inkblots and other wondrous pursuits.

This invited autobiography focuses on the highlights in the career of a psychologist who has devoted over a half century to personality assessment, among other lifetime pursuits. Beginning with an introduction to my early years growing up in Chicago, the story continues through World War II when, as a naval officer, I developed a late-blooming interest in coping behavior and reactions to stress. As with many other post-war graduate students, inkblots held a particular fascination for me as an indirect means of assessing personality and psychopathology through perception. A successful dissertation followed by fellowships and grants over several decades made possible the development of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT). Published in 1961 by the Psychological Corporation, the HIT consists of two parallel forms containing 45 test blots each. It has been used in hundreds of research studies and in clinical practice as an alternative to the Rorschach throughout the world. In addition to work on the HIT, I describe my efforts to expand personality assessment and psychological research into the international arena and provide a summary of activities in administration and public service.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1990

Contingent reinforcement effects on movement responses of prison inmates to the Holtzman Inkblot Technique.

Prison inmates were administered the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) under conditions of either verbal or nonverbal reinforcement of movement responses. Overall, there were no differences among the verbal, nonverbal, and control groups. Inmates charged with violent crimes were found to give the fewest movement responses. With crime category controlled, more movement responses were given under nonverbal conditions. There were no sex differences for movement responses but testing time increased significantly when administered by the female examiner.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

[Primary and secondary process thinking in normal probands, neurotic and borderline patients].

In the present paper normals, neurotics and borderline patients were compared with respect to primary and secondary process thinking. The Holtzman Inkblot Technique was used to assess the different modes of functioning. As it was expected, normals had more indicators of the most severe levels of primary process thinking than neurotics, but less than borderline patients. On the other hand it could be demonstrated that in normals the reality testing ability and synthetic functioning were not impaired compared to neurotics. In the contrary, the normals exceeded the neurotics concerning indicators of abstractive abilities. The results are discussed with regard to the hypothesis of a continuum of normal and deviant thinking and with regard to the concept of adaptive regression in the service of the ego.

Borderline Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1978

The interactive effects of instructional set, field dependence, and extraversion on the Holtzman Inkblot Technique.

Studied the interactive effects of examiner, instructional set, field dependence, and extraversion on the reactions of 81 males and 39 females to five Holtzman Inkblot Technique factor scores. Half of the Ss were told that the HIT was a measure of mental health and half that it was experimental in nature, which produced two instructional sets. Field dependence was measured with the Embedded Figures Test and extraversion by the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Subjective anxiety was tapped via the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results revealed no differences among five examiners. However, three of the five HIT factors and the STAI were affected significantly by the instructional set. The effects, while significant, were not massive. Field dependence interacted with instructional set; field dependent Ss reacted with generally more changes in scores than did field independent S. Unlike field dependence, extraversion appeared unrelated to instructional set effects. The results are discussed in terms of how the factor scores interacted with the field dependence and instructional set in psychologically meaningful ways.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Primitive defense mechanisms in schizophrenics and borderline patients.

In this study, patients with neurotic disorders, borderline patients, acute schizophrenics, and chronic schizophrenics were studied with regard to primitive defense mechanisms. Primitive defense mechanisms were assessed by means of the Lerner Defense Scale (LDS). In this study, the LDS was applied to the Holtzman Inkblot Technique. With the exception of primitive idealization, borderline patients used all primitive defense mechanisms significantly more frequently than patients with neurotic disorders, that is, splitting, projective identification, primitive denial, and primitive devaluation. Compared with both acute and chronic schizophrenics, borderline patients used primitive devaluation at a significantly higher degree of frequency. Both acute and chronic schizophrenics differed from patients with neurotic disorders by using splitting and projective identification significantly more frequently. However, there were differences concerning primitive devaluation and idealization. The defense structure of chronic schizophrenics was heterogenous. Except for primitive idealization, all primitive defense mechanisms correlated significantly with self-report measures of identity diffusion and impaired reality testing, which is consistent with theoretical assumptions. By a discriminant analysis, 90% of the borderline patients, 80% of the patients with neurotic disorders, 76% of the acute schizophrenics, and 92% of the chronic schizophrenics were classified correctly.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1999

[Internalized object relations in schizophrenics].

In the present study, schizophrenic persons were studied with regard to internalised object relations. A rating method developed by Urist was applied to the Holtzman Inkblot Technique, a modification of the Rorschach-Test. A sample of acute schizophrenic patients (n = 25) and a sample of chronic schizophrenics (n = 25) were studied and compared to a sample of borderline patients (n = 30) with regard to ratings of internalised object relations. According to the results, borderline patients showed significantly higher ratings of object relations in which one figure was tortured, damaged, or devoured by another. Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that severe forms of primary process thinking correlated significantly with ratings of primitive object relations not only in borderline patients, but also in acute schizophrenics and chronic schizophrenics. The results are discussed with regard to Kernbergs's theory of primary process thinking.

Adult↗