Expertise in using the Rorschach Comprehensive System in personality assessment

Abstract

The aim of the present study has been to investigate how differently skilled clinical psychologists use the Rorschach Comprehensive System (RCS) when they assess personality. There are no earlier studies in this area, and therefore the nature of this study is exploratory, aiming at the discovery of new knowledge that can act as a basis for further investigations. The subjects comprised three skill groups (expert, intermediate, and novice groups), each of which included 10 participants. They were to assess the personality of two real patients, using the anamnesis, the WAIS-R profile, and the RCS-materials. The assessments were carried out thinking aloud and the transcribed verbal protocols (610 pages) were used as data. The relevant categories were found using a datadriven approach. They were as follows: items used from the RCS-materials, inferences made from items, integration of information, errors in using the RCS, and content and structure of personality characteristics. The first key result was that experts differed mostly from other groups by making more inferences from RCS-materials, integrating more, making fewer errors and constructing more complex personality characteristics, and skilled use of the RCS in personality assessment is thus primarily seen to be connected to these activities. The second main result was that there were no differences between the intermediate and novice groups, which raises discussion about the development of skills in this area.