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Article
The Controversy Over Exner's Comprehensive System for the Rorschach: The Critics Speak
Independent Practitioner (2006)
  • James M. Wood, University of Texas at El Paso
Abstract

The present article provides an update on the ongoing 10-year controversy concerning Exner's Comprehensive System for the Rorschach. The main problems with the Comprehensive System (CS) are identified as follows: (1) It tends to "overpathologize," by making most normal adults and children appear psychologically disturbed; (2) Some scores of the CS are related to thought disorder and psychotic thinking; However, most scores are unrelated to the phenomena that the supposedly measure; (3) About 25% of the scores in the Comprehensive System cannot be scored at a level of interrater reliability that meets professional standards for tests used in clinical and forensic settings. A recent White Paper by Irving Weiner and other members of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Personality Assessment is critiqued. The White Paper fails to acknowledge the serious problems of the Comprehensive System and instead promotes the mistaken view that the Comprehensive System is as valid as medical tests such as mammograms and sonograms. The Rorschach will continue to be held in poor regard among many scientifically oriented psychologists so long as the serious problems with the test are disregarded.

Keywords
  • Exner; Rorschach; Comprehensive System; projective tests; managed care; psychological assessment; cultural fairness; psychological tests; tests
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring 2006
Publisher Statement
This document contains some errors (including a missing table). For an error-free version of the same document, click the link for Division 42 of the American Psychological Association.
Citation Information
James M. Wood. "The Controversy Over Exner's Comprehensive System for the Rorschach: The Critics Speak" Independent Practitioner (2006)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/james_wood/7/