Text 2

It sounds like magic. But the Rorschach test, in which elements of someone's personality can be deduced by his description of what he sees in a series of inkblots, has been used for 90 years, and is still going strong. It involved a psychologist or psychiatrist asking someone to look at ten inkblot images. In each case, the interlocutor inquires of the viewer, "What might this be?", notes the response and attempts to draw conclusions.

The question has always been how reliable the connection is between the response to the blots and the alleged diagnosis. Over the years, many experiments have been done to test the link. Now Gregory Meyer of the University of Toledo and his colleagues have reviewed the data. Their results form the basis of a new manual on the topic.

Dr. Meyer's study is a review of 1,292 papers that report experimental attempts to link Rorschach responses with personality traits that have been established by other means. His main conclusion is that some of the ways the test has been used are indeed useless. He proposes, for example, axing the alleged connection between reporting mirrored images in a blot and the viewer's level of egocentricity. He would also get rid of the idea that if a viewer focuses on the details of an image rather than the broader picture, then he is likely to have an obsessive personality. A third traditional interpretation that does not pass muster, in Dr. Meyer's view, is the suggestion that when a viewer sees things in a blot that the examiner thinks do not resemble the blot, that indicates impaired perception, which can lead to a diagnosis of severe mental disorder.

Some Rorschach diagnoses do seem to stand up, though. People who report seeing representations of passivity or helplessness in the blots are thought to have a dependent personality, meaning they rely on others to satisfy their needs. Some of the studies Dr. Meyer looked at did indeed find that people who produce such responses are more likely to request guidance in a classroom, ask an experimenter for help when solving puzzles, or hold on to a guide when they are blindfolded. And responses in which a viewer combines several elements in an inkblot to show how they are interrelated do seem to be correlated with intellect; such responses are found most often in people who also score highly on an unrelated psychological assessment, the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.

Dr. Meyer disposes, too, of one constant criticism of the Rorschach test—that it is culture-dependent. Studies in numerous countries come to broadly the same conclusions. A qualified thumbs-up, then, for inkblots. Perhaps the biggest threat to the test is that no one uses fountain pens any more, and so inkblots themselves have more or less become things of the past.

6. According to Paragraph 1, Rorschach test______.

[A] is a kind of magic used in psychological researches

[B] connects one's characteristics with his response to certain inkblot images

[C] is a method for treating patients suffering from mental illness

[D] requires the viewers to response and draw conclusions of the study

7. According to Paragraph 2, the researchers' attitude towards the Rorschach test is______.

[A] biased

[B] negative

[C] skeptical

[D] critical

8. On which of the following would Dr Meyer most probably agree?

[A] The viewer's response to inkblots reflects whether he is self-centered.

[B] If a viewer focuses on the broader picture, he isn't an obsessive.

[C] A viewer's wrong perception of the blots may result from mental illness.

[D] Some diagnoses by the Rorschach test cannot bear closer analysis.

9. Dr. Meyer believes that viewers who see passivity in the blots______.

[A] tend to be more independent in real life

[B] are often diagnosed of mental disorder

[C] are more likely to ask for outside assistance

[D] often score low in the intelligence tests

10. Which of the following best summarizes the text?

[A] Many experiments have been done to justify the Rorschach test.

[B] The inkblot test is effective except for some traditional claims.

[C] The Rorschach test can help to diagnose one's personality.

[D] An old psychological test is in danger of extinction.