This article describes 3 studies evaluating normative reference data for the Rorschach Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003, 2007), with a particular focus on the viability of the Composite International Reference Values (CIRVs) that were compiled from 21 adult studies by Meyer, Erdberg, and Shaffer (2007). Study 1 documented how the CIRV norms are virtually identical when organized into 3 groups differentiated by the quality of their data collection effort, including an optimal group of 4 samples that relied on multiple experienced examiners and provided ongoing quality control over administration and coding. Analyses also showed that relative to the group of more optimal samples, the group of less optimal samples did not produce more variability in summary scores within or across samples or lower interrater reliability for coding. Study 2 used the existing CS reference norms to generate T scores for the CIRV means and documented how the CS norms make other samples of healthy nonpatients look psychologically impaired in multiple domains. Study 3 documented with examples from 4 different countries how 2 sets of within-country local norms produced notably different results on some variables, which compromises the ability of local norms to be used instead of the CIRVs. Taken together, the 3 studies provide support for the use of CIRVs in clinical practice as norms that are generalizable across samples, settings, languages, and cultures and that account for the natural variability that is present when clinicians and researchers contend with the ambiguity contained in the standard CS reference materials concerning the proper ways to administer and code. We conclude by urging CS users to rely on the CIRVs when making clinical inferences and to adopt alternative methods of ensuring they are following cohesively standardized administration and coding guidelines.

In this article, we describe the impact of Rorschach (Exner, 2003) card rotation and orientation preference on reflection responses. We anticipated exposure to sideways-orientated cards would facilitate landscape-type reflections, particularly for cards people find appealing to view sideways. When we examined 4 experimental conditions using an undergraduate sample, results in Experiments 1 (n = 123) and 2 (n = 38) showed that viewing the cards sideways produced a large increase in reflections. In Experiment 3 (n = 69), we examined preferences to view each card in a particular orientation. Cards producing higher rates of landscape reflections in the experimental conditions that encouraged turning were strongly correlated with preferences to view those cards sideways. The results imply reflections are in part a function of stimulus properties from viewing the card in a rotated orientation and not just the personal characteristics of the test taker.

A variety of different adult mental health settings exist, including university counseling centers, private clinician practices, community mental health centers, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, day programs, emergency care, psychiatric long-term residential care, forensic and neuropsychological settings. Because other chapters in this handbook focus on specialty settings and types of assessment (e.g., forensic, health, neuropsychological), this chapter presents information about adult psychological assessments in general. When appropriate, the implications of the different settings for adult psychological assessments are addressed. ing. Meyer et al. continued on to the following conclusion:

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