Rorschach Responses and the Influence of Color

Abstract

X T HAS BEEN a number of years since the senior author published a series of essentially negative results with respect to the influence of color on the Rorschach Test (5) The general conclusions from this expenment, in which a series of standard inkblots were compared with a noncolored version, were that the presence of color did not influence the psychogram (other than the actual color responses themselves) and that color was also unrelated to the presence of signs of "color shock " Since publication of that article, a number of other experiments dealing with the influence of color have appeared, most of which have confirmed the original findings (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7) Results which are at vanance with the study by Lazarus (5) have been reported by Supola et al (8,9) In one article by Siipola, Kuhns, and Taylor (9) a number of criticisms were offered of the Lazarus methodology and conclusions The purpose of the present article is to clarify some of the issues raised by Siipola's data and criticisms, to present reanalyzed data from the onginal study, and to discuss an additional expenmentIn bnef, Supola found that the presence of color resulted m increased response time, particularly when the color was incompatible with the association suggested by the form of the blot, that cdor increased the frequency of positive and negative affective attitudes as compared with neutral; that color resulted in changes m content reflecting associative disruption; and that these effects were restricted largely to blots which were not "highly structured " In addition, Supola et al (9) produced data which suggested that the procedures 'The present data were collected while the senior author was at the Johns Hc^kms Umversity RORSGHACM RESPONSES AND C»LOR 357 of retesting subjects with the same blots produced a memory effect which obscured the effects of color.In dealing with the discrepancies between their results and those of Lazarus, Siipola et al offered two cnticisms of the methodology used by Lazarus In the first place, it was argued that the test-retest design and the counterbalancing procedures used by Lazarus produced a confounding memory effect when the sequence of presentation was from chromatic to achromatic sets of blots Therefore the effect of color might have been obscured for at least half the subjects Second, some of the analyses reported by Lazarus compared the data from all 10 cards in the chromatic and achromatic senes This resulted in adding to the essential color-noncolor cwnparisons the unessential data from the five cards on which there never was any color in the first place Thus any differences between achromatic and chromatic senes would be hiddenWe shall deal with these two criticisms by citing some additional information and by a reanalysis of the ongmal data of Lazarus (5). In the first place, the results of a study by Baughman (3) are in close agreement with those of Lazarus in spite of the fact that Baughman's procedure did not use the counterbalancing technique Baughman used an individual administration of...

The Connotative Impact of Color on the Rorschach and its Relation to Manifest Anxiety

“…hues as well as a set of achromatic figures, they did not find differences in either response latency or accuracy of response which could be attributed to the presence or absence of hue Similarly, Lazarus and Oldfield (6), comparing reaction times, affective reactions, and associative content to thirty-six Rorschach details traced on cardboard and then colored congruously, incongruously, or achromatically, conclude that, "Structural factors play the overwhelming role with color questionable" (p 369) Wallm's (13) explanation of color shock is that the color, for some persons, may facilitate unpleasant, afJect-arousing associations Thus It IS these associations, e g, red being associated with blood, which give rise to the color shock reactions The hypothesis to be tested in the present study may be considered a variant of Wallin's "associative facilitation" hypothesis and may be referred to as the "connotative impact" hypothesis Color, like form and shading, is an attribute of the blot As such It contributes to the total connotative and denotative meaning of the blot The present study will be concerned with the investigation of the effects of color on the connotative meaning of Cards VIII, IX, and X of the Rorschach It is hypothesized that colors because of the connotative meanings accruing to them through their S)rmbolic use m the representation of feelings, attitudes, and concepts, will, when present in these cards, result in a change m their connotative meanings This change will be referred to as connotative impact…”

The influence of color on reactions to incomplete figures.

“…Rather than utilize emotional attitudes during the process of responding to explain these findings, it appears more likely that these attitudes resulted from success or failure to respond. Indeed, Lazarus and Oldfield (5) found precisely this to be true.…”

“…At times, this incongruity also leads to significant changes in the content of responses. Since Siipola's study has had considerable influence on the theoretical re-evaluation of the role of color on reactions to inkblots (1,2,4,5,7,8), her findings are worth considering.…”

“…It is difficult to measure card ambiguity using Rorschach inkblots. Lazarus and Oldfield (5) tried to establish a criterion of nonambiguity by selecting those cards, regardless of whether they happened to be in a chromatic or achromatic form, which elicited the same content in at least 77 per cent of the total responses obtained. We are not informed as to how many of the 36 cards met this criterion, nor why this cut-off point was chosen.…”

Effect of form-color incongruity on responses to inkblots

“…These studies have yielded conflicting and inconclusive results. The studies of Siipola(l0), Lazarus and Oldfield (7), and of Berg and P01yot'~) may be cited as examples. These studies justify the conclusion that the effect of incongruity is at least very difficult to demonstrate with unstructured materials and free responses resembling those employed in the Rorschach.…”