exposure of a different sort

[McKitterick]

It seems that internet exposure is the cause of some concern not just in the world of magic but also among our friends who are engaged in the field of Psychology.

... the psychologists object whenever diagnostic tools fall into the hands of amateurs who havent been trained to administer them. Our ethics code that governs the behavior of psychologists talks about maintaining test security, Steve J. Breckler, the executive director for science at the American Psychological Association, said in an interview.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/techn ... kblot.html

[BlueEyed Videot]

It's a pity the exposer wasn't wearing a mask. Too bad, Faux Network could've had another winner: "Secrets of the Sneaky Psychologist Bastards...Exposed!"

The Amazing Randi could've had a special, too: "Inkblots are just Inkblots!"

Make Magazine could've had a spread on "Make your own Ink Blots".

David Blaine could take the inkblot test 500 times while sitting in a bowl of tapioca.

[Jonathan Townsend]

The diagnostic data has been available for over a generation and the last generation of psychology students has also had the chance to learn about how personality test results can be effected by "role faking" (think like a pilot for example) since that reseach was started back in the early 1970s.

So the basic complaint is that untrained doltish doctors can get fooled by what someone chooses to say in response to the card images?

[Banachek]

this is all over the web, a better site with clearer indications of what is expected or not is:

http://deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php

By the way, I would be thought of as crazy not creative since I would and do see many different things from one extreme to the other, not news to me.

[Tom Frame]

As much as I abhor the exposure of magic secrets, in the grand scheme of things, magic does not occupy a lofty rung on the hierarchical ladder of important issues. I hope that most people would agree that mental health issues are of much greater importance than our beloved divertissement.

I am appalled that an MD, who took the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm would behave in such a deplorable fashion, for apparently no other reason than to be a [censored]! Im glad that litigation is pending and I hope that the plates get removed as soon as possible. But moreover, I hope that this malicious miscreant loses his license!

[Ian Kendall]

I first read about these in Big Secrets in the early eighties. Although I've not read the book in twenty years or more, the text in Banachek's link is very familiar. Even the captions to the images read as if they were taken from Poundstone's book.

Take care, Ian

P.S. I think in a Woody Allen film the cards are used in one sequence, and shown in colour. But I can't remember which one...

[PhilG]

Will it come to psychology being explained by adolescent boys who can't make it through their YouTube video without sniffing their runny noses a dozen times?

[Richard Kaufman]

To me, all ink blots look like different playing cards.

[Dick Christian]

Reminds me of the old joke about the guy who was given the Rorschach test and saw the sexual imagery in every blot. After the test the psychiatrist diagnosed him as obsessed with sex. The guy's response, "Me? Obsessed with sex? You're the guy with all the dirty pictures!"

[Tom Stone]

Are there really people who still use the Rorschach test? I thought that went out of fashion at the same time as bloodletting and trepanning.

[Tom Frame]

Admittedly, the Rorschach is used infrequently these days. And yes there are other tests that elicit the same information, but possess a higher level of reliability and validity.

Im pissed off because the idiots exposure was unethical. Plain and simple. He did a bad thing. I believe that his motive was to provoke and inflame shrinks and he succeeded to some degree.

I was at work when I read the article. I dashed around the clinic, spreading the news like some hypomanic town crier and whipped myself and my colleagues into a grimacing, steaming froth. I wrote my previous post while in that frenzied state. I feel a bit better now.

An accurate diagnosis can be made without using formal testing instruments. You simply need to talk to the patient. In doing so, you take a thorough history, ask the right questions and assess the patients appearance, behavior, affect and thought process. It's a pretty straightforward process.